Overcrowded and Underfunded

How I am feeling today: exhausted and productive

What I am listening to today: Wajatta – Casual High Technology

What I am reading today: Poetry (July/August 2020 issue)

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Here we are almost at the end of June and I am ready for July. Really, I am just ready for the public to get their sh*t together wear their masks so we can flatten the curve. I am hoping that happens in July. In any case, though, it has been a solid week. My daily walks in the park are refreshing, except when people are not wearing their masks. I am finding, too, that I have to change walking locations to find more and more secluded areas away from these mask-less people. I tried the LA Arboretum and that has been great. However, in June the amount of people there with their little kids during weekdays is a bummer. But life goes on and so do I… to a new walking location.

Other than the walks, I have been working on my classes for the fall. It is unclear whether we will be going back strictly distance ed or if it will be hybrid. I’m thinking it will probably be hybrid, so now that plays more into my syllabi and lesson plans. That being said, luckily, I teach writing and not dance, voice, or visual arts because my heart goes out to my colleagues that will have to adapt to teaching their classes that way. As my grandma has told me throughout my life (and still does almost weekly), “where there is a will, there is a way.” I am certain that these teachers, and hopefully all teachers, will find that way to best teach their students coming back this fall. Even more so, I hope they have the support of their administrators through all this. It would be great to see some of that support as a pay bump, as well, for all this extra unpaid time spent adapting and developing hybrid curriculum. Only time will tell, I suppose. As for now, all I can do is keep developing my own courses and keep checking my email for updates from those in the know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

P.S. Check out the new issue of Poetry that comes out next month. The cover is a gorgeous acid trip of wavy characters done by Julie Murphy, and the poems inside are some of the best this year. Eduardo C. Corral’s poems alone are worth the price of admission.

All right. See you in July!