FEATURED COLUMNIST
Lessons Learned from the Pandemic
H
ave you felt the shift? It’s underfoot. We are being carried forward, whether we are ready or not, back to the speed of pre-pandemic life. With that shift comes a return of many of the things we held so dear. We are wrapped in a moment of choices, however. How to honor the sacrifices of the last year, how to make sure our community comes fully back to life, and how to resume our post-pandemic lives. At dinner tonight, my daughter, who is back in class, talked about how she is losing focus after a couple hours at her desk. She described it like an athlete would describe coming back from an injury. “I lose my focus at 10 a.m.,” she said. At first, my wife and I did not quite comprehend what she meant — taking it to mean that her 10 a.m. class was boring. “No,” she retorted, “By 10 a.m., everyone in my class begins to drift. Our online classes have been ending at 10:30 all year long. But my teacher is great,” she continued, “She sees us staring blankly and tells us to ‘hold on and she’ll get us there,’ and does everything she can to re-engage us.” It is not just students. We are all rusty. Look at your calendar from an average day last February and ask if you are ready for the same schedule. Many of us were running at such a fast pace before the pandemic that we forgot we could slow down. We need to take those lessons learned from the pandemic and carry them forward to our everyday lives as we begin to return. Before your schedule becomes fully booked, ask yourself which things you discovered were important, and prioritize them. The decisions we make on how we return from the pandemic will be the source of study for decades to come. I suggest that we do it with intention, rather than just rolling back into the same habits. Changing old habits may seem hard, but the last year has taught us that we can do hard things.
By Derek Timm, Mayor, Scotts Valley If your priority has been your children over the last year, block your schedule now to coach their team or volunteer in their class. If your priority has been enjoying the outdoors, then set aside the time for a daily walk or a hike. If your priority has been TV binge watching, maybe it is time to reexamine your priorities. As a community, we must also ask ourselves what things are important, and make sure we continue to support them. Are you grateful for the store and restaurants that keep you fed and supplied during the pandemic? If so, continue to frequent them, and shop local. As a City, we asked ourselves which things were important that we need to bring back. We all agree that one of our saddest moments was making the difficult decision to shutter our Parks and Recreation program during the pandemic. However, we know that it is more important than ever as life returns to provide childcare and programing for our youth, and we have prioritized that. We have begun hiring again for our Parks Program and we are proud to have partnered with the Boys and Girls club to
expand summer childcare to more community members, especially those in need. We also looked to our businesses, who we have been working alongside to help them survive. Our City is working to obtain CBDG Community Development Block Grant funding to provide a quarter million dollars in grants, to help our businesses push through that last mile out of the pandemic. Of course, we are all going to lose focus and drift, as we try to reemerge. We can learn something from that energetic
teacher, who sees the blank stares and works to recapture her students’ attention. She does not shame the students for losing focus, but instead, accepts that they are trying, and works to get them to the end of the lesson. We will need to rebuild our stamina, but in that, remember to not lose perspective on the things in life that we learned are most important. n ••• Contact Mayor Timm at dtimm@scotts valley.org
Fictional Mothers
ACROSS
1. Build a collection 6. Economic measure acronym 9. *Beverly Goldberg’s schmoopie 13. Use an ÉpÉe 14. Neither here ____ there 15. Tall ancient monument 16. Daisy-like bloom 17. Much of it about nothing? 18. Commotions 19. *She’s ‘Bow’ to Dre in TV sitcom “Blackish” 21. *Mother to Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth March in novel and movie 23. Before tac 24. Ripped 25. Part of Super Bowl entertainment, pl.
28. Homesteader’s measure 30. *”Game of Thrones” Lannister and mother to Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen 35. Douses 37. Adjutant 39. Article of faith 40. Genuflecting joint 41. *TV mother to Alexis and David, “friend” to Jocelyn Schitt 43. “Will be,” as sung by Doris Day 44. Perform in a play 46. Load sixteen tons, e.g. 47. Peacock’s pride 48. *Mowgli’s adoptive mother 50. Apartment 52. Skeleton in a lock 53. Part of a jousting outfit 55. Spelling competition 57. *Mother to Carlton in “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”
60. “Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner in ___, Arizona,” from the Eagles “Take it Easy” 64. Country’s LeAnn ____ 65. Hoover’s agency acronym 67. Piano practice piece, e.g. 68. Church song 69. What Usain Bolt did 70. Poisonous substance 71. *Wife to Papa, mother to Baby 72. Sum it up 73. Go on a buying spree
DOWN
1. Way, way off 2. ____ Verde National Park 3. Naysayer’s favorite prefix? 4. What bloodhound is after 5. Croatia’s neighbor
6. Nibble away 7. Affirmative action 8. Movie trailer, e.g. 9. Elementary particle 10. *Claire Dunphy and Mitchell Pritchett’s mother 11. Soothing lotion ingredient 12. Bell and Barker, e.g. 15. Christopher Kimball’s “Milk ____” 20. ____’s razor 22. Part of a circle 24. Tiresome 25. Questioner 26. *”Mamma Mia!” mamma 27. Do this or forever hold your peace 29. ‘80s band “Quiet ____” 31. Catch one’s breath 32. ____ a peak 33. Bone-chilling 34. Europe’s “boot” 36. Short for seconds
38. *She played Ricky Schroder’s stepmom on “Silver Spoons” 42. Defendant’s excuse 45. Religious belief 49. ____ Khan 51. Plural of #39 Across 54. Below, prefix 56. Impede 57. “Everywhere you want to be” credit card 58. Muslim holy man 59. Plural of velum 60. *Ellen, Scarlett’s mother in “Gone with the ____” 61. Like the best accommodations 62. War god in Norse mythology 63. Make one’s way 64. Dashboard acronym 66. *Kunis, Hahn and Bell as “____ Moms” © Statepoint Media
Answers on 23 »
www.tpgonlinedaily.com Scotts Valley Times / May 2021 / 19
