It is March fourteenth, 3/14 in the States and so, Pi Day. Since 2018 (seems so long ago!) I have cooked up a post for Pi Day but for many reasons this may end up to be more of a reflection on the year past than an offering of pi.
In 2020 March 14th did not fall on a school day but I kept with tradition and posted a pi poem anyway. At the time of that writing I did not yet know that Friday the 13th was the last time I would see my students in person in the classroom; decisions and changes came fast and furious that weekend and throughout the following weeks as we went to teaching remotely in a local response to a world wide pandemic. It was not how I ever imagined my last year of teaching, for I had implemented personal changes of my own, and would be retiring at the end of the school year. Those last months were the most challenging I’d experienced in over twenty-four years of teaching. They also were a blessing, as that work was mission oriented and kept me focused as I served students and colleagues the best I could. I was reminded of what matters most.
I felt discombobulated in the blogosphere at that time, at the beginning of ‘sheltering in place’ and other new normals. A few of my prompt responses did reflect current events, and Kid and Pal, my Ranch Yarn characters, expressed their concerns at that time in rare front-page appearances here at shiftnshake. But for the most part I did as Kid and Pal decided to do and just pressed on as if the real world wasn’t coming undone by the covid pandemic and other atrocities. And by the 23rd of March, 2020, Charli Mills set up a page at her Carrot Ranch where Kid and Pal could carry on at the Saddle Up Saloon, a place that continues to provide for one and all an entertaining refuge from reality.
In the last year the Saddle Up is the only saloon, pub, or bar that I’ve stepped foot in. I have retired, moved house, and returned already to teaching part time. After a long tumultuous year, this March there seems to be some hope, some light at the end of the tunnel, though many things will never be the same. Too many people’s lives are forever changed by deaths and illnesses related to the pandemics.
Yes, pandemics, plural. Because in addition to a biological virus that spread rampant around the world, we are also suffering through the ongoing pandemic of hate and ignorance.
The culture that gave us scientific and mathematical frameworks; that has us still pondering concepts like pi with delight; that has been celebrated for tolerance and democracy— also tolerated the enslavement and abuse of other human beings, their democracy a form of institutional disenfranchisement for many members of society. This country, my country, was founded on those ideals. Yes, all of those ideals, not just the pretty ones; and this is not ancient history. Still, now, today, here— not everyone gets the same size slice of apple pie, if any, as true now as in 1776, 1876 and 1976.
Pi is an irrational number, one of division that comes to no conclusion. What conclusions can we draw about the disproportionate number of people of color targeted and victimized by the police, placed in our prisons? What can we conclude about leading the world not in a systematic and strategic response to the corona virus, but in number of deaths? What can we conclude about ourselves as a nation when a madman inspires and instigates a number of his cult to attack and desecrate the very house of our cherished mythological democracy— and the madman goes free?
Still, let us take heart. Let us prove to be a rational people, with a capacity for good that deters the infections of hate and fear. Let us address and solve our divisions with an inclusive conclusion satisfactory to all.
Here is this year’s pi poem, a tanka:
how they pried
uroboric tale
divine math?
blind scales of hubris
calculating loss
See previous Pi Days here (3/14/18) here (3/14/19) and here (3/14/20)
ShiftnShake 
Beautiful and wise piece, D, and thanks for expanding my vocabulary. Stand by to see uroboric appear in my writing one day. 🙂 Good teachers are always in my pantheon of unsung heros and I am confident that you are among the best. My own country is not without its shameful roll call of historic and ongoing perfidy towards people of colour but the sheer weight of ongoing injustice in the US is staggering. For us, a wealthy country that does not provide universal health care because that’s what ‘communists’ do is a head scratcher. I’d have thought that was the Christian thing to do but it seems not. Finally, we look on in disbelief when the sacred right for every adult to vote can be thwarted by US State governments at will in a country that espouses itself as the paragon of democracy. But what always heartens me is people like you, the blogginfg community and the many friends I made when I visited your country frequently in my work with non-profits in the past. Let not the future be uroboric (see, told you I’d use it some time). Warm regards, Doug, and save me some humble pi. 🙂
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Thank you Doug.
Yeah. The snake eating its tail, symbol of wholeness, infinity… Uroboros. I meant it as a dig at Pi, like why divide, why cut into that circle anyway? Stay whole! Will the circle be unbroken? The words in the above image, snatched shamelessly from Wikipedia, are said to mean “the all is one”. By and by, lord, by and by.
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Fittingly beautiful reply to a beautiful post, Doug.
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An interesting reflection on the year that was and wasn’t, or we wish it wasn’t. I hadn’t realised ‘it’ had come to an abrupt end on Pi Day. How memorable and remarkable. I’m surprised The Saddle Up Saloon has been a thing for only such a short time. I feel it’s been a part of the Ranch forever and that Kid and Pal have been with us since time began. I wish I was wise enough to fully understand your poem.
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“It” ended for me in my community about that time, and it was abrupt, but with lots of work and struggles with the new means of teaching. I remember how quiet things were in those first couple months, very little traffic, etc. It added to the eerie uncertain feeling.
Pal at least claims to have been with the Ranch since ranch time began, you are right. I’d be pleased to think the Saloon is a thing and hope it is for a long time to come.
Don’t worry about that poem. I’m sure the problem lies with the poet.
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So many uncertainties at the moment. There always are, but they seem to have increased in the past few years.
Perhaps the uncertainty fairy was reading that poem over my shoulder. 🙂
It’s good for Pal and Kid to have some security in these uncertain times.
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Damn, pi day rolled by without me, so thanks for the reminder in your beautiful post. What a smart framework for reviewing this past year of pandemics, as you say, the ongoing pandemic of hate and ignorance.If only they’d invest as much in the vaccine against that. Teachers like you are part of that solution, it’s got to start with the youth.
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As far as Pi day, I think we may differ on that on account of how dates are abbreviated in the UK. Or should I say here; I think we may be bassackwards compared to the rest of the world. Thanks for dropping by and I’m glad if you enjoyed this serving of pi.
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It’s true, like socialist healthcare and driving on the right, the US gets dates wrong. Although since I often don’t even know what season it is (despite clues from the weather), putting the month first can help.
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