Here we are at the end of May, over two months into the COVID shutdown and the economic freefall, with climate change continuing to rear its swirling head despite its relegation to the back burner.
We got lucky. Thanks to the quick thinking of our Board, Sea Change found a way to go virtual and still be out on Lake Superior. This will open up many doors for us—we are already slated to speak to students on both east and west coasts! Yet, it is not the same, and we acutely miss both live school events and live young adults as crew. Our ports are extremely limited and our group is small—just us Gordons and Dave and Amy Freeman, virtual wilderness programming experts extraordinaire, who (after isolating themselves in the woods so that we could become one household) have filmed us, critiqued us, shared their social media savvy, contacted their schools, and otherwise propelled the Gordon family into a new era of Sea Change with not a small amount of patience and commitment. What a gift.
Through the end of May we will continue this slow jaunt around the western corner of Lake Superior. Virtual programs can be arranged within days of the event so our schedule continues to fill at the last minute. And meanwhile, we live together and hide from everyone else. Not that there’s anyone else out here.
The first few days probably looked comic. There we were, trying to get “out there” and share it with others. What this meant was five computers and six phones in a small space, hovered around a cell and wifi booster, buzzing our brains out online. Even the girls were glued to their computers, as their online school continued. We did manage to get out on the water almost every day, at least to do some more videoing.
It was hard for me to see the forest during this first week, but now we are two weeks in. We have prepared videos, we have a live webcam, we have one live zoom event under our belt, we have a promotional video, and we have a 16,000% increase in our social media followers! And today, we have a day to do old-fashioned things like fill our water tanks on the open water, make pizza for Amy’s birthday, and take a dip or two.
Meanwhile, it feels like life outside our bubble continues to freefall. The girls’ summer camp plans and our own Sea Change teen trip have fallen by the wayside. It’s hard for me to imagine what could be more vital to our species than making sure that young people can get to the woods in the summer….but clearly this is something we can do nothing about. Acceptance is coming,….. slowly.
What is Lost? What is Left? And What is Possible? Once we have let ourselves experience the first two questions, we can move to the third. Stay tuned.
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