{"id":19263,"date":"2020-03-20T13:56:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T20:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=19263"},"modified":"2020-04-01T09:28:33","modified_gmt":"2020-04-01T16:28:33","slug":"a-message-to-camosun-college-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/03\/20\/a-message-to-camosun-college-students\/","title":{"rendered":"A message to Camosun College students"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last few days, I have begun to drink coffee conservatively, using beans that have already had water run through them once. I am under voluntary self-isolation after someone at a dental conference my partner was at tested positive for COVID-19. It\u2019s not the worst: I\u2019m allowed to leave the apartment to go for a walk in the sun, beneath the cherry blossoms, the blue sky, the clean air. If I see someone walking toward me, I just make sure to cross the road. <\/p>\n

I usually walk in the evening, before logging on to \u201cgo to class.\u201d <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know yet how well Camosun instructors are going to fare with this; students, if you feel that learning outcomes aren\u2019t bring communicated, I urge you to take it up with the department chair. More important than any grades, though, is the health and mindsets of students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun College’s Lansdowne campus (file photo).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m not going to sugarcoat it: I have nothing to offer except rations of my own resilience. As a species and a community, we are tough\u2014tough as nails, in fact. You’re tough as nails. We\u2019ve made it through trying times before, be it pandemics, wars, or devastating personal loss.<\/p>\n

Survival is the name of the game here. Make no mistake: it will be hard. You will panic, and that panic\u2014for the first time in most of our lifetimes\u2014won\u2019t always be irrational.<\/p>\n

This is unprecedented for us, but not for the world. My grandmother told me recently about how people threw rolls of toilet paper out their windows in celebration on D-Day. Maybe when this is all over, that can be how we celebrate.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll all be okay.<\/p>\n

The 24\/7 access to information is also dangerous: every narrative we could possibly want to feed ourselves is out there. During these times of hard change, social sacrifice, and businesses struggling\u2014or even ceasing\u2014to function, us students have to remember to feed ourselves only the most nourishing of narratives.<\/p>\n

The distance will get you down. You might spiral or worry about job security or making rent; you might even be a little hungry.<\/p>\n

My partner is temporarily out of work because of this. I have to remember to sit back and breathe with a cup of warm tea; when you\u2019re steeping in hot water, you know your strengths. Now drink that tea: sweat, cry, scream, do what you have to do. I\u2019m right there with you, and so are those at Camosun working around the clock to make sure we can all still learn, the healthcare workers, the truck drivers delivering food to stock shelves. We\u2019re all putting ourselves in the line of fire on the daily, some more directly than others. It proves that we always do what we need to do to bugger on through.<\/p>\n

The sun is out these days and it\u2019s getting warmer.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry, Camosun students: it will get warmer yet. It will keep getting warmer. Let\u2019s all hang in there together. Before you know it, we’ll be back on campus, rolling our eyes at instructor blunders, pulling all-nighters to cram with friends, stopping in the Nexus<\/i> office to share a joke, basking in the normalcy we’ll probably never take for granted again.<\/p>\n

Adam Marsh, student editor
\nadam@nexusnewspaper.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the last few days, I have begun to drink coffee conservatively, using beans that have already had water run through them once. I am under voluntary self-isolation after someone at a dental conference my partner was at tested positive for COVID-19. It\u2019s not the worst: I\u2019m allowed to leave the apartment to go for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-views"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19263"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19265,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19263\/revisions\/19265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}