April 2020

Everything's flipped upside down.

I wanna turn it all back around.

I miss talking about anything else.

-Simone

Hello!

As I turned the calendar from March to April, I falsely predicted my life would stay pretty much the same. We were getting into a new routine. Quaratined. Social distancing. At home learning and working. Washing our hands over and over again. Then on April 1st, my son spiked a fever, followed soon after by a call from family in Philadelphia that an ambulance was on the way to my in-laws home. From then on, April became a series of virtual doctor visits and constant worry. It felt like every single day another person in our life was sick. Another friend lost a loved one. And the city we lived in was struggling to make it through another day.

Here we are at the end of April. Everyone in my home is fully recovered as are my in-laws. There are more frequent calls about people getting out of the hospital than about those being admitted. And somehow the flowers are blissfully unaware that there's a pandemic going on. I know so much is still unknown and uncertain about our immediate future but I do hope that over the last month we have learned enough about the virus, the treatment, and the testing to make a better go at handling things as they progress. Hope springs eternal, right? Right?!?!?!

One thing I noticed about my reaction to all that was going on around me was my instinct to stay away from the news. As the number of people in my life impacted by COVID-19 grew, my news consumption decreased. My normal morning routine of reading 10 Things You Need to Know Today by the Week and listening to NPR's Up First and the Daily stopped. I chose to read only Governor Cuomo's Daily Newsletter that spoke directly to what was going on in my community. I couldn't process anything else. It made me think a lot about our relationship with the news and reminded me of a point Neil Postman made in 1985 in Amusing Ourselves to Death . He says,

How often does it occur that information provided to you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve? For most of us, news of the weather will sometimes have such consequences; for investors, news of the stock market; perhaps an occasional story about a crime will do it, if by chance the crime occurred near where you live or involved someone you know. But most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.

You'd think the news around the pandemic would help guide me, would lead me to meaningful action. You'd think it would prove Mr. Postman wrong. You'd think because it was hitting me at home that I'd be more interested in consuming more information about the virus, not less . This did not happen. I am not sure if this says more about the news or about me. I'm curious to know how you are coping with the influx of information. Have you noticed a change in your news consumption habits?

COVID-19 RESPONSE: We continue to curate resources from our organizational partners and from the broader education community.

We also recently co-created a series of social media graphics with Tumblr about how to cope with the news during a pandemic. You can find the individual gifs on our Twitter page . We are really excited about our growing presence on Tumblr. If you are on the platform, please follow us! We are going to continue to work with them to spread the word about media literacy to their users and beyond.

Please also check out this article from The Philadelphia Inquirer that highlights some of our thoughts on how to make sense of all the information out there about the coronavirus.

NEW BOOK: We are proud to be a part of the newly published Media Literacy in a Disruptive Media Environment co-edited by William G. Christ and Belinha De Abreu. This book, part of the BEA Electronic Media Research Series, brings together top scholars researching media literacy and lays out the current state of the field in areas such as propaganda, news, participatory culture, representation, education, social/environmental justice, and civic engagement. Our chapter entitled A Snapshot: The State of Media Literacy Education in the U.S. was co-written by me, Sherri Hope Culver and Theresa Redmond.

MEDIA LITERACY WEEK PLANNING: Donnell, Kyle and I have officially kicked off our planning for Media Literacy Week 2020 . It is scheduled for October 26th - 30th. We are working on a lot of ideas for both in person and virtual options. As you plan the rest of your year, please consider how you would like to be involved with the annual initiative. Given it's proximity to the 2020 presidential election, we have high hopes for robust participation from our community.

The best thing about my job is my interactions and experiences with all our members around the country. It feels so weird not to see your faces at meetings, events, and conferences. While I know we can virtually communicate, I miss the in-person connection. Sometimes it's hard to express how difficult it is to be separated from all my amazing colleagues. Luckily for me, I live with some musically talented people who often miraculously come up with songs that speak to exactly how I am feeling. My daughter, Simone, just released her latest song that really captures the moment. It's entitled I can't wait to see you again. You can find it on Spotify , Apple Music or YouTube . I want to share it with you and let you know I really can't wait to see you again!

Be well,

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