Links: misc, mostly cheering

[sonia]

I looked after the alley cats of Kabul. Would they remember me when I returned? by Pamela Constable. Includes cute cat pictures and a happy ending.

On Trouser Pockets by Sam Bleckley. Via one of silveradept's linkspams. WANT!

How to Curate Your Zoom Backdrop, and Why You Should by Janine Barchas. The kind of thing that's obvious once you notice it. (I am not personally endorsing any specific bit of advice. See discussion here in comments.)

San Francisco Was Uniquely Prepared for Covid-19 by Daniel Duane. Because AIDS pandemic. And collaborative relationships between government and scientists.

Holding Space for Another: How to Bring Your Body into the Picture by Glen Fielding. Maybe we can listen better when we're centered in our own body.

The Third Promise: Can Judaism’s indigenous core help us rise above the damaging politics of our time? by David Mevorach Seidenberg. A fascinating approach to a very fraught question of Judaism and being indigenous and how to live where you are.

A Basic Meditation to Tame Your Inner Critic by Mark Bertin. I would say "notice" rather than "tame."

A Way to Talk About Race, 6 Words at a Time by Zenobia Jeffries Warfield. I love all the projects people are doing to try to get people to notice and talk about racism.

Systemic Racism Can't Be Fixed Without Tackling It Within Cycling. 14 stories from Black people who love bikes.

Relatedly, Travel Oregon film follows three women on bikepacking trip, a joyful video of Analise Cleopatra, Dejuanae Toliver and Brooklyn Bell on a bikepacking trip.

“Hurting People at Scale" by Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman. Facebook employees dish about how Facebook is failing all of us. Okay, this one is depressing.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

That article about curating zoom backgrounds is really problematic.

She says "the crisis mode of spring is over," as part of saying we should no longer be concerned with demonstrating our common humanity and shared burdens. I'm dubious about this standard of professionalism, from the start. (Some pieces of this advice would seem quite reasonable if it was presented in a context of maintaining privacy, or work/life boundaries.) "Professionalism" is usually a code for classism, and sometimes a code for racism.

I agree with some of her recommendations. Close doors, including cabinet doors and closet doors. Make the bed, or at least throw a blanket over it. Turn off lights behind you, turn them on in front of you.

I agree with her that camera angles are important, but she doesn't mention what I consider the most important part: put your computer on a table! I know it's called a "laptop," but if you hold it on your lap, the image wobbles all over the place.

She also says that virtual backgrounds are somewhat distracting, and my experience is that they are consistent migraine triggers. (I'm not sure about them being seizure triggers.) Having the camera off is much easier for me to deal with, but if there are only 1 or 2 people using virtual backgrounds I can keep their zoom windows covered with index cards.

I disagree with other recommendations. Flat white walls are GREAT. (So are corners.) It's fine to sit in front of any bookcase at all, not just ones that show appropriately scholarly books. Any bookcase behind you reduces the chances of having a light behind you. A peek at your unwashed dishes is different from a peek at your shelf of cookbooks or board books.

A disturbing amount of her article seems to be written from the perspective that being in a position to teach at a university implies wealth. "Be modest." FFS. Does she have any idea how many classes are taught by grad students or adjunct professors who are being paid very little? Around here, the salary of a tenure-track professor early in their career will cover student loan repayment and the rent on a remarkably small apartment.

[sonia]

I can see that this article really touched a nerve! I was more intending to endorse the general idea of mindfulness about what's in the frame, rather than the specific recommendations.

I have a conflicted relationship with "professionalism" and presentation myself. It took me a painfully long time to realize it matters, especially as a woman, and not just on the job. I get treated better at doctor's appointments if I take some care with how I dress. It shouldn't be that way, but it is.

So, while I agree that professionalism is often code for classism and racism, it's still useful to pay attention to it, and that's why I linked the article.

[liv]

I found the article about indigenous Judaism really interesting, so thank you for linking to it.

[sonia]

Yes, isn't that cool?? The more "technical" aspects would be just your thing, more than mine. I think I saw it via sovay.

[silveradept]

Many of those items were cheering, or at least hopeful. I can't say that I found the "curate your Zoom background" helpful past where it had tips that you might find on any website about taking good selfies, and several of those elements seemed very interested in reinforcing and reifying the distinction between instructor and student, rather than providing an environment where learning and teaching can happen on a more equal level. Especially at the university level, where students are presumably going to become experts, or at least professionally competent, maintaining the idea of "I have all the answers" seems antithetical to the need for students to develop the skills they'll need to solve those problems.

[sonia]

That article is clearly landing wrong for other folks in a way that it doesn't for me.

Yes, instructors and students are all people, and the students may someday be where the instructor is now. At the same time, they do have different roles, and it might be harder for some people (who aren't cis straight white males, for example) to get the minimum level of respect they need to do their jobs. The instructor *is* the authority in the classroom - that's why they're the ones being paid (at least a little bit!) to teach. The students may also know lots of things, but they are not currently in the instructor role, and that's an important distinction.

[silveradept]

If that were the attitude the article was taking, about getting and retaining the necessary respect to do effective instruction, I think it would land better, but, at least to me, it feels much more like scolding someone for not keeping their house immaculately clean for guests and doing so in such a way that creates the illusion that it is effortless and no trouble at all. I think I'm especially irked by "make your bookshelf all appropriately scholarly, without the children's books or the trashy romance novels" advice, because people keep the books they need for work at work, and nobody should have to haul their reference material home for the benefit of a zoom background.

Maybe I am overreacting to something that's not there, but the whole thing feels very condescending, and that gets in the way of any useful advice that might be offered.

[sonia]

Agreed that the tone is condescending, and that your read would be super irritating.

I (used to, pre-pandemic) run a weekly dance group in my living room, and have clients come in to my basement office, so I already manage almost my entire house as publicly viewable space. Maybe that's why the article isn't grating on me as much.

[silveradept]

Yes, having your house be your office, having people over regularly, and having done so for a while would make these things less grating, and also, these are things you choose to do, instead of someone mandating that you must do these things without any thought as to whether you can, or whether the house you are in has sufficient space and ability to do them. So clueless and condescending both, potentially.

[sonia]

Right. I get that I'm making choices, and not everyone wants to or can make those choices. I have clearly heard that the article lands wrong for you and adrian_turtle. I added a disclaimer to the link. I'm done discussing it now.