July 31st, 2020
Over half the year is gone, decimated by pandemic illness, unjust murders, protestors and federal agents arresting the innocent and hiding their faces in the process. Politically, the country is in turmoil because of the madman at the helm who has almost single-handedly destroyed America's standing in the world...
My career has shifted mightily as the pandemic closed schools and moved classes to the internet with a week's notice. My students suffered from the changeover and I fear they will drop out rather than work with the new sychronous online schedule set for the fall semester. I will be teaching to a camera from an empty classroom, with my students attending via a Zoom meeting rooms until such time as it is safe to return to campus. (My courses have been reworked to allow going back to the classroom if it is allowed mid-semester.) My college shifted us to online coursework on March 17th, but did not require video to finish the spring semester, so I worked online with students via email and instant messenger with their assignments and my lecture power-points downloaded to the college LMS (Blackboard, a Learning Management System). So for the last half of the semester, I worked from home.
Is/Was there an upside to the "world turning upside-down"?
Yes. I spent half of my semester (mid-term to finals) teaching in the nude. Though I will not be able to do real-time lectures naked next semester due to video, the LMS work and e-communications can be handled from home sans clothing. So, September to December will be spent working clothed for about 7 hours per week, and then doing my other 20 hours in the nude from home. It could be worse, right?
Spring semester ended on May 7th, and unfortunately, the graduation ceremonies were cancelled on the governor's order. The shutdown and "shelter-in-place" order has meant staying home, and leaving the house only to grocery shop and run errands for about 4 hours every other week...for which I dress like any other person with a mask in my neck of the woods. I also dress plus mask for taking a walk around my long small town block weather permitting. However, I have been extremely fortunate to spend most of my time, since coming home from work on March 17th, buck naked.
The many hours spent happily in the nude has improved my skin, I am generally healthier than I've been for awhile, and the boredom eating stopped fairly quickly. Consequently, I had added 6 lbs, but have now managed to drop 12. I am more active around the house when I am nude and it is rather fun to use my exercise bike in the nude, too...I average 5 miles per day on my nearly antique Schwinn Aer-dyne. So, I hope everyone is having a wonderful naked respite from the "real world" and as soon as I have my fall courses set up, I will be back to researching nudism in history as my bookcase of research materials is calling me :)
Have a wonderful naked summer!
