Items

• 2020-03-16

  My life with COVID

  The COVID pandemic has affected everyone around the world. Going into march of 2020, I had a lot of pressure put on me by my parents to either quit my job, or take time off because they didn't know how serious the virus was and wanted me to take no chances. I also have an autistic brother who cannot speak so I didn't want to risk giving COVID to him. At the time, nobody knew how severe the virus was, but as time passed I witnessed first hand how serious it was. When I got back to work after taking time off, I saw what I thought was a joke. Shelves of foods completely empty, and all toilet paper sold out as well other cleaning products. This went on for about a month before people stopped buying a lot of things in fear. There would be lines outside of my job because too many people were coming and we didn't want to have a lot of people gathered in one place for safety reasons. More time passed and things sort of went back to normal but people now wore masks and practiced social distancing. Now over a year later, things are more calm and people are finally doing the right thing and wearing masks to prevent the spread of the virus and end this pandemic.
• 
  2020

  Exploration Camp Main Page

  This is the main page on the Golden Gate Area Council website about Exploration Camp, which was a virtual merit badge camp offered in the summer of 2020. The session information on the side notes the camp ran from June 15 to August 7.
• 
  2020

  Exploration Camp Class Catalog

  This is the catalog of merit badges offered at Exploration Camp, a virtual replacement for Wolfeboro in 2020 offered by Golden Gate Area Council. Some traditionally-offered badges couldn't be done online, like many nature-related badges. However, the online format made it possible for other badges to be offered, like Genealogy or Game Design, that aren't offered at Camp Wolfeboro.
• 
  2021-01

  Wolfeboro Storm Damage

  These are two screenshots of a post and comment from the official Camp Wolfeboro Facebook page talking about damage the camp sustained in January 2021 from storms. The post provides a donation link for people to donate money to fix the damage; the post notes the donation goal is $20,000. The post notes that 40 trees fell in camp and that the water heater shed was destroyed. A comment left by the camp account under the post says "At this time, about 40 trees down in camp and on the road. The water heater shed has also been destroyed. This information is as of Sunday, no news on the storms of the past 48 hours". The post was uploaded on January 27, 2021.
• 
  2021-01-25

  An atmospheric river could dump 10 feet of snow in California’s Sierra Nevada

  This article from the Washington Post discusses the possibility of snowstorms in the Sierra Nevadas at the end of January 2021. The article specifically mentions that the Sierra Nevada could see up to ten feet of snow. The article also forecasts the possibility of 80-mile-per-hour winds in California's eastern mountains. These storms turned out to be real and damaged Camp Wolfeboro's infrastructure.
• 
  2021-06-16

  Golden Gate Area Council Updated COVID-19 Policy

  This is a document made by Golden Gate Area Council in response to California's reopening on June 15, 2021. It discusses vaccination and testing status requirements for campers, masking requirements indoors, tenting, and dining service, all of which are mentioned in the Leader's Guide. The end of the document implores leaders to make sure their Scouts clean themselves at camp, and concerns about mental health that arise from Scouts not staying long periods of time away from home for over a year. Neither hygiene nor mental health is mentioned in the Leader's Guide, but both are mentioned here. The document softens some of the COVID restrictions that were planned for camp. The update states that dining halls will be open for normal dine-in meals, overriding the Leader's Guide which stated that some meals may be take-out. Additionally, the update specifies that masks are not required to be worn outdoors. The Leader's Guide said "while at camp each and every camper must wear a face covering over their mouth and nose", not addressing a difference between indoors and outdoors.
• 
  2020-06

  BSA SAFE RESTART Checklist

  This is a checklist made by the Boy Scouts of America to guide adult leaders in resuming in-person activities. The checklist is split into four parts: Supervision, Assessment, Fitness and Skill, and Equipment and Environment, which together make the acronym "SAFE". The document additionally has a list of things to consider while planning in-person meetings and during meetings. The Golden Gate Area Council Summer Camp 2021 Combined Leaders’ Guide recommends that each unit (troop) completes the checklist prior to attending any camp, including Camp Wolfeboro. A note on the bottom of the checklist says the document is from June 2020.
• 
  2021-05-14

  Golden Gate Area Council Summer Camp 2021 Combined Leaders’ Guide (Version 2.1 - May 14, 2021)

  This is a document from Golden Gate Area Council that provides a variety of information on the council's Scout camps, including Camp Wolfeboro. The guide is made for Scoutmasters and other adult leaders, hence the name of the document. Page 1 provides a summary of changes made to camps for the 2021 summer. Some of the changes the documents discusses for the 2021 year include: Page 10: Troops cannot arrive to camp early, on Saturday instead of Sunday. All troops must arrive on Sunday. Page 13: "ALL Campers must show proof of either a valid vaccination for COVID-19 (both doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer with at least two weeks of elapsed time after the second dose or two weeks of elapsed time after the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine) or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arrival at camp." Page 14: Dining halls at camp would be at 50% capacity, with outdoor seating available. Page 14: Wednesday meals will not be given to troops to cook, but instead will be served in the Dining Hall like all other meals (specific to Camp Wolfeboro). Page 15: Visitors are not allowed at camp. Pages 20-21: Explains COVID-19 procedures before camp and at camp, including vaccination or testing requirements found on page 13. Page 24: All campfires are prohibited, except for propane- and butane-based firepits. Page 45: The Lifesaving merit badge will not be offered at Camp Wolfeboro in 2021. Page 49: The Adventures Connection Experience (ACE) program will not be offered (specific to Camp Wolfeboro).
• 
  2021

  Drought at Camp Wolfeboro

  This National Integrated Drought Information System website shows a timeline map of drought conditions in the United States from 2000 to present by week. The map timeline shows that Camp Wolfeboro was located in the extreme drought category during the entire of the 2021 camp season. Extreme drought, according to NIDIS, means: "Livestock need expensive supplemental feed; cattle and horses are sold; little pasture remains; fruit trees bud early; producers begin irrigating in the winter Fire season lasts year-round; fires occur in typically wet parts of state; burn bans are implemented Water is inadequate for agriculture, wildlife, and urban needs; reservoirs are extremely low; hydropower is restricted". During the same time period most of the rest of California was also in drought conditions.
• 
  2020

  H396 University of San Francisco prompt

  Prompt given to University of San Francisco students in H396, taught by Kathryn Nasstrom
• 
  2021-01-19

  Essential Business Continuity Stipend – November 3, 2020 Election

  This is a letter I got in the mail from the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Registrar, that was sent to anyone in the county who worked at the polls on "the four days prior to or on Election Day". The letter accompanied a $100 stipend that the county was able to provide to election workers for the November general election because they received a grant from The Center for Tech and Civic Life. The following is an excerpt from the letter that mentions the challenges COVID provided to election working: "I want to personally thank you for being a key part of our Election team and for helping to keep voting safe, secure, and convenient under the uncertain conditions of a global pandemic. Your service as an Election Worker ensured that every voter who showed up to the polls was helped with ease and accuracy and that our ballots were processed securely and accurately. The November 3, 2020 election included many new challenges and obstacles that we had never faced. We overcame them together and had a very successful Presidential Election. You did a great ["great" is bolded and underlined] job – from learning our new electronic poll books, to taking the necessary precautions with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and social distancing."
• 
  2021-07

  Wolfeboro PO Whiteboard

  The top of the program office at Camp Wolfeboro, where the camp director and program director offices are, has a large whiteboard every year where Scouts are invited to draw anything so long as it is Scouting-appropriate. The two photos of the whiteboard were taken at the middle and end of the fifth session of camp; IMG_5768.jpg was taken on Wednesday, July 21 at 11:41 AM, and IMG_5817.jpg was taken on Friday, July 23 at 4:17 PM. In the two and a half days between the photos, there were some additions made to the board. The whiteboard includes a variety of references to recent cultural trends, some of which include: -Upper left: text reading "whats [sic] so funny about Sussus Amongus", a reference to a YouTube video titled "What's so funny about sussus amogus?", itself an Among Us parody of the Biggus Dickus sketch from Monty Python's Life of Brian. -Center left, immediately next to the edge of the board: the word "SHEESH" in orange marker, which is used to show a sense of disbelief about something, with a positive tone (similar to how "dang" or "damn" might be used) -Upper center, slightly to the right: a dark green drawing of an open eye crying laughing emoji, an edited version of the laughing crying emoji that is used in memes to signify an emotional reaction to something -Bottom right: an orange-colored set of Olympic rings, with the words "Olympians [illegible]" in blue beneath it Some of the additions between Wednesday and Friday include: -Center left: an Among Us crewmate next to a text bubble saying "SUSSY!" (a reference to the slang term "sus", meaning suspicious, often used alongside references to Among Us) Many of the specific cultural references refer to the video game Among Us. According to the program director, the massive Garfield drawing at the bottom left was drawn during the 2019 camp season but became unerasable by the time camp opened in 2021 (camp did not take place in-person in 2020).
• 
  2021-04-13

  Camp Wolfeboro Status Update Monday, April 13, 2020

  This is a letter from Monday, April 13, 2020 that was sent out by the Mt. Diablo Silverado Council of the Boy Scouts of America outlining three possibilities for the 2021 Camp Wolfeboro season, depending on when California lifted its stay-at-home orders. The letter also discusses an online opportunity to earn merit badges that would be hosted in the summer of 2020 if camp could not occur in person or if it only occurred for a reduced amount of time in person. The letter discusses how refunds would be handled if camp was canceled. Camp was canceled entirely in 2020 because the stay-at-home order extended past June 1, 2020, which is stated in the letter.
• 
  2021-03-18

  Oakland clinic offers Mayan interpreter for COVID-19 vaccinations

  Oakland clinic offers Mayan interpreter for COVID-19 vaccinations La Clinica de La Raza is targeting Latin Mam or Mayan-speaking community with translation service Thursdays OAKLAND — A new COVID-19 vaccination clinic in the Fruitvale neighborhood is offering interpreter services for the Latin Mam or Mayan-speaking community. This month, La Clinica de La Raza began offering the community-targeted vaccination service at 32 locations across the Bay Area, including ASCEND Elementary School on East 12th Street, where Latinos who speak Mam, K’iche ‘and Q’eqchi’ can get translation help from appointment to inoculation on Thursdays. There are over 22 different Mam dialects spoken primarily by people of Guatemalan and Mexican descent. According to a recent UC San Francisco study, Mayan people with Guatemalan roots are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Oakland. “I’m here to support my community, getting them the service that they deserve,” Brenda Sucely Perez, the on-site interpreter at ASCEND, said last week while about 450 eligible people were vaccinated. Staff at the Fruitvale site have administered roughly 2,000 Moderna vaccines per week since opening on March 4, according to La Clinica officials. Salvador Garcia, an Oakland firefighter, volunteered at the vaccination clinic. “Coming to get the vaccination is a good thing because it would help prevent the spread,” Garcia said, adding that it’s especially important given how close relatives in the Latino community live. “When you’re around people in such tight quarters around here, the way the families live with each other, it’s just good to have the preventative measure of the vaccination.” It’s also one of the reasons the nation’s first and strictest stay-at-home orders proved ill-suited for the hard-hit Latino community, a four-month Bay Area News Group investigation found. That analysis showed case rates for the region’s Latino residents are nearly four times higher than White residents, while the Latino population has fared worse against the virus across California. During the fall case surge, economic pressure to keep working outside the home became another major factor in the Latino community’s higher COVID-19 positivity rate in the Fruitvale neighborhood than the rest of the state, according to a UCSF study conducted in September. The results of that study found that antibody-positive prevalence was 9.8% overall among people who live and work in Fruitvale, a predominantly Latino neighborhood. The number spiked to 26.8% among the Latin Mam, or Mayan, speaking community, USCF [sic] researchers noted. The COVID-antibody test shows that someone once had coronavirus.
• 
  2020-07-05

  Painted rocks on Iron Horse Regional Trail

  These are a series of photos I took on July 5, 2020, of a set of painted rocks I found on the Iron Horse Trail in Danville. The rocks say: "BE KIND" "STRONGER TOGETHER" "DANVILLE GOT HEART" "WHEN THERE'S NO PEACE ON EARTH THERE IS PEACE IN CHRIST" "SRV '20" (in reference to nearby San Ramon Valley High School) "SMILE! 🙂" "EMBRACE THE PAUSE!" "count your BLESSINGS" "Learn from Yesterday" "LOVE has many COLORS" (with a painted Pride flag in the background) "TOGETHER we will PERSEVERE" The rocks are all positive in tone, with a rock celebrating the recently-graduated seniors at the local high school, a rock advocating for queer people, a variety of rocks with generic inspirational messages, and a message urging others to find solace in religion. There is also one rock that references Danville's community explicitly.
• 
  2020-11-14

  Diwali rangoli at City Center Bishop Ranch

  This is a photograph of a rangoli at City Center Bishop Ranch I took on November 14, 2020. That date also happens to be Diwali, a Hindu holiday on which some people make rangoli. Rangoli are made of various dyes and powders.
• 
  2020-04-30

  Minions!

  A family in San Ramon made a cutout of two minions wearing masks and put it in front of their home. The sign says "THANK YOU ❤️ HEALTHCARE WORKERS ❤️ FIRST RESPONDERS ❤️ ESSENTIAL WORKERS WE ❤️ U". The photo was taken on April 30, 2020.
• 
  2021-06-25

  English, Spanish, Mandarin, Tagalog COVID signs in SF

  On June 25th, I saw this set of posters next to a bathroom in Japan Center, a Japanese shopping center in San Francisco. The posters are in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Tagalog.
• 
  2021-06-16

  Get vaccinated at SFO airport

  The SFO airport is now offering 1-shot vaccines at a medical clinic. I never would have imagined in 2019 that you could get vaccinated in an airport, but clearly the priority is on increasing the number of vaccinated people in the U.S. It sounds convenient, as no appointment is needed.
• 
  2021-06-19

  Museum of the San Ramon Valley

  The Museum of the San Ramon Valley is well on its way to being back to normal. On June 15th, California officially reopened, which amongst other things meant there were no restrictions on how museums could operate. This means we can finally operate at full capacity. Even when we could only operate at 25 percent capacity we never hit our upper limit of guests, so capacity wasn't ever really a problem. That is something that concerns me as the museum reopens; that we will have low attendance. I was able to work at the museum a few times in the middle of the pandemic, and I never worked a day where we had more than thirty total guests (including people who were merely looking for a restroom or asking for directions to something, who did not pay to look at the exhibits - we had probably no more than 20 or so paying customers per day). We also don't need to impose mask mandates as of June 15, but the museum's board of directors decided to keep our mask mandate. However, if someone comes in without a mask and doesn't want to take a free one then we will still allow them into the museum. I am not concerned by this because I am vaccinated, and even if I wasn't there is a very low likelihood of getting sick. We have not done any exhibits related to COVID yet. Starting last year and continuing this year we have an exhibit on the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, with a focus on our local area. This is in addition to our regular exhibits. Starting today (June 19) we also have our train exhibit for a month, which is a model train display with models of local historical buildings (and other things, like a UFO and more non-history-related things). The model train exhibit always brings in little kids with their families, so hopefully that improves museum attendance. Most of our attendance comes from families with little kids, older Baby Boomers, and the elderly. The museum needs to improve on attracting people in their teens and twenties in order to earn more. Hopefully, a COVID exhibit can do that by making history more personal. On our website, we have a story collection form for people to share stories of COVID, much like JOTPY, but I do not know what we will be doing with those responses. When I physically work at the museum next I have a bunch of items from last year (inspirational painted rocks, city council and school board campaign materials, masks) that I will donate, and hopefully, those and other items find their way into an exhibit.
• 
  2021-06-12

  Mask trash Golden Gate Bridge Park

  Several disposable masks littered the grounds around the Golden Gate Bridge Park on the north end of the bridge. This photo shows a blue disposable mask near a lookout.
• 
  2021-06-12

  Mask trash San Francisco

  While visiting the Golden State Bridge, I came across this blue fabric mask with a penguin print.
• 
  2020-06-23

  SRVUSD Budget and Reopening Protest Photographs

  These are unpublished photographs I took while reporting for my school's newspaper, The Californian. These photographs show the people who attended the protest, including a mixture of students and parents. There are also a variety of signs showing various motivations for protesting. This entry is connected to the "San Ramon community protests SRVUSD spending and issues with remote learning" submission.
• 
  2020-06-29

  What should the school year of 2020-2021 mean for Cal High’s students?

  This is a set of three articles from The Californian, the student newspaper of California High School, each one arguing in favor of a different stance regarding the reopening of San Ramon Valley Unified School District schools. In the articles one can see the concerns that motivated high school students (well, three students in one high school) to form opinions about various forms of learning during the pandemic. One article argues for fulltime in-person learning, one article argues for completely remote learning, and the third argues for hybrid learning, a mix of the two. An illustration also accompanies the set of articles.
• 
  2020-06-27

  San Ramon community protests SRVUSD spending and issues with remote learning

  This is a news article I wrote about a protest for my school newspaper. The protest was convened to support the ability for students in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District to be able to return to school for the 2020-21 school year, and to oppose raises for district management and certain purchases made by the district. The protest occurred on June 23, 2020, at the SRVUSD offices in Danville, California.
• 
  2021-05-03

  COVID-19 Oral History

  [Curator's Note] Elizabeth Hathorn interviews Jeff Foster, a college student and member of the U.S. Army. He discusses the effects of COVDI-19 on college classes and on military training. He also touches on a few other aspects of life during the COVID-19 quarantine.
• 
  2021-01-16

  Kaiser apologizes

  Kaiser Permanente apologizes for long phone wait times since the Covid-19 vaccine became available.
• 
  2021-01-17

  Bay Area firefighter paramedic deployed to SoCal hospital describes COVID-19 situation

  MARIN, Calif. (KGO) -- As COVID-19 cases surge, Bay Area firefighters are getting deployed to hospitals across the state. Bob Craft, a firefighter paramedic from the Central Marin Fire Department is working the nightshift. Two hours into his shift, he intubated a patient in the emergency department who arrived to the hospital with stroke like symptoms and prepped a COVID-19 patient for their flip onto their stomach for the rest of the night. "It's the gamut from really regular people coming to the emergency department to people on ventilators on the ICU who are on the COVID ward," said craft.
• 
  2021-01-16

  Guard troops deployed throughout downtown Sacramento in advance of expected violence

  California National Guard troops were deployed throughout downtown Sacramento early Saturday in advance of expected protests and violence that the FBI warns could last through Inauguration Day. At the state Capitol — which is expected to be the site of protests Sunday and Wednesday as well as unrest between supporters of President Trump and antifacist groups — armed soldiers, Guard trucks and armored Humvees were stationed on streets around the building. Soliders and vehicles were positioned around other buildings, including the federal courthouse and the Superior Court building, as well as the Leland Stanford Mansion and buildings along Capitol Mall.
• 
  2021-03-30

  California's Latino Communities Being Disproportionately Impacted By The Virus

  This shares a tragic story of a COVID-19 victim leaving behind multiple dependents, as well as a report of the disproportionate risk for Latinos in California. They lead with a personable story of a mother and guardian in order to put names and faces, featuring Maribel Alvarado, to the statistics that follow. It goes into the risks many Latinos go through in their daily lives; their jobs and communities.
• 
  2021-03-20

  Stop the Covid Virus

  A friend sent this to me. She saw it on her morning walk and decided to take a photo of it.
• 
  2021-03-20

  If You Need To Read Lip's...

  At Muir Woods National Park the park ranger had a sign displayed, If you need to read lips just let them know and they will remove their face coverings to communicate with you. I was super impressed. This year has be rough. I make my husband do the shopping after a man yelled at me at the beginning of the pandemic because I didn't hear the cashier the next isle over when she said she could help me. The man yelled, "What are you deaf?" and I was too embarrassed to defend myself. I don't wear my hearing aids now because of the mask. Insurance wont cover the cost of the hearing aid and it costs more than my car. I am worried a hearing aid will fly off when I remove my mask so against the advisement of my audiologist I just keep them off. It's whatever. Seeing signs like this just impress me. Inclusivity matters.
• 
  2021-03-20

  Mask Trash in Our Sacred Places

  Mask Trash found in our sacred places. This was found inside of Muir Woods National Park.
• 
  2021-03-20

  Mask Trash in Our Sacred Places

  Mask trash found in a protected habitat area of Muir Beach, California. The area is closed to try and recover habitats in danger.
• 
  2021-02-26

  Streets of San Francisco 2K21

  Streets of San Francisco 2k21 by @gregoryd1 #sf #sanfrancisco #sfchinatown #chinatown #regram
• 
  03/14/2021

  Oral History with Trisha Vaughn

  Trisha Vaughn is the CPT Supervisor for a large Bay Area community hospital. In her spare time, Trisha hosts a podcast with her daughter, is an avid writer, and she is starting a small apothecary business to sell her skin care creations. In the oral history interview, Trisha shares how she has navigated through Covid-19 in both her personal life, and as an essential worker. She reflects on staying motivated and helping the people in her life stay motivated thought these hard times. Trisha describes how the social injustices and civil unrest in response to police brutality during the pandemic has affected her and those around her and about how the urgency of the pandemic has overshadowed the injustices faced by people of color across the nation.
• 
  03/11/2021

  Oral History with "Chef" Tom Dickinson

  • “Chef” Tom Dickinson • Dana Lee Bell • 03/11/2021 • Fairfield, California • Dana Lee Bell Abstract: “Chef” Tom Dickinson is the Culinary Instructor for Fairfield High School in Northern California. A native of Oregon, Tom shares his journey in overcoming his personal challenges as a student with Autism who was often dismissed by his educators, to becoming a beloved teacher himself. He is currently organizing the development of a comprehensive culinary program that teaches students essential life and job skills. Tom reflects of the effects Covid-19 has had on his life, community, and students. He reflects on the challenges of online learning and shares the creative ways he has tried to connect with students using technology during the pandemic. 0:00:02.6 Dana Bell: This is Dana Bell, and today I'm speaking with Chef Tom Dickinson. Today is March 11th, 2021. This interview is taking place at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, California. Could you please tell me your name? 0:00:17.4 Tom Dickinson: Tom Dickinson. 0:00:18.8 DB: And do you consent to being recorded today? 0:00:21.5 TD: Absolutely. 0:00:22.8 DB: Thank you. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? 0:00:25.6 TD: Yes, I'm originally from Oregon. I grew up in the town of Tillamook, it's known for the cheese factory, I went to high school there. I lived there from since I was five years old to the year 2000, I moved over to the Willamette Valley, my parents moved over there so I relocated and I worked over there. I went to the college over there and graduated with an Associate Applied Science in Culinary Arts from Linn Benton Community College, and moved to California in 2007, and I've been here ever since, and I worked ten years for Paradise Valley Estates, and I eventually went and got my teaching credential. I'd been volunteering here with the special ed kids here at Fairfield High, and Armijo High as well, Dr. Cushman liked what he saw. He asked me, "Can I hire you to be our Culinary instructor?" "Absolutely," and I went to get my credential. And I've been here ever since, and I love it. 0:01:29.1 DB: Awesome. Can you tell me a little bit about your hobbies and things that you like to do? 0:01:35.6 TD: I like to create content online. I've been getting to do a lot of videos, I have a YouTube channel. I like to collect knives, like kitchen knives, Japanese-style knives, I love to do that. I love to write. I love to go to movies, I haven't been able to do that since COVID, but avid movie lover, love to spend time with my wife and the usual stuff. 0:01:57.5 DB: Awesome. So that leads me to the next question. Can you tell me a little bit about your family? 0:02:04.8 TD: Yes, my dad is a retired mechanic. He lives in Lebanon, he and my mom do, and my dad actually has spent his retirement, he re-builds custom engines for Studebakers, he has a business, he does that. My mom helps him with that business, they live there. I have an older sister, she also lives in Lebanon, Oregon, she helps take care of my parents. And my parents actually adopted my three younger brothers and my younger sister. So I've lived with a lot of kids in our family. I have 10 nephews, I have one... Three nieces and one grand-niece, my nephew Tyler, who's also a chef, has a 14-month-old daughter and she is a precious little gem. 0:03:05.0 DB: Can you tell me a little bit about how COVID-19 has affected you and your family? 0:03:11.5 TD: It's caused us to have a very... Difference of opinion. My sister and I are very, very adamant about wear your mask, get vaccined. My father actually won't get the vaccine, he's kinda set his ways, I respect that, my mom will. The whole COVID situation has caused a lot of arguments, has caused some division, which it always does. Not all of us agree on the way the COVID has happened, and it's something that we just kinda sweep under the rug and we don't discuss the politics behind COVID-19. 0:04:01.6 DB: How has COVID-19 outbreak affected your community? It could be school, clubs, church, jobs, etcetera, can you speak about how COVID-19 has affected any of the communities you're involved in? 0:04:16.5 TD: I haven't been to an in-person church service in a year. I went to one, and that was when we were almost in the red tier, then we went back to purple, so I went to one in a year. Although we've been having it online. I have watched friends of mine in the hospitality industry lose their businesses, it's heartbreaking when I hear that people might... We're one, big happy family in the hospitality industry, when I hear about people that I know and businesses that I know of having to shut the door because of COVID-19, it just breaks my heart. It's sad. I have classmates from culinary school, who've had to shut down their businesses because of COVID-19... Of course, we're doing distance learning here at the school, we haven't been able to talk to students, we haven't had students here. 0:05:09.6 TD: We were supposed to do an event December, we couldn't do it because of COVID. I don't know when we're gonna be able to do another event because of COVID-19, because even though we're advancing in tiers, it's still lingering and there's still new variants and we don't know what's gonna happen. We could be in the red tier today and back in the purple here in two months, I don't know. But it's definitely affect everybody, it's affected my industry. A lot of times I feel like I'm teaching a dead professional, and I'm trying to just keep strong and keep doing it, so when the hospitality industry does get back on its feet, I'll be able to send people out there who can work for these businesses, who know what they're doing. 0:05:51.8 DB: Right. You already mentioned this, how people around you are responding to the pandemic... 0:05:57.0 TD: Yeah. 0:05:57.5 DB: Is there anything you wanted to add about that? You talked about your family and their response. 0:06:04.1 TD: I know people who still believe COVID-19 is a hoax. I've had COVID-19. When I got my vaccination, I had all the symptoms of COVID-19. The very next day. My uncle was in the hospital for 31 days because of COVID-19. Now a lot of people in my family don't like my uncle, they don't talk to him. I haven't seen him since I was 11 years old. I called him up because I heard that he was in the hospital, he almost died. Makes you think about stuff, but there's still people who don't wanna wear masks, there's still people, I know personally, who think it's a hoax, they're not gonna get their vaccine, they don't wanna wear masks, and it's like... I told them, "I'd rather stay six feet apart than be six feet under." 0:06:57.0 DB: So have you seen people around you change their opinions day-to-day and their activities or relationships in response to the pandemic? 0:07:09.1 TD: I have. My mom has definitely changed her response about it. My sister has been, I think been in quarantine twice because of COVID-19, she tested negative, thankfully, but she's had to be in quarantine because of it, and she has changed her opinion on it, and she takes it more seriously, and she... She even told my dad, she said, "I'm gonna go get the vaccine, does that bother you?" He's like, "Oh no, go ahead." So my mom is actually gonna go get vaccinated, which just... That's a thank you moment right there that she wants to be safe, so yeah... But I still know people who think it's a hoax, who think it's not supposed to happen. The biggest thing that people have thought about it, they told me that 'cause I'm a teacher, I'm lazy, that I don't wanna go to work. I just wanna sit around at home and teach in my jammies. I'm here every day, I'm in my kitchen every day. I'm working twice as... We're all working twice as hard as we were before trying to get this done, there's nothing lazy about it. Our first priority is to keep our kids safe, and if keeping them safe means not having them here, then that's it. 0:08:27.9 DB: Self-isolation, flattening the curve have been two key ideas that have emerged during the pandemic, so how have you and your family, friends, community responded to this request to self-isolate and flatten the curve? 0:08:43.4 TD: I self-isolate anyway, I enjoy my quiet time by myself, I wasn't affected that much, I enjoyed my peace and quiet. I work in a very... A profession where I'm surrounded by people and I'm at meetings every single day and I see everybody. Self-isolation is a treasure to me, even before the pandemic, so it didn't take a lot to adjust, but sometimes it does... Not being able to go on a date with my wife to the movies, that part sucks, staying at home and we're each on our phones watching Netflix, that part kinda sucks, but we like to go on dates, we like to go see movies when they come out, it's just one of our things we love to do, and we haven't been able to do it, but that's the only downfall. But that's it. 0:09:38.1 DB: So can you explain a little bit about what your job is? What do you do here? 0:09:41.9 TD: I am the culinary arts instructor, I'm the Executive Chef and the culinary arts instructor for the Fairfield High School and the Fairfield Student Adult School Culinary Arts programs. We have two programs here in our district. We have one for the adult school, we have one here for Fairfield High. Here at Fairfield High I teach Culinary I and Culinary II. For the Adult School I teach... I've taught Culinary I and Culinary II, Culinary Fundamentals and International Cuisine. And most of the time I teach here in the morning, and then I have students come in at night, and I have night classes here to just... Because we wanted to provide... The original principal of the adult school James Woods, we talked about workforce development and creating a workforce place, work training for people who need it, and that's mostly what we're doing. That's what we're doing with the high school kids because I'm a firm believer not everybody's gonna go to college, not everybody wants to, and that's fine. So that's what we're doing here. We're providing this skilled trade, just like auto shop is, just like sports medicine is, just like digital video production is. And we're very proud of that. 0:11:00.5 DB: So when a student leaves your classroom, they could potentially find a job in the culinary arts? 0:11:07.6 TD: Yes, they could. Every hour they spend in my class is job training. I have connections with people for wanting jobs, we have industry partners for the Culinary Arts Program. Our industry partners are Paradise Valley Estates here in town, Bernal Cutlery is our industry partner. Also one of our industry partners is Christian Culinary Academy, in Cannon Beach, Oregon. I'm actually gonna be sending a student up there for their conference, he's actually gonna be interviewing to actually apply to go to the school there. So it's really a great opportunity for them, and it's a small school, and they do a lot of really cool stuff, and Chef Ira has been a good friend of mine for about 11 years, he and his wife run the school, and just really, really... It's a really great place. Very small, with a very intense program, so anything that I can do to get these guys ready for a program like that, I definitely will do. 0:12:07.2 DB: What made you decide to do this for a living? 0:12:10.4 TD: To be a chef? 0:12:11.3 DB: Yeah, and to work as a teacher. 0:12:14.1 TD: Well, to be a chef... I've always liked to cook. I've been cooking since I was seven years old. And one of the thing that happened is, it was 2002, I went to my dad's college graduation, he was 59 years old, he was just getting another job so he could train and work until he could retire, and so his social security kicked in, he already had his retirement from him working 28-29 years with the City of Tillamook, and I was sitting out in the audience and I watched my dad walk across the podium with his cap and gown on, and he went and got his degree. And that school is a one-year certificate refrigeration, heating, ventilation, air conditioning. And... 0:13:10.1 TD: When we were at the graduation reception, he had all of his kids around, he said, "If I can do this at 59, what's stopping you guys? What's your excuse?" He challenged every single one of his kids to go to school, to go to college, graduate. I took him up on his challenge, and 2002, I started my first class at Lindback Community College. In 2002, I was sitting in the audience watching him walk across the stage to get his diploma, 2005, he was sitting in the audience watching me walk across the stage to get mine, which was great. And it was probably the roughest, most intense, hardest thing I've ever accomplished in my life. And then I worked in the industry after that. At one time I had a side hustle, doing some private catering. When I came down here, I just decided I'd seen what was going on and I'd seen how people who are disabled were being treated as far as life skills. It's like something needs to be done about that. 0:14:31.4 TD: So I actually emailed... I messaged the school district on their Facebook page, I wasn't employed, and they didn't know who I was. And I messaged them and I said [0:14:46.5] ____ "Hey, I'd love to volunteer and come into your school and work with your special ed kids and teach them how to cook, host cooking classes." I called Rodriguez, they said no. So then, "Okay, I won't hear anything." Then I got a call from Anna Vieira at Armijo High School, said, "So Tom, saw your message on Facebook. We'd love to have you as a guest." I said, "Really?" She's like, "Yeah, that'd be great." So I volunteered with the schools for about four years, and then finally what happened is, is eventually Fairfield High got a hold of me and they wanted me to come over here and work with them, and I volunteered, and I worked with the special ed kids and the principals would come in and they'd see what we were doing, they'd see all this stuff that we were cooking, and they got to know me pretty well, they got to know what I was doing, and I totally had their support. 0:15:47.2 TD: And then there came a time there was a situation where I was talking with Doctor Cushman, I told him how I would do something and then he said, "Can I hire you?" And I was like, "Yeah, absolutely." He said, "You'd leave your job in the private sector to come work with me as a... Work over here as a teacher?" Said, "Absolutely, let's do it. Let's get it done." Because I had seen firsthand how my profession was changing. I had seen how people were taking shortcuts, they were using ready-made stuff, stuff that was already done, trying to make it easier, they weren't taking that pride and that quality and preparing really good food. And I wanted to change that. I wanted to make a positive difference in my profession, and I wanted to train some kids and train them old school, like we... "Chef, I need beef broth. There's the bones, there's the vegetables, go make some. It's gonna take you about eight hours, but get it done." "We don't have any mayonnaise or ranch dressing chef." "There's the herbs, there's the vinegar, there's the hot sauce, there's the Mayo, there's the milk, go make some." 0:17:00.1 TD: One of the rules I have in our program is we don't buy mayonnaise, we don't buy salad addressing, we make it ourselves, that's the standard that we have, that's the old school techniques and fundamentals that I want these kids to know. It's not all about heating the microwave on high for five minutes. Chef Mike doesn't work here, he doesn't like his button pushed. Everyone knows what I mean. 0:17:23.0 DB: Can you tell me a little bit? Can you speak on why the disabled community is so important to you? 0:17:33.0 TD: Because I'm one of them. When I was 11 years old, I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, high functioning autism. I have dealt with this, I've had meltdowns, I have dealt with this my entire life. I've been bullied by teachers because of it. I had a teacher who got so tired of having to deal with me, she took me down to the school health room, threw me inside there, which was the equivalent of a jail cell, and she shut the door and left me down there all day long because she didn't wanna deal with me. She thought it would teach me a lesson. I still have never forgotten that day to this day. And one of the things that I have always made sure, and I have a lot of kids who are functional academics and vocational academics in my class. And they ask me, "Chef, do you mind having all these kids in your class?" I say, "No, I do not." I said, "Nobody gets singled out in my class and nobody gets turned away." I have a zero-exclusion policy in the Culinary Arts Program. If anybody wants a shot, they can get one. They're not all gonna get the same work obviously, but they are all gonna get the same opportunity. 0:19:15.0 DB: What concerns do you have about the effects of COVID-19 on your employment and on the economy, broadly speaking? 0:19:26.7 TD: My biggest concern is the hospitality industry. That, all the Mom and Pop places are gonna die off, 'cause they don't have the resources to stay afloat. And my biggest fear about employment was, I'm one of those classes that's considered non-essential, along with a lot of the other elective teachers, and they could have very easily, because of COVID, say, "Well, we have to make budget cuts, 'cause things aren't happening, we're having to cut your program." that's the biggest fear I always have. 0:20:04.2 DB: Is it still a fear of yours, right now? 0:20:06.6 TD: They just spent two and a half million dollars to build me a new facility, I'm not really afraid about it anymore. 0:20:13.2 DB: I wanted to ask you about that. Can you tell me a little bit more about... So you take this program, you're starting it, you're building this program, and now there are big things happening for your program. Can you tell me a little bit about that? 0:20:29.6 DB: When I came in in 2017, the biggest thing [0:20:34.2] ____ is that we needed to rebuild this program. The teacher who was teaching culinary previously, she's still here, she teaches Home Economics now, she taught culinary like she teach Home-Ec class. She's never worked in the restaurant industry, so you know what, I don't hold that against her at all, she tried her best. She's never worked the line, she's never been in a situation, on the line, where you got 50 diners coming into your dining room, they're all sitting down at the same time, they're all ordering at the same time, and there's only two line cooks on the line. I have. I've been with it, I've conquered it, I know what to look for. It's been about rebuilding. A lot of the times, people look at the culinary class as their easy A, where people go to pad their GPAs because they just sit around, they don't have to do anything, they get to eat, and they're just gonna get an easy grade. 0:21:34.3 TD: I'm still trying to cancel the culture of that and changing it around. My guys know that my class is work now, that this is not a cooking class, this is a job training course. If you wanna learn how to cook at home, take Foods and Home Economics. You wanna learn that a cook on the professional level, 'cause that's my style, come to my class. Like today, I just talked to a teacher, she asked me, "How are you gonna get chilli, fajitas and fried bread all done at the same time in only one class period? I said, "Because that's what we do in a pro kitchen. We don't stop moving, and it's fun to try to see how many things can we get done at the same time. That's what we do." When I work with my kids, I do like two or three dishes at the same time, 'cause that's how you work on the line. My style of cooking is professional level, it is not learning to cook at home, actually when a kid tell me, "Well, this is how I do it at home." I hate hearing that. I tell them, "Good then do it at home. Here, you're gonna do it my way 'cause you do it the chef's way," and that's what we do. 0:22:43.7 DB: So next year, what are some things that they're talking about... There are things that you've been preparing for all year for next year, what are some... 0:22:51.7 TD: We are getting a two and a half million-dollar restaurant installed into our school. 0:22:55.7 DB: A restaurant in this school? 0:22:57.7 TD: Yes. 0:22:58.2 DB: Can teachers go and eat there? 0:23:00.7 TD: Teachers can go and eat there, it will be open to staff. The name of the restaurant was originally gonna be The Falcon's Nest Cafe, but because we have a six-burner flat top, because we have a humongous grill now, because we have a full-sized commercial pizza oven for our line, this restaurant is called The Falcon Grill. 0:23:20.0 DB: Okay. 0:23:21.3 TD: And it is a restaurant that's going to be open to staff at first, because of COVID, we're gonna have to go back and start from the beginning and train the kids up, get them ready to work the line, and the way it's gonna be structured is, the Culinary one students are gonna be doing more of the entry level stuff, they're gonna be the prep cooks, they're gonna be the baker assistants, they're gonna work in the dish room, they're gonna wait tables at the restaurant, they're gonna do a rotation on wait staff. Culinary two is gonna take the supervisor roles, they're gonna work the line, for all the wait staff that are Culinary one that in the dining room, we're gonna have a dining room manager who's a Culinary two student. For all the guys on the dish crew, washing dishes, we're gonna have a Culinary 2 student as a dish room foreman. 0:24:06.9 TD: We're gonna have a pantry chef, we're gonna have a saucier, we're gonna have a grill chef, we're gonna have somebody on pizza station, we're gonna a Culinary 2 student on butcher station, they're gonna do all the butchering, they're gonna cook all the food in the smoker, they're gonna take care of all that stuff. We're gonna have a pastry chef who is gonna do all the bread products for the restaurant, and this restaurant, all the sandwich buns, all the bread for the sandwiches, all the cakes, all the rolls, everything is gonna be done from scratch, in-house, because that is the standard we wanna hold to. 0:24:42.4 DB: So let me ask you this, why do kids need to learn to cook? Why is this important? 0:24:50.2 TD: Life skills. You can't live on Top Ramen the rest of your life, you can't live on ramen noodles, you can't live on processed food... It leads the diabetes, hypertension, obesity. The biggest problem, I deal with diabetes every day, I'm type two diabetic, I don't want kids deal with that. Chefs have terrible diets, we cook all this great food in a restaurant, we go home, we'll eat ramen noodles and a frozen pizza. Girls are like, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna marry a chef, they're gonna cook me great gourmet meals at home." and I just laugh. It's like, "No, they're not." They working 12 hours in a hot, airless kitchen and... But it's life skills. 0:25:32.5 TD: Even if they decide not to do this as a career, it's job skills that's showing up on time, working your job, looking at your best and making sure you have a clean uniform on, making sure you're putting your best product out, always. It's the one thing I've been doing during COVID, trying with the kids working online, I told them, "The restaurants here are putting out perfection, so people will come back, even though they're doing a take-out delivery and still wanna buy their food from this, they can survive." I told them, "You guys have to put your best product out, no matter what the situation." So some people think I'm a little harsh, some will think, "Oh, you're not accepting my work late?" No. You put your best product out you put it up on time, no matter what, always. So that's the thing. 0:26:21.4 DB: That makes sense. So I wanted to ask you, how have you adjusted your entire classroom during the pandemic, 'cause you're cooking, right? 0:26:32.0 TD: Mm-hmm. 0:26:32.6 DB: And you're trying to teach these kids to cook, but they're at home or on distance learning, so... How are you adjusting to that? 0:26:39.3 TD: I don't know how I did it, but... [laughter] I can thank Food Network for that, I really can, and I'm not a big fan of Food Network, I like a couple of their shows, but... 0:26:52.7 DB: Can you describe your set up for me? 0:26:54.9 TD: Well, I have... When Covid first hit, I got a couple of tripods, I had my district iPad, my laptop and my iPhone, and I used those to adjust them around my stove to show the kids what I was cooking, and I brought that same set up here, but I kind of expanded on it a little bit at a time. So I started out with a couple of cameras, then I bought another laptop, I got it on another tablet, I got it on sale, I got a couple of clamps on discount and Amazon, I kinda mounted them up, I mounted them up on the rails. Got a couple of these things where I could mount up some lights, and just all of a sudden it just kind of blew out of proportion, I ended up having two tablets, one iPad, my iPhone, and my laptop, and I had them all set up, and I learned, "Hey, as long as you have different devices, you can put all these devices on your same Google Meets chat at the same time." So that's what I do. 0:28:00.0 TD: I have a camera over the stove, I have a monitor facing me where I can see if the kids need to ask me a question, I turn the captions on on that monitor, I have my iPad facing me, so they're facing right down, I have a tablet close up to my cutting board, I call it my plating camera, where the kids can see me plate up the food, they can see me doing the precision knife cut, so they know how to do it. And one of the things I do, I give them cooking labs to do at home, and they have to send me a video showing me how they're doing stuff. One of the things I also do, is say, "Hey guys, I'll give you guys a list if you wanna cook along with me on cook days on camera, show everybody... 'cause I invite all the teachers to come and join class, I'll count it as your lab grade." 0:28:46.9 TD: So I've seen them cook on camera, they're watching me cook on camera, and sometimes it's fun and trying to keep it positive positive, but it feels like I'm doing a cooking show every week. So that's kind of the attitude I have, that's kind of the fun we have, but one thing I do is I also have cook day assignments, they're these big forms, they have to pay attention because I had a lot of assignments not getting turned in, so I have these assignment forms, they even have to list the knives I use. I call all the answers out saying they have to pay attention and type everything for what I'm doing. Someone's like, "Well can't we just send this as a video?" I said, "There is no video. Pay attention. See what I'm doing?" "Well, what if I get hungry?" "Wait." [laughter] 0:29:38.0 TD: So, I showed him the video and actually, we do the video, I do the whole cook day and we get everything done and they have to pay attention and they have to fill it out, and if I done early, we've done early, we go for questions and see what... Just see how they did, and then they turn in their assignment, I give them about a week to get it done, and some of them get it done, and some of them don't. 0:30:03.8 DB: Can you tell me what you cooked today? 0:30:06.1 TD: We cooked this week, the kids, we've been talking about regional American cuisine, and we're talking about the cuisine of Tex Mex cuisine and American Southwest cuisine, so very Mexican, Spanish, Indigenous influences in the food, so we did Texas-style chili, we did fajitas... We did a native frybread, and we just try to do that to like two or three dishes, and last week we did Pacific Northwest, we did Smoke Roasted Salmon, we did Tempura Sushi, and we just had [0:30:41.8] ____ that we did a Blackberry Gastrique with the salmon, just that [0:30:46.1] ____ vinegar reduction with blackberries and sugar and ginger and garlic and reduced it down and put it on top of the salmon, it was delicious. Really, really good. So we tried to do some dishes from each region, just so the kids know that these are the flavors that are indigenous to these regions of the country. 0:31:07.2 DB: What is your favorite part about distance learning? 0:31:11.4 TD: Getting to get on camera and do the cook days with the kids, I have fun. Some people don't like the fact that I have so much fun doing it, but I do. It's fun. I mean, this year I got a Teacher of the Year nomination for it. I didn't even know I got a Teacher of the Year nomination, I saw they were doing nominees, I was like, "Yeah, I won't get one." Then Mr. Mac was like, "Yeah, Chef, I like your Teacher of the Year nomination." I was like, "What?" Like yeah, so I looked on there, I was like, "Oh, okay, cool. Doing something right. Great. Good." That's been my favorite part, just getting to do the cook days, cooking every week. My favorite part is it's actually helped me sharpen my skills in the kitchen, which is awesome. 0:32:02.6 DB: So, can you tell me what your least favorite part is about distance learning? 0:32:13.9 TD: The lack of kids turning in work... Every teacher is dealing with that right now. I went on, I was doing grading last night, I have 79 kids in my program who are failing. 53% of my students aren't passing my program. 0:32:36.2 DB: What percentage of those students would you say... You can't even get a hold of, like have they been coming to class? 0:32:44.4 TD: I have kids who've never shown up all year. They have never showed up all year. It's kind of the culture of elective courses that people think that the courses in my class are optional, they're not. People need elective courses to graduate. The biggest thing... People come to my class, I think it's a skate course. And then they come to me, like, "Chef, how can I raise my grade?" 0:33:08.4 TD: And I was like, "You should have done the work. I can't help you. You made a choice." Now that choice has a consequence. If I make bad choices, my choices have consequences. I've made plenty of bad choices in my life, and I've suffered the consequences for it, and I've learned from it. I had one kid who got on me because I wouldn't fix his grades so he could play baseball, it's like, "You should have done the work, if you're that dedicated to baseball, you should have known, you need to do the work in order to play." I came out as kinda mean, but do the work. 0:33:49.2 DB: We're coming back to in-person learning after spring break, right. So how do you feel about that? 0:33:56.3 TD: I think it's great. I just hope they take it slow. I know that we're gonna be doing virtual in the morning, we're gonna be doing asynchronous with the kids coming back in the afternoon, they're coming to get help, I don't know what the guidelines are gonna be, for me having kids in the kitchen and cooking food because of the CDC. I heard they would, probably won't be able to come, but the kids will be able to come back into the classroom and get help with their assignments, which is great. I'm happy to do that. It would be great to see them back, but I just hope you take it slow, and we don't end up running before we walk. 0:34:33.4 DB: So has this experience transformed how you think about friends, family and community, and in what ways? 0:34:45.8 TD: It's... I think the most heartbreaking thing is the way people have looked at teachers, we've been kind of villainized, were the enemy. Back in March, they were so thankful for us to be here and to do what we did, and now because COVID got real and we're trying to be safe in our work environment, we're trying to keep the kids safe, and it's like... And especially one video I heard online that somebody said that 10% of teachers dying, so the kids can be back in school was an acceptable loss, and it just showed me how society is looking at what we do, not everybody in society, but a lot of people. It was heartbreaking, and a lot of teachers are quitting over it and they're going into new professions. Personally, in my own opinion, their opinions of what I do is a case of mind over matter, I don't mind 'cause their opinions don't matter. It's not gonna stop me from doing what I came here to do, and that is, do you change my profession and equip these guys who wanna go into this industry with the right fundamentals and skills, it's not gonna stop me from doing that. 0:36:20.3 DB: So I wanna ask you, can you imagine how your life will be in a year? 0:36:27.2 TD: No, I can't. I'm just trying to imagine how life is gonna be tomorrow. [chuckle] 0:36:36.9 DB: So what do you hope life will be like next year? 0:36:39.8 TD: I'm hoping that things will be better, we get some kids in here, that it's somewhat back to normal. I don't think it's gonna be all the way back to normal. I think there's still gonna be... Like I said the whole COVID thing is very fluid. They're trying to get people vaccinated, but every time you try to get somebody vaccinated there's a brand new case. Trying to get on top of it because we did get behind on it. I don't know, I don't know how life's gonna be in a year. I hope it's better. I know that I'm gonna be in a brand new building, playing in a brand new restaurant and getting to serve some great food to some great people who deserve it. 0:37:25.0 DB: So is there anything that we haven't talked about today that you feel like is important to share? 0:37:43.0 TD: Just that what we do isn't easy, it's been hard this year and harder than it's ever been before, it takes a lot of toll, it takes a lot of stress, it takes a toll on people's mental and physical health, but that just don't give up, do what you gotta do but make sure you take care of you so you can take care of everybody else that's it. 0:38:12.9 DB: Thank you so much I think this is gonna be a really important addition to the archives and so I just appreciate you sharing today. 0:38:22.7 TD: Cool.
• 
  2021-02-26

  Koi street art in San Francisco

  This article in the SFGate tells how artist Jeremy Novy has pivoted to commissioned street art work during the pandemic. Novy's commissioned work is done out in the open "based on guidelines from the Department of Public Works and the San Francisco Police Department, which he says assert that his public art is legal, with permission from the property owner."
• 
  2021-03-04

  S.F. Japantown businesses owe tens of thousands in rent. Can the area survive without them?

  In the decades since, the community’s boundaries have shifted and shrunk, devastated by forced Japanese removal and internment in the 1940s and by large-scale redevelopment in the ’70s. But San Francisco’s Japantown persisted, even as others throughout the United States faded away. Today, Nihonmachi is the country’s oldest and largest Japantown, one of three remaining, but it covers only about six blocks — and many worry it is in danger of disappearing. The pandemic has hit neighborhood businesses particularly hard, and this year an agreement with the area’s largest landowner to keep the Japan Center malls “Japanese-themed” is set to expire.
• 
  2021-01-31

  HERMIT HERALD, ISSUE 97

  San Francisco school board erases school names
• 
  2021-01-29

  Virtual School in the Pandemic

  This drawing shows my mostly normal morning during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-24

  Anxiety, confusion remain over COVID-19 vaccine rollout at mass vaccination site at CCSF

  This article discusses the confusion over how vaccines are being rolled out to eligible individuals in San Francisco. A vaccination site is allowing individuals to get vaccinated without an appointment if there are extra doses at the end of the day. However, while texts are being sent out to let people know they are eligible, without an appointment there is no guarantee they will receive a vaccine if they go to the site; this is leading to people arriving, hoping to receive one of the leftover doses, only to be turned away. This is just one example of how confusion and misinformation about the vaccine is leading to anxiety and disappointment, and a desperate sense of hope that the kinks will be worked out soon so that the vaccination process will improve.
• 
  2020-03-18

  Comfort in the Kitchen

  I have always loved cooking, and from a very young age, I spent time working through tough moments in my life with the comfort of flour, sugar and butter in the kitchen. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, I was a student teacher at a middle school in California, and finishing up my final quarter of my masters in education. I loved my job, my students, and my colleagues and I was heartbroken when I had to say my final in-person goodbyes to my first set of students. Just as I had in the past, I took my confusion, worry and stress to the kitchen, and began to procross the difficult road that I knew was ahead of me. One of the first recipes that I baked in quarantine was coffee cake because I had been talking to a friend, who had never tried it before. As I listened to my mixer beat the sugar and butter together, I could feel a sense of calm wash over me. Baking, even though it’s science, has an interesting paradox of being confusing and straightforward at the same time. I typically understand how the ingredients work together, and the process of following each step of a recipe brings a sense of peace. As I incorporated the eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, dash of allspice, salt into my mixture, the daunting nature of a global pandemic hit me. How was I going to adapt to online learning? How was I going to get a job in the fall as a teacher? How was I going to handle the next unknown amount of time? The smells wafting from my mixer comforted me, and even though the smell was confusing to my nose, I knew that the end product would be delicious and bring warmth to those who tried it. As I poured the mix into a pan and set it in the oven, a new sense of ambition began to bubble in me. If I could bake this wonderful cake, how hard could it be to face a pandemic? As I said this to myself, I knew how ridiculous it sounded, but I knew at this point I had to fake it until I made it. So as my coffee cake was baking I sat down and began to plan the next few weeks of virtual learning and by the time the timer went off, I had a rough plan of what I wanted to do. Taking the cake out of the oven and sampling it for the first time was glorious. I had worked hard to produce this thing, and I knew I could do the same with any task put in front of me during this pandemic. As I delivered baked goods to my friends doorsteps, while maintaining 6 feet of distance, and wearing a face mask, I hoped that a taste of coffee cake would bring the same comfort to my friends as it did to me in the tough early days of the pandemic.
• 2020-09-07

  Today's Daily Thought... Semester Journal

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. I cannot believe it is already almost fall. I was thinking about it yesterday and it makes me really sad. Quarantine took so much of our normal life away, and it all just went by too fast. When I really think about it, so much has happened and changed for me over these months and some of which I wish never ended or changed. All the good times I had feel like a blur and all the rough times went by so slow. I wish I remembered more. In a usual year, I would look forward to Labor Day so much. This year I didn’t get to do what I normally do. Labor day usually comes by so slow because I just cannot wait for it to happen but this year it passed me up. Lately that has been all I could think about.
• 2020-09-22

  2020-09-22 covid summer

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Over the summer i guess i did change quite a bit. The main thing that changed was really my hobbies or rather, my newfound disinterest in my old set of hobbies. I always took my hobby far too seriously and it turns out that when i didn’t have any pressure to keep pursuing it, i kind of dislike it a bit. I had a bit of an existential crisis over it but it’s been nice to take a break.. I’ve also gotten used to school a lot better. I’m a lot more responsible nowadays and i have no missing work so that’s nice. It’s partly because of all the time i don’t use up on my hobby but it’s mostly that i just find find it fun to organize my computer. Now that i think about it i really don’t want school to start. I won’t have the choice to stay home because then i’d lose touch with my friends but I’ll really miss not being mentally drained from talking to strangers. There’s also the fact that i don’t want my room to be filled up with papers that i’ll just stare at become overwhelmed by. There’s just so many reasons that i don't want to go back to in-person.
• 2020-09-23

  life during Covid-19

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California Throughout Covid-19, I’ve learned that I don’t really have any hobbies or anything that interests me because I realized all I did was playing video games after school. So I changed myself to be more active by doing some workouts and reading every day. Even though the first try didn’t work very well to keep my routine organize, I felt it was getting better each day since there’s much time I can spend my time on myself. I hope this would make my life a little better.
• 2020-09-14

  Our COVID Summer

  I spent my entire summer walking around San Ramon with one of my best friends. I had plans to go to Hawaii and to go see my Dad in Utah a lot but those plans changed because of COVID19. My mom didn’t really think it was a good idea to allow me on a plane to run around another state in the middle of a pandemic. So my days were spent walking the Iron Horse trail to marketplace, central park, Target, Cal High, or pretty much any park that exists around here. Finding things to do was definitely a struggle but we mainly just wanted some company and someone to talk to so we didn’t have to sit in our houses alone all day. Everyday was definitely an adventure and we made a lot of memories throughout the summer that we will remember forever. It was the summer where you couldn’t do anything or go anywhere because everything was closed but we tried to make the most out of it and ended up a lot closer and happier than we were before the pandemic.
• 2020-09-22

  Business Startup During COVID-19

  COVID-19 literally shook my life straight. Before, my life was full of procrastination, laziness, and just simply unmotivated. I didn’t know my purpose in life but now I came to the realization that I am a certified bad bytch! I was finally able to Launch my second company Peasant Cosmetics and relaunch my slime company Peasant Slimes. I did months and months of research on the hair industry so I can came in prepared to dominate and take over. All companies I have started have my 100% pride behind them, meaning no matter how large it grow to, none of it will be sold. I will always own 100% of the company since I didn’t get into business for the money and I would never really do anything in my life except for 9-5 to get money. I also used several extremely fragranced lotions from Bath and Body works which gives me a few scents to smell for nostalgia into the future.
• 2020-09-29

  The Struggles of Living During a Pandemic

  This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have faced a series of challenges. The biggest challenge I have faced is my emotions and accepting myself. Being stuck at home has raised my anxiety levels, and question my self-worth. I feel like when I was outside, around my friends, I was much more confident and free- but being isolated really damages you mentally and emotionally. A challenge that my family has faced is that they usually love going outside doing exercise, and they always take us out for runs. However, now that my sisters and I are extremely occupied with school, we can only manage to go together around once or twice a week. A major challenge for society is adapting to remote learning. It has been a very difficult process for myself and other students as well. Staring at a big computer screen for 7 hours is extremely draining, and I find myself falling asleep during the middle of the day, and I even fell asleep during my AP Biology lecture, and I am not the one to fall asleep during school. I also crashed to sleep yesterday immediately after school ended because I was so worn out and exhausted from school. It’s a lot, and I really hope a vaccine for the virus comes our way soon, because I don’t know how I’m going to be able to handle online school for the rest of the school year.
• 2020-09-11

  Escaping the California Ashes

  On Friday,09-11-20, I left my home to head to my boyfriend’s house. The air quality was dangerous and I was excited to leave the unhealthy air. I had my bags packed and then his family and I went into the car. We drove 4+ hours past Tahoe to Reno Nevada. The air quality was better and the views were beautiful. The drive consisted of bright green trees, blue sky, fluffy clouds, and gorgeous rocks. The landscape was something that I hadn’t seen in a while. We eventually arrived into the hotel and had an agenda for the next two days. We went to Harbor Shore Beach in Tahoe and we were able to swim in the water. The water was cold but our bodies got used to it. It was so clear, we were able to see the floor, the fishes, and everything else in the water. The whole trip was so amazing it is something definitely worth writing about. I am so blessed to be able to escape the ashes and poor air quality. I was able to have a relaxing weekend while making memorable memories. While I was there I also watched two baseball games on a huge tv and was able to socialize with different parents and families. It was a great experience to be able to catch up with parents I hadn’t truly been able to talk to. The whole trip was super fun and I’m glad I made the memories I did this weekend. Corona has definitely held back many traveling opportunities for me and it was remarkable to be able to do something fun while social distancing. I have learned and this experience definitely emphasized that no matter what is in the way, you can always overcome it and find something fun to do. You must live with what you are given, and make the best of every situation.