Distanced Education & Activism: Spring '20

Overused words/phrases during COVID-19 lockdown such as unprecedented, uncertain, and trying times are unfortunately accurate, but I’ll avoid using these sweeping descriptors when filling you in on my Spring Term. After more than a month, I think I can fairly reflect on the final term of my first year in graduate school. I didn’t set foot in my lab or at any of my field sites from mid-March to early July which meant remaining at my home ‘office’ and bouncing between states of idleness and obsessive work every other day.

Luckily, my graduate program (EEES) and community are relatively small and their size allowed me to feel fairly connected and cared for. I gave my first ever program-wide research talk and received a resoundingly positive response via questions and encouragement. The program continued our Tuesday afternoon Happy Hour on Zoom for the first two months, but we lost momentum once Vermont and New Hampshire started warming up dramatically (we’re talking >80°F in May). We founded an EEES Grads Slack page where we started pick-me-up channels and shared at-home updates. Otherwise, I was left to bond with my two random-housemates-made-acquaintances.

I worked as a TA, for my second time at Dartmouth, for a class called “Environmental Issues of the World’s Cold Regions” which was taught by Professor Ross Virginia and focused on tourism, ecology, early exploration of the North and South poles, and the indigenous history of the Arctic. I intentionally designed the Canvas course page so that it was a user-friendly, hassle-free, remote-learning home base. I also tried running with the latest trends like Zoom breakout rooms for class working groups and ‘open door’ live meetings as a replacement for office hours. Professor Virginia was generous enough to invite me to give a lecture on Arctic amplification and permafrost thaw. I empathize with all the remote-learning educators who prerecord their lectures. It’s extremely unnerving to explain concepts and provide examples for a nonpresent audience since there’s no feedback mechanism. I could’ve sailed over the heads of the intro-level, elective course members or insulted their intelligence… hopefully, it was somewhere in between. Thankfully, the 43 people enrolled were very patient with the professor and me; and we seemed to have an easygoing time of it. It definitely helped that Professor Virginia is known for introducing each one of his lectures in an artistic fashion by playing a song by the Grateful Dead with lyrics that are related to the topic of each lesson. Also worth noting is that our class members were widespread across the planet, from Coastal Alaska to Pakistan. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the class’ live final group project presentations went despite the expected collaborative challenges. 8.5/10, would recommend continuing remote classrooms after the pandemic subsides.

Every Tuesday morning at 8 am EST, I participated in a discussion-based class called “Historical Geobiology” with 4 other grad students, 2 postdocs, and 2 faculty. Funnily enough, after having been the sole biogeochemistry student in my dominantly ecological program for nearly a year, I got to interact with other earth scientists and geologists for the first time at Dartmouth, but I still haven’t met a single one in person. We discussed a number of thought-provoking papers on the origins and evolution of life on Earth and produced a decently-drafted review paper on tectonic and biogeochemical controls on biological complexity from the late-Archaean to Precambrian. It will be my first tertiary-author article, so stay tuned for publication…

TW: Police Brutality. Protests erupted across the US following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota in late May. I became a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement and the effort to reallocate public funds from police departments to community-based, nonviolent intervention programs. I signed more than two dozen petitions on uncharged police brutality and murder cases, beyond that of George Floyd. I donated to TakeAction Minnesota, Unicorn Riot, and Women for Political Change. I watched the Netflix documentary “13th” with my housemates after a couple of tough conversations about our differing perceptions of the country’s justice system. In observation of Juneteenth, I fundraised $300 for the Innocence Project. I helped draft an anti-racism statement for the EEES program and a letter to the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies that urged them to amend their 2019-2020 “Diversity and Inclusion” plan with explicit, actionable items. I joined a reading group to discuss “How to Be an Antiracist” by Ibram X. Kendi. I did all of this without ever leaving my apartment. I applaud the masses of people who responsibly protested police brutality and racist policy, mask and all, in the face of continuingly blatant police brutality and conflict escalation. I only wish that it had not taken an excruciating video recording of a police officer apathetically murdering a man to mobilize myself on this issue.

Finally, this lockdown has been a test of patience, will-power, perseverance, and mental wellness. I struggled with maintaining my motivation. I taught myself how to cook which helped increase my baseline energy level and self-esteem but otherwise did not make use of time like so many others have seemed to. You know the ones who celebrate the lockdown because of all their additional free time. I get that they may just be trying to stay positive, but I also sense that the pandemic may be lost on them because it’s out of sight and they aren’t impacted medically or financially. In any case, I feel a great sense of compassion because of this health crisis. I’m grateful that my sole responsibility right now is for myself. I vow to continue my efforts toward self-improvement. As always, thank you for caring to read. Stay well!

- Geni G.