Day 15-LA County Dept. of Public Health mandates indoor masking and OUTDOOR masking at large events

First day of school for L. at Otis…

8/30/21. Monday

This week has been a tough week. Two of my classes went live and my work schedule finally crystallized so I know what I’m doing until December.  Unfortunately, I work every day; Tuesday and weekends are my new days off.  As a general rule, I hate going anywhere on the weekend – no parking, traffic is bad, and everything is packed. I’d much rather work on the weekend in favor of having week days off, but this semester is not shaking out that way. On Mondays, I have class right in the middle of the day [2:30-5:35] but it’s a round trip of 2 hours so that day is shot. Wednesday is a bit better as class is online and starts at 8:30, but after attendance is taken and students are emailed, doesn’t truly end until 11:00.  After that time, the rest of the day is available, however.

I work on the back end on Thursdays, but I’m not home until 11:00 p.m. Then, I really should get ready for bed, because I have to wake up early the next morning, Friday, to teach my 8:30 class. Like Wednesday, after 11:00 I’m free the rest of the day on Fridays. Everything is so bifurcated, though.

As a result of this work schedule [at least this week – next week I will be more intentional], L.’s constant car problems, yet another scheduled vendor, and the hours I’m spending on this garage door project, I didn’t sufficiently schedule extracurricular activities so virtually no time to decompress.

6:00 – L. is up and getting ready for her first day at Otis.

6:30 –7:30 -  I’m up and I go downstairs to greet the animal. The dog is completely out of it – too early – and barely moves when I come downstairs. I sit next to her and rub her tummy until she finally rolls over and jumps down. We go outside and I water a few of my potted plants while the dog goes potty.  Return inside and chopped turkey burger for her; coffee for me.

L. leaves for Otis in my car.

I take a shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up.

7:30-8:00 – I leave for Trident Auto in my rental car.

8:00-8:15 – Arrive at Trident and discuss the problems with L.’s car with the owner, reminding him that they just worked on L.’s suspension last week.  He says there will be a rack available in about 30 minutes, at which point he’ll assess the problem and call me.

8:15-8:30 – Driving.

8:30-9:30 – Home and I eat my leftover egg from The Junction and read Testament.

9:30-12:00 – Blog posts and then I post to them to my website.

12:00 – 12:30 – I check email at College No. 1 and review today’s course content. Good to go.

12:30-12:50 – I pack a few snacks in my lunch bag; then

12:50-1:15 – change into a dress, touch up my make-up, and leave.

1:15 – 2:15 – Driving

L. texts to find out the status on her car. Hmmm…I still don’t know.

2:15-2:30 – I call Trident and an employee tells me there was an oil spill and L.’s car still hasn’t made it to the rack. They’ll call me later. Great.

I walk through the construction zone to my classroom. It is unbelievably hot today and I’m sweating by the time I make it to the lecture hall.

2:30-5:35 – There are only 8 students in the classroom.  One of the students, BH, emailed me and said he was “sick” and not only could he NOT make the Face-to-Face class, his headache is also preventing him from attending the ONLINE section. I think he’s telling the truth and this sounds like a Covid symptom to me. The female student’s Covid test from last week came back positive and College No. 1 is making her quarantine for the next 10 days. How Administration found out is beyond me, but I’m glad somebody told them. I think student BH has Covid, too. 

So, my Face-to-Face section contains approximately 10-12 students and two of them have contracted Covid within the first three weeks of school.  And these are just anecdotal stats for MY class.  Are the other instructors experiencing similar findings? Probably…and yet College No. 1 says nothing and doesn’t bother to warn us.

You’ll love this…at Week #3, maintenance finally got around to installing the standard 3-panel pexiglass ‘surround’, i.e., the obligatory 2-ft-high shield that surrounds every computer. Recall that this Lecture Hall was opened on a whim, 24 hours before the first day of class, and there was no time to implement Covid-19 protocols.  So, although the 3-panel pexiglass surround was installed this week, I, and the other instructors who use this Lecture Hall, have been potentially exposed for the past two weeks. 

As stated in one of my earlier posts, a recent study found that pexi-glass shields don’t work anyway, but if Administration is intent on installing them in every classroom in order to convey a false sense of psychological security for the instructors, shouldn’t they have installed the inserts before opening this Lecture Hall? This delay makes me feel even more expendable because it’s obvious College No. 1 doesn’t care about any of us…neither students nor instructors.  Their main concern is increasing enrollment to line the college’s coffers so Administrators can pad their 6-figure incomes with tuition payments from low-income students and federal loans, while paying adjunct instructors a pittance even when adjuncts’ work has tripled.  Recall that I’m actually teaching FOUR classes under this stupid Hybrid model, but only being paid for teaching TWO classes.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer…but this motto has taken on warp speed in the last 18 months of the pandemic, with Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffet quadrupling their fortunes off the backs of “essential” workers. Add College Administrators to the mix.

College No. 1’s motto for this semester is Best of Intentions, which means they can turn to the bullshit measures that they’ve implemented – hand sanitizer, masks, and pexi-glass surrounds for the computers in every classroom – after the class-action lawsuit is filed against Admin. for failing to inform the instructors of the Delta outbreak that occurred during the early weeks of the semester…”Sorry, your Honor…we implemented as many Covid/Delta safety measures as we could, but we can’t provide a 100% risk-free environment.”  “We had the ‘Best of Intentions.’ “ How about reverting to 100% Distance Learning?

The speaker is still out, even after I filed a Work Order, my colleague filed a Work Order, and  I had a  lengthy email thread with the head of the IT Dept.  I knew Maintenance/IT wasn’t going to fix it because I’ve been implementing MY OWN work-arounds for years at this campus. I brought my Beets speaker from home and was able to “pair” it with the computer so that the audio for my documentaries comes out of my speaker which is setting on the counter, in front of the lecture hall.

I still like my Face-to-Face class and we have lively discussion today. Unfortunately, there was a snafu with the ONLINE folks…the Discussion Board was locked and they were unable to sign in, which means that 14 students emailed me, in a panic, that they couldn’t sign in.  I send an email blast to all the students and then email every student individually that I will mark them present on my Attendance. Finally, I get them back on track with the recorded lecture and the Google slides.  What a mess!

Class dismissed.

5:40-7:00 – Driving. I eat carrots, hummus, apples, and almond butter on the way home.

I check text messages and Trident sent me a text while I was in class that L.’s car is done. Trident says they will cover the cost of my rental car. I’m both shocked and pleased.

7:00-7:45 – Home and I change into my Covid-19 uniform and take the dog for a walk.

7:45-9:00 - L is home and tells me about her first day at Otis. Today, L. attended ONE painting class from 8:00-3:30. The first half of the class involved going over the Syllabus and Lecture which, according to L., was fragmented and scattered. Additionally, the instructor spent over an hour providing an incorrect interpretation of The Arnolfini Wedding by Netherlands artist Jan van Eyck.  Coincidentally, this painting was the topic of a research paper that L. completed a few months ago and her then-instructor spoke at length on the symbolism and meaning of the work so L. is well-versed with this painting.

HOWEVER, L.’s current instructor is a master artist.  The students’ first assignment involves painting a portrait or landscape – or anything, really – while simulating the painting techniques used by artists during the Renaissance period. Apparently, artists from this period paint in layers – one layer after another (it sounds incredibly time consuming) – and her professor did a demo for the students which L. said was impressive.  The second half of the class involved the students starting their homework assignment. L. was able to put several layers of white paint on her canvas during the remaining class time, while creating a smoother effect than most of the students.

L. likes this class and has several ideas about her design.  Oh…most importantly…L. was able to introduce herself to the only hot guy in the class and F. ended up walking L. to her car.  I forgot that a large part of the college experience involves hooking up with hot people…education is secondary.

9:00-9:45 – I water my plants.

9:45-11:00 – I do a 1-hr Insanity Max – Plyometric workout.

11:00 -12:00 – L. and I watch Married at First Sight.

12:00-12:30 – L. and I have to get up early tomorrow so I can return the rental car so we call it after one episode. Kitchen duty and I ready my coffee for tomorrow.

12:30-1:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 6:30.