Category: Volunteer

Nursed a Surly Furious waiting for Dwight to show from his greenhouse gig. He’d been nursing seedlings from an almost-extinct Hawaiian plant that he’d previously pollinated. I was happy to wait.

Ready to deliver my twice-weekly “Phlebotomy as a Third Language” tutorial over Google Meet. English is the second language, Somali the first. I use slides from a phlebotomy certification course, but focus on the language rather than the practice of drawi

Covered some heavy stuff with my ESL/phlebotomy student. I’d be amazed if I’ve spelled all the words correctly.

Cycled to a clinic to get blood drawn by a phlebotomist. Later, held a biweekly ESL (English as a second language) Zoom session with an adult student who is studying to be a phlebotomist. We’re working through a text book learning to say words like “ethylenediaminetetraacetic.”

Organized learning materials before my GED student arrived via Microsoft Teams. Currently we’re exploring ways to represent opposing arguments. Google Docs is turning out to be an excellent tool as it makes it possible for us to edit a document simultaneously.

Swore when I knocked a mug of coffee onto the keyboard while tutoring a student online. It could’ve been worse: I said sh#$ rather than f&$#, and the keyboard still works.

As anger spills over in Minneapolis, I’m focusing on my small contribution for a better future. A GED (high school equivalency diploma) text, the size of a phone book, arrived in the mail. I’ll tutor an adult non-native speaker online.

Asked questions.

Taught a citizenship class for former refugees.

Students called me “teacher.” My best title, ever.