Daily Connector | My pandemic life | Becky Waybill
I’ve really appreciated everyone’s sharing and all the work that has gone into the Daily Connector and weekly worship services. Although I’ve never responded to someone’s Daily Connector, I’ve really enjoyed reading about your lives and am so thankful that you shared. It takes a village, people! And it’s one amazing village that I’m happy to be a part of. My routine since the pandemic started has not actually changed much. I’m still working full time at OSU Dodd Hall Admissions. I did not choose to work from home. I’m sort of command central with my position and so it wouldn’t have made sense. We’ve had a handful of patients who were COVID +, but treated and cleared before their rehab started. We’ve made all of our rooms private rooms for the unforeseeable future which equates to not working at full capacity. We continue to wear masks (goggles too for
Daily Connector | In the dark groping for light | Linda Mercadante
At first I thought I would “use” the quarantine to clean out some cupboards and do a lot of writing, but that’s not what happened. Instead, we adopted a kitty, I taught him how to meow (he was voiceless when we first got him) and I mastered the art of sourdough creation and baking. I thought I would find a way to resolve my relationship with MTSO but all my efforts met dead ends. Instead, some lovely, caring CMCers offered to hold a healing service and that made a big difference. I thought we might never be able to go camping again, but they belatedly opened our members’ campground and we are spending a few days (properly social distancing) there now. I started out this quarantine with plans but increasingly have felt like a wind-up toy which is winding down. None of my plans or fears were right. What does
Colonizer Mennonite Church
Lots of Mennonite churches are named after the city in which they’re located. Our city happens to have chosen the name Columbus. The headline of the Metro section of Sunday’s Dispatch read, “Columbus statues still stand in city.” It noted: “Statues of (Christopher) Columbus have been beheaded, toppled or plunged into bodies of water in Boston; St Paul, Minnesota; Camden, New Jersey; and Richmond, Virginia, in a rebuke of his history as a colonizer and slaver and his ‘discovery’ of America.” It’s a rapid development given the slow moving efforts in past years to draw attention to the abusive history. In our city, the largest Columbus in the US, there are three prominent statues of the man – by City Hall, the Statehouse, and Columbus State Community College. They are still standing, although, in another rapid development, Columbus State has now pledged to remove theirs. The headline article of today’s
Daily Connector | Window into our world | Diane Mueller
Every day the world Is teaching me what I need to know to be in the world… …in the stir of too much motion: Hold still. Be quiet. Listen.” From the essay “Still” in the book Late Migrations by Margaret Renkl April 12, 2020 (Easter Sunday), I started a new routine. Complete With binoculars, a small spiral bound notebook, pen, and cup of coffee, I head out to our front porch and begin the day looking for birds that come to our yard. But, I have found that there is far more to take in and inventory along with birds. You may think I am leading into all the other natural sights that are bound to be uncovered when one “sets out” to explore. (In the time of Covid this often takes place from my own porch.) And it’s true, I can’t help but notice a solitary Red Admiral fluttering
Daily Connector | Maintaining Sunday school connection | Dan Halterman
I was the Middler SS teacher for about 75% of the Sunday School year, wonderfully and ably supported by Abbie Miller and Shelly Beiting who provided weekly snack and a bit of non-boy balance to the enterprise that had 10 strapping, bright, creative, thoughtful, funny, and energetic guys on the roster. The abrupt cancellation of classes eliminated a formal goodbye blessing and, worse, the much anticipated end-of-year machete demonstration, Samson rope tying, and belching contest party. I wanted to keep that group connected…. With parents consulted, on March 22 I started this “add-a-sentence-a-day” story by sending the first line to one of the guys, who added an appropriate following sentence that was returned to me. I then sent only that sentence to the next in alphabetical order, collected his sentence, and continued through the six participants and Abbie, Shelly, and me through several cycles. The story will have lengthened before
