Today marks 15 days since I was last in the classroom in front of students. I’ve been sheltering in place since March 6, participating in meetings via videoconferencing and completing work that will result in the close of the winter quarter today. I have made a plan to live and work this way until June out of an abundance of caution.

We may never know what it was that caught the president’s attention and made him a believer. He now understands that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in our country, and that thousands have been tested and found to be infected. Thousands will die. This is a frighteningly different phenomenon than the annual flu season. And, finally, all the powers and resources of the federal government are being marshaled on behalf of its citizens.

Exploring issues outside the classroom is still very much part of my work. Here are some of the appearances I’ll be making this spring.

We’ve just concluded off-year elections, including many local races and referendums. In Seattle, only around one third of registered voters exercised that fundamental right.

Annie stepped down recently from the Seattle Public Library Foundation after twelve years.

Annie has published a third edition of Advice From A Risk Detective as well as a fifth volume of Reflections on Risk. Our other large project was threefold: rearchitect, improve content, and migrate our ten year old website to the SquareSpace platform.