Stranger Days #7: Resources Worth Mentioning

Estimated Reading Time: 2.5 minutes

Welcome to stranger days--my blog series exploring daily life, challenges in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and just sharing insights or thoughts about how to make it through these days.  

I don't know that I have great thoughts today to share (of course, most days my thoughts aren't great--they might be a few inches above navel-gazing, right?).  

But I did want to highlight some things for folks that I'm excited to see and give some solace in these strange times.  

First, there's the move to augment copyright by authors and libraries around the world.  Levar Burton (of Star Trek and Reading Rainbow fame) has been getting the go-ahead to read to all sorts of audiences from all sorts of writers.  

Similarly, the Internet Archive (one of my favorite places on the web) has opened up the National Emergency Library so that folks can better access books, learning material and the like instantaneously through their site.  

Meanwhile, if you ever wanted to check out an opera but not actually pay the price for something you might not be able to understand fully, the Met Opera is providing free streaming of an opera every 24 hours, so it could be a great time to see if this is indeed something you want to explore.

While these aren't entirely new, it is also pretty amazing to see how much attention the virtual tours of museums are getting.  There is also the opportunity to enjoy lots of Zoos and Aquariums live-stream to see what the animals are up. So again, now is an opportunity to explore spaces and artifacts that you might never have tried before.  

Then, of course, there are opportunities to socialize in different ways and connect with friends.  For instance, there are games that can be played online but also while connected through video chat.  Some sites offer virtual tabletop games that friends can rally around.

Finally, there are lots of ways to help yourself, your family and others.  Google has a good resource that highlights a lot of different aspects of this that can be useful.  Also, this PBS article shows ways that you can help other people and entities during these times.  Yet, if you are looking for more specific or active things you can do to help others during these times, I'm a big fan of the Americans of Conscience site and their weekly list.  This past week was, of course, focused on COVID-19.  

This is much more of a linking-out post than I usually do but I wanted to highlight just things that are bringing me comfort and appreciation about these times.  What about you?  What are useful resources, experiences, and actions that you're doing or finding helpful?

Take care. Be careful. Be care-filled.  Welcome to stranger days.

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