Entspannen = literally "de-tense" or "de-tighten"

 

I have been home for a while now, and the news of no strike is just starting to register with me. At last, I may unclench all that I have been clenching! I sit in the recliner with a mug of hot, sweet tea, and as I mentally decompress, my body reacts with surprising swiftness. My biceps ache and when I reach to rub the decrepit muscle, it is alarmingly sore. Didn't realize that I externalized my tension to that degree. Just before I left the office, I took down three volumes from my bookshelf to bring home with me. 

 

The first, by Gerhart Hauptmann, is Die Weber, a social drama of Naturalism that chronicles the Silesian weavers' bitter uprising against exploitative bosses in 1848.

 The second is Germinal, Emile Zola's Naturalist novel of 1885 that is a fictional account of French miners whose need for social justice overcomes their personal fears and leads them to strike against the oppressive capitalist mine owners. 

 The last book is The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life by Parker Palmer, an "educational activist" who captured my heart in his introduction:

"This book is for teachers who have good days and bad—and whose bad days bring the suffering that comes only from something one loves. It is for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life."

Background reading for the next Collective Agreement in two years ...