Day 25 - LA County Dept. of Public Health mandates indoor masking and OUTDOOR masking at large events
Class is in session…
9/9/21. Thursday
10:30 –11:00 - I wake up naturally, but I’m in some pain as a result of my Shingles outbreak. Although I popped all of the blisters yesterday, the rash sites are just oozing. Sorry for the TMI. Websites recommend putting Neosporin on the site and covering with bandages which is what I do. To me, it makes more sense to leave the wounds uncovered in the hope that they’ll dry out and scab over, but I’ll try the Neosporin recommendations first.
I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s awake and running around so we go outside immediately. She goes potty while I check on my plants. Return inside and coffee for me, sliced cheese for her. I go upstairs.
11:00-1:00 – Blog posts.
1:00-2:00 – L. surfaces so I take the opportunity to ask her to make a few edits for my lecture tonight.
2:00-3:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform.
3:00-3:30 – I do the first 30 minutes of an Insanity – Cardio Recovery workout.
L. leaves for work.
3:30-4:00 – I’m still feeling a burning sensation emanating from my right hip and the burning seems exacerbated whenever anything touches the lesions. I opt for a skirt tonight because I think it will be less painful than pants and I put fresh bandages on the sores. I add a blouse and put on make-up.
4:00-5:30 – I make last-minute revisions to the Discussion Board for tonight’s class. Then, I complete/scan the “Census”, nail down a date for my intro interview with my evaluator [recall that I’m being evaluated at College No. 1], and answer email from several students in tonight’s class.
5:30 – 7:00 – Driving. I listen to PBS Newshour and Citations Needed and have my 2-bean salad for dinner in the car. When I’m finished I have a few mini-chocolate chips.
I leave on the early side because Adjunct contracts were generated for Fall Semester 2021 and placed in our boxes in the Mail Room with deadlines to sign the contracts. I need to sign mine and submit to the HR inbox ASAP, which means I have to go to the Mail Room before class starts, sign my contract, and place it in the HR mailbox. During Covid, Admin emailed the contracts to us and we “Docu-signed” them. Why don’t we continue this practice?
This “business as usual” model, reverting back to the ‘way it was’ before Covid-19, is so stupid and, yet, this is what’s happening everywhere…even with Distance Education. A huge segment of our student population prefers DE, but because College No. 1 has invested millions of dollars in the numerous, ongoing construction projects we see on campus [it looks like a war zone around here], we’re supposed to pretend that virtual education never happened. In other words, we’re reverting back to the old, constrained, classroom model, but throwing a bone to those students who like DE by implementing this ineffective “Hyflex” model.
All of this is similar to ‘Big Corporate’ telling millions of employees, whose productivity actually increased when they abruptly reverted to WFH, that they must return to the office. Now. It is unclear why.
Corporations are actually cutting salaries for employees who WFH in lower cost-of-living areas like Montana and Idaho, as opposed to employees who WFH in areas like San Francisco and New York. Why should it matter where you WFH? Shouldn’t everyone receive the same salary? Like corporations, colleges are also pretending that students and instructors didn’t just have a successful experience working and teaching remotely. At the college level, you don’t have to report to a brick-and-mortar classroom in order to receive a decent education. I get that it’s important for the “little ones” to return to the classroom, but college students? No.
7:00-10:00 – In class and we all continue to mask. The Hyflex model rolls on…instructors call it the “High Stress. model. I set up my Online students with the pre-recorded Audio lecture and Google slides, while simultaneously starting lecture with my F2F students. Tonight, I’m introducing the “check-in” email to my Online class. When I break my F2F students, I send an email blast to the Online students asking them to email me, NOW, in current time, the number of the Google slide they are currently viewing. To my surprise, almost every student complies. They are actually ‘in class’ and paralleling my F2F students.
The strange burning sensation on my right side continues. The lesions are painful and uncomfortable - it’s difficult to concentrate while I’m lecturing but I get through it.
10:00-10:45 – Class dismissed. I send email blasts to those Online students who did NOT sign in on the Discussion Board informing them that they were marked absent and will receive a 0 on the Video Quiz. I also send an email blast to those students who did not respond to my “Check-in” email.
I update Attendance for both classes.
10:45-11:00 – Time to walk to my car. Campus is really creepy at this time of night – everyone is gone and there are almost no cars in the parking lot.
11:00-12:00 – Driving. I listen to the latest episode of Spooked and have carrots and hummus for a snack.
12:00-12:30 – Home and it takes a ½-hour to unload the car.
12:30-1:30 – I make a sea scrub poultice and place on the shingles sites. It feels so good and the pain and inflammation are largely relieved. I lie on my side with my fan blowing directly on my hip and stomach.
L. is out with J. and N. at a “Rooftop Movie” in LA, watching Cabin in the Woods. This is their last night together as J. and N. will report to their respective dorms, in Chicago and San Francisco. L. is sad.
1:30 – 3:00 – L. returns home with a dozen Crispy Crème donuts [uh-oh] and we spend this time talking about her day. She had a shift at the Art Studio, an online college class, and a movie date with J. and N. A jam-packed day. [insert tired emoji here]
3:00-4:00 – Nighttime routine. I take some Advil and pack the lesion sites with sea salt. Bed. I set my alarm for 7:30 because my highschoolers have class tomorrow at 8:30 sharp.