This edited collection highlights how people connected with friends and family, students and colleagues, and leaders and communities, in their quest to persevere during the pandemic. The chapters describe how people enjoyed their passions for the arts in new and unexpected ways, given the restrictions of COVID-19 safety protocols, and how scripted and reality television programming helped them escape, however briefly, from the traumas of the pandemic, the racial injustice, the political machismo and divisiveness of this time. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of communication, media studies, sociology, cultural studies, and gender studies.

In March 2020, as a pandemic began to ravage our world, writer and professor B. J. Hollars started a collaborative writing project to bridge the emotional challenges created by our physical distancing. Drawing upon Emily Dickinson’s famous poem “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” Hollars called on Wisconsinites to reflect on their own glimpses of hope in the era of COVID-19. The call resulted in an avalanche of submissions, each reflecting on hope’s ability to persist and flourish, even in the darkest times. As the one hundred essays and poems gathered here demonstrate, hope comes in many forms: a dad dance, a birth plan, an unblemished banana, a visit from a neighborhood dog, the revival of an old tradition, empathy. The contributors are racially, geographically, and culturally diverse, representing a rough cross section of Wisconsin voices, from truck driver to poet laureate, from middle school student to octogenarian, from small business owner to seasoned writer. The result is a book-length exploration of the depth and range of hope experienced in times of crisis, as well as an important record of what Wisconsinites were facing and feeling through these historic times.

During any rapidly changing situation, loss of daily routine, isolation, and uncertainty can lead to anxiety, fear, depression, and loneliness. Dr. Stephen Bond, a Social Studies teacher at Wilson Preparatory Academy in Wilson, North Carolina, spoke with his students via email and text during the COVID-19 crisis that ended the 2020 school year and discovered many were feeling these emotions. Dr. Bond let them know that it was OK to be upset. He encouraged them to come to him and their parents with any new questions about the virus, and he asked his students to express their feelings. This phenomenal book, jam-packed with challenging activities like word searches, crossword puzzles, and colorful drawings by the talented Illustrator Anthony Mercer, covers what Dr. Bond's students had to say and more.

Once upon a time, there was something called the sun …In a kingdom ruled by a witch, the sun is just part of a legend about Light-filled days of old. But now Siria Nightingale is headed to the heart of the darkness to try and restore the Light—or lose everything trying. Sixteen-year-old Siria Nightingale has never seen the sun. That’s because Queen Iyzabel shrouded the kingdom in shadow upon her ascent to the throne, with claims it would protect her subjects from the dangerous Light. The Darkness has always left Siria uneasy, and part of her still longs for the stories of the Light-filled days she once listened to alongside her best friend Linden, told in secret by Linden’s grandfather. But Siria’s need to please her strict and demanding parents means embracing the dark and heading to the royal city—the very center of Queen Izybel’s power—for a chance at a coveted placement at court. And what Siria discovers at the Choosing Ball sends her on a quest toward the last vestiges of Light, alongside a ragtag group of rebels who could help her restore the sun … or doom the kingdom to shadow forever. Ignite the Sun?is: A YA fantasy adventure with a unique take of the light versus dark trope An allegorical exploration of the struggle with anxiety and depression Perfect for readers 13 and up A great gift for Christmas, birthday, or other gift giving holidays of young adult readers A good book club pick or cozy winter read

A practical guide to philanthropy at all levels of giving that seeks to educate and inspire A majority of American households give to charity in some form or another--from local donations to food banks, religious organizations, or schools, to contributions to prevent disease or protect basic freedoms. Whether you're in a position to give $1 or $1 million, every giver needs to answer the same question: How do I channel my giving effectively to make the greatest difference? In Giving Done Right, Phil Buchanan, the president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, arms donors with what it takes to do more good more quickly and to avoid predictable errors that lead too many astray. This crucial book will reveal the secrets and lessons learned from some of the biggest givers, from the work of software entrepreneur Tim Gill and his foundation to expand rights for LGBTQ people to the efforts of a midwestern entrepreneur whose faith told him he must do something about childhood slavery in Ghana. It busts commonly held myths and challenging the idea that "business thinking" holds the answer to effective philanthropy. And it offers the intellectual frameworks, data-driven insights, tools, and practical examples to allow readers to understand exactly what it takes to make a difference.

Dissertating During a Pandemic: Narratives of Success from Scholars of Color examines the experiences of doctoral students of color writing the dissertation currently and those who successfully defended their dissertation after the onset of COVID-19 and subsequent shutting down of college campuses in March 2020. While we know that scholars of color experience many barriers to completing the dissertation process prior to COVID-19 such as being in racist academic environments and being engaged in research areas that may not be supported by predominantly White faculty, it is important to consider how scholars of color are managing the dissertation process during this pandemic. We approach this book from an asset-based approach where chapter authors are approaching both the challenges and opportunities they have experienced due to being a dissertation writer during the pandemic. Chapter authors also provide poignant feedback on how professors can be supportive to their needs as dissertation writers. One especially important contribution of this book is that our authors are from a variety of disciplines including: education, social work, psychology, African American studies, and sociology. Additionally, chapter authors are doctoral candidates (and recent graduates) at predominantly White institutions, historically Black colleges and universities, and online universities. Given the breadth of institution types each chapter will provide poignant suggestions for doctoral students across the nation as well as for faculty who are looking to better understand the dissertation writer experience to support their own students. Because of the novelty of COVID-19, little is known about how doctoral students engaged in writing the dissertation during COVID19 are adapting. Moreover, there is little information available for professors on how to support their doctoral students during these unprecedented times. Thus, Dissertating During a Pandemic: Narratives of Success from Scholars of Color is positioned to be a must read for professors looking to support their doctoral student advisees as well as for doctoral students who are looking for strategies to navigate the dissertation process during the pandemic and beyond.

This open access edited volume is a comparative effort to discern the short-term educational impact of the covid-19 pandemic on students, teachers and systems in Brazil, Chile, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the first academic comparative studies of the educational impact of the pandemic, the book explains how the interruption of in person instruction and the variable efficacy of alternative forms of education caused learning loss and disengagement with learning, especially for disadvantaged students. Other direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic diminished the ability of families to support children and youth in their education. For students, as well as for teachers and school staff, these included the economic shocks experienced by families, in some cases leading to food insecurity and in many more causing stress and anxiety and impacting mental health. Opportunity to learn was also diminished by the shocks and trauma experienced by those with a close relative infected by the virus, and by the constrains on learning resulting from students having to learn at home, where the demands of schoolwork had to be negotiated with other family necessities, often sharing limited space. Furthermore, the prolonged stress caused by the uncertainty over the resolution of the pandemic and resulting from the knowledge that anyone could be infected and potentially lose their lives, created a traumatic context for many that undermined the necessary focus and dedication to schoolwork. These individual effects were reinforced by community effects, particularly for students and teachers living in communities where the multifaceted negative impacts resulting from the pandemic were pervasive. This is an open access book.

The story of the pandemic is the story of women. This riveting narrative offers an account of COVID-19, reminding us of women's leadership and resilience, reflecting back hope and humanity as we all figure out a new normal, together. Throughout history, men have fought, lost, and led us through the world's defining crises. That all changed with COVID-19. In Canada, women's presence in the response to the pandemic has been notable. Women are our nurses, doctors, PSWs. Our cashiers, long-haulers, cooks. In Canada, women are leading the fast-paced search for a vaccine. They are leading our provinces and territories. At home, they are leading families through self-isolation, often bearing the responsibility for their physical and emotional health. They are figuring out what working from home looks like, and many of them are doing it while homeschooling their kids. Women crafted the blueprint for kindness during the pandemic, from sewing masks to kicking off international mutual-aid networks. And, perhaps not surprisingly, women have also suffered some of the biggest losses, bearing the brunt of our economic skydive. Through intimate portraits of Canadian women in diverse situations and fields, Women of the Pandemic is a gripping narrative record of the early months of COVID-19, a clear-eyed look at women's struggles, which highlights their creativity, perseverance, and resilience as they charted a new path forward during impossible times.

2021 Special Edition of the American Educational History Journal (The official journal of the Organization of Educational Historians) The American Educational History Journal is a peer-reviewed, national research journal devoted to the examination of educational topics using perspectives from a variety of disciplines. For more information about the Organization of Educational Historians (OEH) and its annual conference, visit the OEH web site at the web address: www.edhistorians.org. This Special Edition of the American Educational History Journal entitled, Snapshots of Educational History: Portraits of the 21st Century Pandemic, is the first special issue in the history of AEHJ. The word, “unprecedented” has literally been used thousands of times during 2020 by news outlets, in our work environments, and in our daily lives. And indeed, the global pandemic has killed over 600,000 in the United States alone at the time of this writing. The public health crisis shut down everything as we knew it. Captives of sheltering-in-place, scores of incidents displaying horrific police brutality against people of color streamed live on airwaves north, south, east, and west, begetting civil unrest across the country. These are circumstances unlike any we have experienced in our lifetimes. As historians, it is critical that we document this time of crisis so that generations to come can bear witness to this time of turmoil and tragedy. With these ideas in mind, the American Educational History Journal sought to hear from historians and other scholars about this unique and devastating time in our country’s history. The Journal honors the traditions of oral history and narrative storytelling as a means to gather the voices of those whose lives have been touched by the COVID-19 crisis, literally everyone around the globe. This special issue deviates a bit from traditional AEHJ requirements in that we specifically invited narratives, not be full-blown historical research studies. The point of this special issue is for authors themselves to serve as the archival material that will benefit future scholars interested in understanding what it meant to live through this health catastrophe while doing the work of educators. We believe we owe it to the historians of the future to share our voices in real time.