All quiet

It is 2:36 am. I woke up about 10 minutes ago, and in that time, I heard one truck go by. But that's it. No cars, no taxis, I can't even hear any traffic on Douglas. So eerie.

I live in the middle of it all in downtown Victoria, in what is usually a cacophony of cars, sirens, honking, voices, yelling, singing, and so on. Add to this the banging as the adjacent businesses take out their garbage and cardboard to the bins below my window. I happen to love being right here; the noise doesn't bother me, and is often entertaining. So the silence is so unusual.

It's early Friday morning, so I expect the most stunning silence will be in 24 hours, as the peeps who normally go clubbing will presumably have nowhere to go. No middle-of-the-night drunken antics on the street below.

And I've heard almost nothing since I started writing this, maybe 4/5 cars in 18 minutes.

Will write some reflections at a later time.

Dancer on my rooftop

CFAX pic

So, all this went down where I live. She may well have danced over my rooftop. Definitely heard the "explosion" bang.

"A woman is in custody after an incident which began with a break and enter in the 1300-block of Broad Street this morning. On Thursday, February 6th, 2020, shortly after 1:00 a.m., Patrol officers were called to the 1300-block of Broad Street for a report of an alarm at a business. Officers arrived on scene within minutes and observed the woman suspect, who had broken into a business at that location. The woman fled the scene via rooftop. A K9 unit was deployed to assist in locating the suspect. The woman then broke into two separate suites in a nearby multi-unit residential building in the 1300-block of Douglas Street. The woman barricaded herself inside the second suite. During the incident, the woman discharged a fire extinguisher and pulled the fire alarm. Many building residents were evacuated. The Greater Victoria Emergency Response Team (GVERT) attended the scene. Negotiation attempts were unsuccessful, and GVERT officers took the woman into custody approximately four hours after the initial call for service. A loud distraction device was used during the arrest, which has led to reports of an explosion in the area. ..." [continue reading VIC PD's story].

Great speedy and effective response by Vic PD and the K9 team. Still feel safe living in my hood.

Reflections on #CLIMATEACTION

The above is my art, inspired by the youth - click to enlarge

From Friday night, on the bus (post global #climateaction strike in downtown Victoria):

Thanks to a work colleague, I clued into bus re-routing downtown. I got my bus 1 stop earlier, got a seat, and was able to relax as the bus navigated the modified route. The bus indeed got very full, so I was feeling rather gratelful.

Have been reflecting on the news stories of some schools not 'allowing' kids to protest. What a stupid move, and a missed opportunity.

Even I could design engaging lesson plans...  
Beginning with context, as in the history of protests and activism...

Before the protest... weighing the decision to go or not to go, what do you want to say on your sign, how to stay safe at a protest even...

Debriefing afterwards... are you glad you did/didn't go, what did you learn, who did you meet, what are you now inspired to do? 

Facilitating an open dialog throughput provides an opportunity to just process all the feelings about the environment (fear, sadness, frustration, hope, inspiration, etc). 

Youth are very troubled and, in addition to the need to be heard, they need forums to share. Adults ~ in this case teachers ~ have a responsibility to facilitate.

How rich of a learning opportunity this is.

Hopefully the school's taking this stance were few and far between.

It's been cool seeing kids on the bus, post-protest, with their signs. The power of social disobedience...

Regretfully, I haven't done much protesting myself. Worth reflecting on that.