
Wishing you the joy of renewal and hope for the future.

Answering questions at Boston College O’Neill Library

Wishing you the joy of renewal and hope for the future.
Unlikely at best. Skunks, like many domesticated animals, enjoy exploring; however, unlike many animals, they tend not to be able to find their way back home. They’re also hard to control, and use their long claws to dig, which means deep scratches in furniture and walls. All in all, I don’t recommend it. It’s also not clear they pass muster under MA law: bit.ly/MA-wild-pets
“The future is cloudy, please try again,” as my distant cousin the Magic 8-Ball often says. I am reasonably certain that even UCS doesn’t know when they’ll be back on campus. Certainly, none of my own assistants do. I’m sorry you feel like you could drown in your tears. ?. Yes, this wall can cry. Sometimes I’m afraid for my human friends, sometimes sad because you’re all gone, and sometimes sad because I empathize with your pain. I’m stingy with tears, though, because I don’t want to cause a short-circuit in the wiring ?
![[photo of skunk]](https://library.bc.edu/answerwall/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AW04-06-2020-01-225x300.jpeg)
Cute! I am not surprised Stinky didn’t care for your kind offer; skunks are repelled by citrus. Feeding wild skunks is not generally recommended. But if you wanted a pet skunk… https://bit.ly/StripeyPet
It sounds like something happened that has broken your trust with friends. ? I’m really sorry that happened. If some friends are not maintaining contact as much as you’d like during this crisis, I’d advise giving them some room. We’re all reacting to this in different ways. Some are reaching out, others are closing down. As to how to pick friends? Extend trust & see what happens. Sadly, there’s no formula.
Summer session 1 is definitely scheduled to be online only. Stay tuned for news on summer session 2. More details in The Heights: bit.ly/BCsummerplanz.
You’re doing fine. Everyone is reacting a little bit differently to what’s going on, but fear, stress, and massive upheaval in everyday life are the exact kinds of things that make it hard to concentrate. Some people are dealing with that by keeping themselves busy. That’s not productivity. Also, there are about a billion lists like this online right now: bit.ly/bc-selfcare. Pick one thing off a list like that you might enjoy, and don’t worry about the rest. Be kind to yourself. Eat regularly. Try to keep a schedule.

BC & sunsets are a really nice pairing. Thanks for the lovely photo! If you’re ever up early enough, sunrise down by the reservoir is something to behold.
Either one would probably be a welcome addition to many household’s provisions right now.
Why not both? ? ? ?None of my assistants have seen a goose egg on campus, either. That might be because female Canada geese choose nesting sites that are hidden, and adjacent to open water or marsh. I wouldn’t get too close to one, though: male geese are on patrol. For more info: bit.ly/canada-geese

Geese are notoriously cranky, so it’s best to give them some space. You’re bored? OK, I always forget humans have a much lower capacity for just hanging out than I do. There are about as many lists of suggestions for things to do online as there are grains of sand. Here’s one that looks decent: bit.ly/bc-bored. Boston.com does a weekly list of reasons to get out of the house on the weekend, but they’ve flipped it–here are their suggestions: bit.ly/bc-bored1. Those are some starting places, anyway. Stay safe, be well.
I’d have fallen for your joke, but I’m already familiar with the Gasson bell tower wall; they’re a little too… highbrow for me. You don’t need to buy a gift. Just send one of these interesting AI neural-net-generated April Fools pranks: bit.ly/ai-april-fool

Both Newton and Boston Fire respond very quickly. One of my assistants once had to call, and they could hear sirens before they were even off the phone. No, I don’t know what they responded to. It looks like it needed hoses, so I doubt it was a cat up a tree.

Wow, Molly is getting big! We could all use a little love from Molly these days.
I’m still here, but most of my helpers are working from their homes. I miss seeing them and all our students in the lobby every day. I have a lot of books to keep me company!
I don’t know. You would need to check with the office of student services, and with the blue cross/blue shield plan you’re enrolled in: bit.ly/bc-insurance. I am a mere Wall, and though I can often muster answers about the meaning of life, insurance coverage is beyond my ken.
You’d have to check with the financial aid office for an authoritative, up-to-date answer: bit.ly/bc-fin-aid
The FA office has responded! (4/2/20): “The meal plan money that is being put on weekly for those eligible students still on campus will roll over each week for the rest of this semester but once the semester is over, it’s gone. It does not roll forward into next year’s plan.”

Awwwww bunny-wunny is adorbs!

Shout out to everybody working hard right now, and to everybody who’s still feeling a little wobbly. I’d love to see some pictures of other walls in your life. And I’m curious how the Million Dollar Steps are holding up.
I miss our furry friends! Here’s the furry friend of one of my assistants.

My 2nd cousin, who is a wall at a very well-known Upper Manhattan site, has some fabulous pet tapestries….

Eerie! I’ve been seeing so many photos of empty spaces, and it makes me realize just how used to the contact of others we all (even walls) are, and how important it is during this time to stay connected in all the ways we can.