Tag: coronavirus

COVID’s latest casualty: Halloween 2020, but candy endures
Halloween is one of this community’s, and all of greater Los Angeles’, most beloved holidays. Maybe it’s our residents’ penchant for set and costume design or our balmy late October nights? Either way, the celebrations usually begin well before Oct. 31. As with all aspects of life in the COVID-19 era, things are a bit […]

Saddest casualty of all: The school play and the unknown loss
When the pandemic hit in March (remember March?), theater productions everywhere were cancelled. Large theaters, 99-seat theaters, summer theaters, etc. all suffered devastating artistic and financial losses, from which many will never recover. Indeed, the entire play- (and concert-) going experience may be changed if not quite forever, then for a very long time to […]

Home life, homeschool: the series, Part III: Older students, friends at home too
At this point, every student (and family) has come to terms with the fact that schools in Los Angeles County will not reopen their doors this school calendar year. As of our April 2020 edition, some private schools were still on the fence. Not anymore; with stay-at-home orders still in place, homeschool has become the […]

History of past college pandemic responses as a guide for this fall
Most universities have suspended in-person classes and sent students home to minimize potential spread of COVID-19, as the country mobilizes resources to care for growing numbers of infected patients. Officials have branded these efforts as part of their “war” against the virus, with President Donald Trump even calling himself a “war-time president.” The present circumstances […]

Council Report: Threat of virus exposes simmering racism and bigotry
These past months have been harrowing, as we have worked together as a community to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Unfortunately, it has exposed many pre-existing vulnerabilities in our society — income inequality, educational disparities, weaknesses in our social safety nets — that have exacerbated the gravity of this crisis. What this virus […]

Takeout, delivery, creativity put food on the table during COVID-19 isolation
The other day last month I attempted to do my grocery shopping before work. Not so long ago, it was perfectly reasonable to expect that one could run into the store, grab a package of chicken breasts and a bag of Brussels sprouts, pay and go in short order. Not so in these times of […]