4: Hurricane Rona: Leading in the Midst of Dueling Pandemics

Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth (US Department of Commerce, 2021). They can cause mass destruction and leave a trail of deadly devastation. Despite the warning of Obama’s administration about such a global threat, the Pandemic of 2020 was one of the most unprecedented and unforeseen metaphorical storms in the history of our world, as we know it. At its peak, every corner of the globe was blindsided and devastated by this sudden viral cyclone that no one, including leaders and governments across countries knew how to readily counter. The Education sector was caught right in the eye of the deadly storm. Educators were surrounded by darkness with no sense of direction and pounded by the torrential rain of uncertainty. Rendered helpless, not knowing what to do, educators became lost, groping in the dark to find some stability and resolution that would never come too soon. This chapter is a glimpse of my trials, tribulations and silver linings as an Asian American educator, a teacher who stood by the cause and desperately struggled to survive one of the deadliest storms encountered in our history, Hurricane Rona.