There is a Cure for The Summer Time Blues

B

Brad Widelock

Brad Widelock
As a middle school teacher married to a high school teacher with a high school aged son, summer generally means little to no responsibilities, lots of time to read, go to the beach, travel, spend time with family and friends and open and share lots of wine. This summer I worked almost every day on how and when to reopen schools. I feel fortunate to have all that I have, but, from time to time, I feel blue.

I finally made a trip to my wine storage facility in Oakland on Friday. It was my first trip this year. Tonight I made a vegetarian couscous and opened my last bottle of the 2001 Edmunds St. Johns Syrah. Thank you Steve! I could talk about the wine, but why? I don’t think I can add anything to what others have said about how wonderful and joyous it is to drink a cool glass of it with a good meal.

What I can say is that 2001 is the year that I met my wife and, even with all that was wrong in the world that year, it was one of the best years of my life. For me older wine is like a time machine and a history book. I can transport myself back to another part of my life and read about all that has happened since then at the same time. Wine from storage is one of the ways that helps me see the transitions in my life. I have several bottles I bought from Steve while I had my son screaming in my arms. I can’t wait for him to taste them.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this board for all of your levity, knowledge and esprit de corps.

Brad
 
originally posted by Brad Widelock:
There is a Cure for The Summer Time BluesAs a middle school teacher married to a high school teacher with a high school aged son, summer generally means little to no responsibilities, lots of time to read, go to the beach, travel, spend time with family and friends and open and share lots of wine. This summer I worked almost every day on how and when to reopen schools. I feel fortunate to have all that I have, but, from time to time, I feel blue.

I finally made a trip to my wine storage facility in Oakland on Friday. It was my first trip this year. Tonight I made a vegetarian couscous and opened my last bottle of the 2001 Edmunds St. Johns Syrah. Thank you Steve! I could talk about the wine, but why? I don’t think I can add anything to what others have said about how wonderful and joyous it is to drink a cool glass of it with a good meal.

What I can say is that 2001 is the year that I met my wife and, even with all that was wrong in the world that year, it was one of the best years of my life. For me older wine is like a time machine and a history book. I can transport myself back to another part of my life and read about all that has happened since then at the same time. Wine from storage is one of the ways that helps me see the transitions in my life. I have several bottles I bought from Steve while I had my son screaming in my arms. I can’t wait for him to taste them.

Thanks to everyone who posts on this board for all of your levity, knowledge and esprit de corps.

Brad
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Brad,

I thank you (as another Oakland wine resident) for your work (I hope in public schools, but either way) in education, the highest calling!
I say that it is true that wine from particular vintages tell us about the world, ecology, and ourselves.
And I am a fan of Steve Edmunds' work, as well.

Thanks for posting,,,
Karen
 
my, what a nice thing to find right before I turn in for the night! Oddly enough, I opened a bottle of that very wine last night. As it turns out, the bottle I opened seemed in a slightly awkward place, at least compared to a couple of lighter wines I had tases of last night; I found myself thinking maybe it was just a bit too much.
Had another taste of it this evening, and it seemed much more like what I'd want, or expect from Syrah. Whew!
 
And isn’t it nice to find a producer that, no matter when you open a bottle, can be relied upon to accurately record history.
Nice note.
Best, jim
 
Thanks for the evocative note, Brad, and also for your efforts getting ready for this school
year. My son’s school district here in deep red floyover country has given families the choice of in-person or online education. So as not to burden teachers with preparing both versions of their classes (understandable) the school district outsourced the online classes to Edmentum. Fully half the families have opted for online, but the course offerings are bare bones. Many of the parents of honors students are concerned about the paucity of classes outside the core curriculum. Meanwhile, experience has shown that the decision to reopen schools with a miniimal effort toward safety will have a predictably dire outcome.

Mark Lipton
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Thanks for the evocative note, Brad, and also for your efforts getting ready for this school
year. My son’s school district here in deep red floyover country has given families the choice of in-person or online education. So as not to burden teachers with preparing both versions of their classes (understandable) the school district outsourced the online classes to Edmentum. Fully half the families have opted for online, but the course offerings are bare bones. Many of the parents of honors students are concerned about the paucity of classes outside the core curriculum. Meanwhile, experience has shown that the decision to reopen schools with a miniimal effort toward safety will have a predictably dire outcome.

Mark Lipton
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This is interesting. One of my best friends from college is a Prof at Purdue but I didn’t get the school update from him this week. He has two kids of middle / high school age. I will find out what they will do.

Our kids in NYC (one public, one private) will choose the remote learning option to start the year, but the critical decision point for us for my son in a public high school was whether remote was with his own school (teachers and students), not outsourced or even pooled NYC-wide with random teachers and students. (He is at a specialty music-focused school.)
 
Things are all over the map here in Massachusetts. My daughter is a second grade teacher in the public schools in Salem, MA and found out 3 nights ago (on a Zoom school board meeting) that said board proposed to send K-3 fully back into schools and middle schoolers remote. No word on what, if anything, they have planned to mitigate risk. Her teachers union president asked when they were going to start school board meetings in person since they apparently consider that safe for the K-3 teachers and children. Unfortunately for my daughter, her day care provider will only take our grandson back if my daughter teaches remotely.

Not a word about testing, safety measures or the like. These were the kind of decisions to start making in May, not a few weeks before the school year starts. Unfortunately mirrored on a larger scale at the university level, where her younger sister’s school In DC pivoted from a hybrid model with some students on campus to full virtual less than a week ago (with students set to arrive 10 days from now all over the country).

Thanks for the reminder that wine (among other things) is a great touchstone to the past. Thanks as well for all the effort you put into teaching our children.
 
originally posted by Dan McQ:
Things are all over the map here in Massachusetts. My daughter is a second grade teacher in the public schools in Salem, MA and found out 3 nights ago (on a Zoom school board meeting) that said board proposed to send K-3 fully back into schools and middle schoolers remote. No word on what, if anything, they have planned to mitigate risk. Her teachers union president asked when they were going to start school board meetings in person since they apparently consider that safe for the K-3 teachers and children. Unfortunately for my daughter, her day care provider will only take our grandson back if my daughter teaches remotely.

Not a word about testing, safety measures or the like. These were the kind of decisions to start making in May, not a few weeks before the school year starts. Unfortunately mirrored on a larger scale at the university level, where her younger sister’s school In DC pivoted from a hybrid model with some students on campus to full virtual less than a week ago (with students set to arrive 10 days from now all over the country).

Thanks for the reminder that wine (among other things) is a great touchstone to the past. Thanks as well for all the effort you put into teaching our children.
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I can’t understand the Salem story. Lack of leadership and planning at that level affecting so many just boggles the mind in this environment. (Salem and 1600 Penn seem to have a strong connection on that issue. Coincidence?)

On the college issue, that one’s tough. I think many schools worked really hard to plan for a hybrid option with the expectation we would have a safe way to roll that out but realized that it just can’t be done truly safely. I’m sure your daughter’s feeling like the ping-pong ball is awful but it’s hard to fault the administrators doing their best to keep their local communities and the broader communities in which their staffs reside safe.
 
originally posted by Jayson Cohen:
I think many schools worked really hard to plan for a hybrid option with the expectation we would have a safe way to roll that out and realize that It just can’t be done truly safely. I’m sure feeling like the ping-pong ball is awful but it’s hard to fault the administrators doing their best to keep their local communities and the broader communities in which their staffs reside safe.
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Now more than ever I am thankful not to be in university admin, so I haven't been in any of the actual planning conversations. But, I think the economic imperative was enormous for most schools. Early surveys suggested that students would not come back if it was all online, which would have let to massive budget problems/layoffs/school closures etc. So they dangled the option of in-person experience for as long as possible (until the checks cleared). I'm sure in the future we'll get some studies/investigations on how long the admin folks actually expected their in-person/hybrid plans to work.
 
Post of the year Brad - thanks. I too appreciate wine as much as anything for the connection to personal and human history - had an '82 Coufran Friday and it was fun to just remember the year and what we were doing. Yesterday shared a mag of Thivin rose with family before a walk to the nearby rose garden, and were able to share the story of our all afternoon visit with him. Wine and wine places are very much wound up in Mme and my life together and inevitably some anecdote arises. Cheers, and thank you for your service -

Brad
 
Jayson, if your friend lives in West Lafayette (as most faculty do) their school district has the teachers providing the online content. We are in a different district, so different rules. As for my humble employer, we are doing the hybrid option: my “boutique” class for 70 majors will be in person. To maintain social distancing, it will be held in a lecture theater that can hold 500 people. I will give my lecture from the stage and we must all be masked. Jean OTOH teaches a large class of health majors and that will be conducted online. Had I been asked (I was not) I would have opted to teach remotely, too. Meanwhile, among the first group of 500 Freshman there were 4 who tested positive for COVID. The plan is for those students who test positive to occupy a firm set aside for this purpose, just one step removed from a leper colony model. Will this model be sustainable? Will our administration rethink their plan? Once you realize that our University President was W’s Director of OMB, you have an answer.

From the trenches,
Mark Lipton
 
Jayson, I agree about colleges. Most of the ones I know are trying really hard to do the right (safe) thing. On any level, it is folly to try to go back full on person without a solid plan for frequent testing / isolation of cases. The most difficult part for colleges is availability of frequent testing with results back in no greater than 3 days. Not to mention the expense of said testing. If communities are over 3% positive tests likely not safe to go full in person. Colleges have the added variable of significant portions of students coming from areas undergoing surges now as well as local restrictions on people coming from those areas.

I can’t explain why the Salem Superintendent felt it was a good idea to present that plan having said zero about mitigation plans. Not a smart way to encourage buy in.
 
originally posted by MLipton:
Jayson, if your friend lives in West Lafayette (as most faculty do) their school district has the teachers providing the online content. We are in a different district, so different rules. As for my humble employer, we are doing the hybrid option: my “boutique” class for 70 majors will be in person. To maintain social distancing, it will be held in a lecture theater that can hold 500 people. I will give my lecture from the stage and we must all be masked. Jean OTOH teaches a large class of health majors and that will be conducted online. Had I been asked (I was not) I would have opted to teach remotely, too. Meanwhile, among the first group of 500 Freshman there were 4 who tested positive for COVID. The plan is for those students who test positive to occupy a firm set aside for this purpose, just one step removed from a leper colony model. Will this model be sustainable? Will our administration rethink their plan? Once you realize that our University President was W’s Director of OMB, you have an answer.

From the trenches,
Mark Lipton
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That’s interesting too as another friend is a Prof at Michigan and apparently has (and will take) the option to teach remotely. I’ll ask him if that’s every Prof’s/instructor’s option or it depends.

What are you teaching?
 
I forgot what 2001 was about, but I know it wasn't like the movie at all and 2020 sucks more than anyone would have predicted. Remote schmote!
 
originally posted by MarkS:
I forgot what 2001 was about, but I know it wasn't like the movie at all and 2020 sucks more than anyone would have predicted. Remote schmote!
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I think he was referring to 9/11. 2001.
 
originally posted by BJ:
had an '82 Coufran Friday and it was fun to just remember the year and what we were doing.
Brad
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did you happen to realize it was nearly (if not all of) 100% merlot back then? sounds strange but when you google exactly where they are and taste the wine, it all begins to make sense

be well
 
OK, I didn't know that, and it totally makes sense. It was soft. I liked it much more than the Mme, who was meh and gave me her second glass. I chalked it up to vintage and age.

Thanks for the info!
 
Another cure...

glassone.jpg
. . . . . Pete
 
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