As you may have heard, the Olympics are getting into full swing. Great news for us, as my wife and I love watching the Games and end up, Winter or Summer, taking in all kinds of events, even if we don’t think a bit about them in the intervening years.

Turns out, with all this viewing, we may be doing ourselves a solid over the next couple weeks: Yep, some Frontiers in Public Health research shows that watching sports can help you experience greater wellbeing!–and while that study focuses on in-person attendance, another study shows that even couch-jockey fans can see a benefit: “[…] people who watch sports on TV or on the internet were also less depressed than those who did not, and depressive symptoms were even less likely for those who watched sports with increasing frequency.”

So even those not lucky enough to be in France now but watching from afar can get that “USA, USA!” buzz and greater overall happiness–why wouldn’t you be in?!

Also, if you find yourself sometimes not enjoying the Olympics because all these chiseled athletes make you feel a bit, uh, out of shape, stop being so hard on yourself! A CNN Mindfulness article emphasizes you should not shame yourself with fruitless comparisons to Olympians. Dr. Amadeus Mason, medical director for USA Track and Field says, “Most of the competitors spend their entire lives training for this one moment, and it is unrealistic to expect to look like an Olympian.”

Settle in, get some snacks, let the Games entertain and inspire, and don’t get wrapped up in upward comparisons.

Finally, if all this guilt-free viewing isn’t fantastic enough, how about that Flavor Flav himself is involved, having signed a deal to be the “official hype man” for USA Water Polo Women’s and Men’s National Teams?! As a decades-long lover of Public Enemy, I’m way biased, but I can’t think of anyone greater to be your hype man than Flav–who can raise the roof better than him?!

(I’ve often imagined myself blundering through the end of a 5k or trying to move around some weights in the gym when Flav shows up, cheering me on–and the next thing you know I’m hitting personal bests.)

C’mon, man, this is all straight up amazing: we’ll be soaking up a ton of the Olympics (let’s go USA Wrestling!), getting revved up Flavor Flav, while my joy and happiness are climbing, climbing.

I’m resisting with all my might a “yeah boy!” (oops), but it’s gonna be a fun two+ weeks.

Tags: ends & odd, sports, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
No Comments »

Drexel was one of the more recent universities to experience a protest, as toward the end of Drexel’s fast-paced spring term and overall academic year, protesters camped in the center of campus for nearly a week.

The university went on lockdown when the encampment started on a Saturday night, gradually resuming normal operations during a five-day period. For two days, many classes were online, including mine.

In my class, studenting-wise, the kids did alright.

I know this pandemic “generation” has been through a lot, but collective worries that they have fallen to pieces and will not be able to cope or function in the “real world” (whatever that is) were certainly challenged by my students’ quick and in most ways expert transition to a Zoom-based classroom.

The university was functioning hour-by-hour, so the entire Drexel community would only receive information about the next day’s operations in the evening. We all had to be ready to shift gears.

I don’t know if they were happy about it, but every student showed up for our online class on Tuesday, and they were on time and ready to go. All but one had cameras on, and they worked well both in the whole group class and the breakout rooms, interacting with me and their classmates.

We shared a few winky in-jokes about online learning, but in terms of the outcomes for that day’s lessons, we stayed on track–I did my best, but it was largely thanks to their attention and efforts.

Few would likely choose to resume learning in a solely digital modality, but if need be, they showed they could pull it off.

These students are not withering little snowflakes, fluttering about, buffeted helplessly by forces they cannot/will not resist, melting when the temperature of their environment clicks up a notch. I think, as I did during much of the pandemic, that they’re warriors. I keep finding that they adjust and adapt when called upon, and they showed that again last month.

Drexel acted with relative speed in opening its campus and beginning onsite instruction again. We finished the quarter. Graduations for both colleges and the university as a whole came and went.

I watched the students walk in front of me across the stage at the College of Arts and Sciences graduation, and, you know, I felt that I’m not only proud I had a chance to work with many of them, but that I’m confident that they’ll be the ones in charge some day.

Tags: education, virtual children by Scott Warnock by Scott Warnock
No Comments »