Well, here we are at a juncture in time that we knew would come. That we knew must come. Sometime. Eventually. We've been waiting for this for over 15 months. It's the eve of the start of the fall semester, and we are finally returning to something resembling normal. Well, more or less.
Last week was a dry run for us, more or less, as marching band camp returned for the first time since 2019. Students returned! Dozens of people graced my office in search of lockers and keys and so on. Round Table and Jamba Juice and Starbucks were open in the Student Union. Students began moving back into the dorms. Progress!
We'll see how long things last. The world still isn't quite right, and people still spook easily at the slightest hint of a cough. A lot of people think it will shut down again, as soon as people start contracting Covid again. And they probably will, just like they contract the flu and the common cold and on and on. Every year. That's our normal.
But for now, some amount of positivity permeates the clouds of doubt (though those could be clouds of smoke from the fires in the Sierra). We're planning on offering live concerts with live audiences this fall, and tickets have gone on sale. Ensembles will be rehearsing with a more or less normal in-house capacity. And I have returned to full time onsite, for two weeks now already. Boy, is it tough getting back to normal! We all got soft this past year with reduced workloads and working from home.
But come tomorrow morning, we'll see if things looks and feel like normal. I've been watching a slow but steady stream of emails arrive at my inbox all weekend, students needing lockers and keys and volunteer paperwork and parking permits and on and on. So I expect it will be a busy day tomorrow...just like the start of a semester used to be. Before Covid.
Here goes year 23!
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