Technically, my earworm for today isn’t, uh… Well, it’s not… Which is to say…
Look—it’s different. But we are living in a
Warner Bros. color cartoon produced, directed and performed by the Republican
Party, and I, for one, believe we should acknowledge this. This clip cracks me
up, and we need the levity.
The orange mouths completely did me in.
<sigh> During the first phase of 2020 lockdown, Fairfax County Public Library—like many others across the country—completely shut down. Then, maybe early summer, they allowed patrons to place holds on materials; when they were ready the library staff delivered via curbside checkout. Towards fall, they opened up the facilities, but were limiting people to 30 minutes inside.
About a week or so ago, they announced we’re
back to curbside pickup.
This troubles me because it cuts off a certain
percentage of the population who don’t have either Internet or mobile phones (both
necessary for the process). Public libraries are there to serve the public, to
open the world to people without great means. This is another example of
COVID-19 exacerbating the wealth divide, and it sucks.
We got hit with some wintery mix here in the District They Call Columbia early yesterday. There was some snow on the ground, which didn’t last, but when I looked outside I noticed water frozen in various configurations on plants, so I took some pix.
A few days before Christmas a colleague on a Teams chat informed us of an organization that allows people to provide an extra computer monitor to school teachers who are trying to carry on remotely with mostly a laptop screen. Two Screens for Teachers takes the requests from the teachers and then matches the donor; the cost is about $115, give or take (depending on the location, because taxes). You can either donate money or go to Amazon to order the kit—monitor plus HDMI cable.
I thought that was a good idea, so I signed up
for two, and specified I wanted the monitors to go to teachers at low-income
schools. I got one in Chicago and one in Huntington Park, Calif. The deal is
that the teacher has to take delivery at the school; I assume because otherwise
people would just sign up for free monitors. So both teachers confirmed their
school addresses before I placed the order.
Well, there was a bit of a blip because it was
during school holidays, and even though I unchecked the Amazon boxes for
weekend delivery, naturally USPS attempted to deliver on a Saturday at both
schools.
Well, I heard nothing back until a week ago when
the teacher in Huntington Park said she hadn’t received hers. (For some reason
USPS in Chicago did successfully deliver, but never notified me. And the
teacher never acknowledged receipt.) This was entirely in USPS’s hands, and I
admit that I was not sanguine about having to sort it out.
I first called their national “customer service”
number; when I input the school’s ZIP code, the VAR basically told me they
could do nothing and hung up. I had to Google how to launch an inquiry into
non-delivery, because the USPS site is not at all intuitive. And once I did
that for the two packages (monitor and cable) I got automated emails saying
they’d been received. That was on the 16th. I was not filled with
joyful anticipation.
On the 20th I received an email from
a customer service rep in the local post office saying that they were holding
the packages because the school was closed and unable to take delivery. Well,
but here’s the thing, there was a name for the rep, Ahsha Jones, and a phone
number. So on Thursday, I called her.
I asked if I could either send the parcels on to
the teacher’s home address, or return them and re-order. Neither was possible
because of the class of postage Amazon and UPS used (UPS uses USPS for last
mile delivery). But the teacher could come in and pick up the packages. All she
needed was ID because they were addressed to her.
And then Ahsha told me, “We’re holding three
more of the same things for [school] teachers.”
Me: “Monitors and cables?”
Ahsha: “Yes. You want me to get the names?”
Me: “Yes, please.”
So she did. I thanked her profusely and notified
the Two Screens for Teachers and my teacher, and as a result four elementary teachers
in Huntington Park have 22” monitors to help them do their jobs.
And today I’m grateful for the opportunity to
help teachers in a trying time, and I’m super grateful for Ahsha, who
absolutely saved the day.
Back in maybe October, the Gift Fairy swung by my place and left a squash at my front door, just because it was beautiful. And it was:
Also, it was delicious.
