This Is Only A Test

When big earthquakes hit, dazed residents can often be found wandering the streets surveying the destruction. Post-quake, sometimes the street is safer than being in your own home. When little earthquakes hit, dazed Howard Countians can be found wandering social media, asking the same few questions, looking for reassurance.

What was that?

Did anyone feel that?

I live here, what about where you are?

We just had a big THUMP. I thought my husband had dropped an amplifier upstairs.

But the first time we had an earthquake* I thought it was just the washer struggling on the last spin cycle. Then I noticed that our big bookcase was vibrating.

I am not a good judge of small earthquakes.

Guess what? Most of us aren’t, despite the fact that some folks were online announcing that they knew earthquakes and this wasn’t an earthquake.

I’m going to look to professionals on that one.

In any kind of emergency, or something unknown that feels like an emergency, it’s easy to take what little information we have and run straight for emotions. The facts-to-feelings ratio can get wildly skewed. I can’t ignore the fact that we are living in such a chaotic and dysfunctional time that it didn’t take much to move many of us into full-on crisis mode.

This might explain why a lot of people forgot what dialing 911 is meant to be used for.

These days we head to social media either to add more facts to our limited supply, or to find familiar faces to share our feelings with. That’s only human, or maybe, that’s only natural.

While watching this phenomenon last night I had the rather unserious thought that we were all quite a bit like prairie dogs sticking our heads up to assess the threat level of danger nearby. It’s not just a human thing.

Clearly I had the ability to weigh such frivolous concepts in my mind because my experience of the earthquake was mild. I was not afraid. I might have felt quite different had I been closer.

All of this is to say that pooling personal experiences on social media is 1.a great way to get a whole lot of anecdotal information in a hurry and 2. An opportunity for human contact and reassurance. It may not be the best way to get the big picture.

If this had been an actual emergency…

Village Green/Town² Comments

*I think it was this one:

Comments

Teacher Gifts

Today is the last day of school before the Winter Break. It’s a good time to remember the far-reaching nature of our public school system. You may not have children. You may have sent your children to independent schools. It matters not. You will be impacted one way or another. Yesterday I read a long thread on Facebook about several waves of illness in the schools right now. There’s influenza A and norovirus, I believe. And of course there’s COVID. Apparently in some individual schools the rate of illness is high enough for school admin to notify parents. When I was little the acceptable holiday gift for a teacher was one of those lovely floral handkerchief squares. (I don’t know what it was for male teachers. They were rare in my elementary years.) These days the range of teacher gifts is wider and I have fond memories of Target gift cards which I have written about before. I think it’s safe to say that giving one’s teacher Influenza, norovirus, or COVID is not the ideal holiday...

They Can Wait

This is not a typical Saturday post. That’s because, in my community, it’s not a typical Saturday. Oakland Mills High School, after years of deferred repair, needs massive renovation. It’s pretty simple: when you don’t fix a problem it gets bigger. The school system itself said the the OMHS school building was "no longer conducive to learning" back in 2018. 2018 . But Thursday the Boad of Education voted to push it out of the lineup of important projects which will be given the go-ahead to proceed soonest. In my opinion it’s a terrible decision and sets a dangerous precedent. To explain, here’s the advocacy letter I sent in support of Oakland Mills High School. I was rather proud of it. I am writing to ask you to proceed with needed renovation at Oakland Mills High School in the most timely and comprehensive manner humanly possible. I have read the letter sent to you by the Oakland Mills Community Association and I am in complete agreement. You are extremel...

F ³: Who Belongs at the Library?

One of these things is not like the others One of these things doesn't belong Can you tell which thing is not like the other By the time we finish our song?* Did you guess which thing is not like the others? Did you guess which thing doesn't belong? If you guessed this thing is not like the others Then you're absolutely right. Our library promotes equity. Our library promotes literacy for adults who have come here from many places. Our library promotes accessibility to materials and opportunities. Our library is hosting multiple Harry Potter themed events? Tell me this isn’t so. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, has and continues to use the profits from those books to advocate for laws that diminish the rights of trans people. She has and continues to use her fame to influence public opinion to view and treat trans people negatively. In short, Ms. Rowling is using the Harry Potter book series to make transgender people around the world less safe....

Village Green/Town²

Search This Blog