Caroline Gerardo's Blog, page 7

UCSC Leadership Needs Steering Help

Steering the boat on Lock Lomond















From Provost at UCSC and my response.My son has last quarter grade destroyed by a TeachingAssistant and this holds up his June graduation.The TA wants a sixty percent raise and free graduate education.
I have two graduate degrees, I was a TA.
UCSC doesn't give specifics on a plan.

Fixes:
1. If TA's used University email, there's a contract that The Universityhas the right to review archives of the TA's information and also campus wifi,and ISPN's. 2. If TA gave notice by failure to work and follow contract, all access to university wifi, campus property such as laptops provided should be turned in or charged back, and library accesssevered.
Next topic     COVID-19 Fix ideas:
A gallon of isopropyl alcohol costs $18. Purchase in bulk and supply spray bottles to facilities staff to clean door handles and surfaces in the dining halls. This could be made available to students in cramped quarters and professors in classrooms and even the bus drivers. It evaporates and kills viral particles.
Touch free hand sanitizer stations installed at entrance of buildings, dorms, and any food facilitywith cautionary statement that careful hand washing is vital.
Soap refills in bathrooms which are poorly attended urgently need a plan. On campus this weekendwomen's restrooms were without soap.
Ask for student input.
Although UCSC had a policy of open campus consider shutting down all non student or non staff personsto the campus. Parking is one way to control the incoming of persons who don't need to come on campus.no temporary parking permits.
The Health Care Center is not ready. There are not enough staff, space, or equipment. Santa Crux communitydoes not have much backup and low number of physicians per capita. Healthy people who get the symptoms should stay home - but most live in communal situations. The most vulnerable are homeless, elderly and those waiting forsome surgery. Where will you put the students who can't stay in a dorm room with others or in a house with eight people? What building has HVAC which can filter airborne viral contaminants?
Communication systems with everyone is necessary. Be positive.
Protestors on campus blocking entrace layered with the fear of illness is not a healthy place to work, live or study.
You have a job to protect students, employees and the community. If an outbreakoccurs you won't know until it's late to react. I'm trusting you read this.
Thank you and as a parent I am keeping you in my prayers.Leadership is advance planning, action, and reviewing results.
Caroline Gerardo, C G BarbeauParent  (949) 784-9699
https://cgbarbeau.blogspot.com/https://carolinegerardo.blogspot.com/
On Friday, March 6, 2020, 07:09:37 PM PST, Interim Campus Provost/Executive Vice Chancellor Lori Kletzer wrote:March 6, 2020
We recognize that this has been an unprecedented academic year for our students. Earlier today I wrote to our undergraduate students to thank them for their continued patience and to provide them with updates and additional resources with regards to the ongoing graduate student TA strike and COVID-19. As part of our community-wide outreach, I also want to be sure to keep our parent community updated.  
While the academic progress of our students is critical to us, their well-being is our top priority. To that end, the campus has a team of experts in environmental health, health care, emergency planning, residential services, procurement and information technology working on structures and systems to support the possibility of a widespread COVID-19 outbreak. Our team is connected with county, state, and national agencies to keep abreast of the situation as it develops. Our protocols are based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, and we have created a website to keep the campus informed of our efforts and our plans.
Separately, I also want to address and update you on the protracted grade strike occurring on the UCSC campus. This has, no doubt, been a challenging situation and we recognize the disruption it has caused. This situation is deeply troubling, and I want to assure you we are working diligently to mitigate impacts on our 17,000 undergraduates. As outlined in my note to students, we have introduced and implemented new protocols and programs to assist students in getting their grades and enrolling in spring quarter classes.
As a result, I can share with you that we now have 96% of fall grades submitted, and the faculty Academic Senate, which oversees grade policy, has made a decision on how instructors and departments may submit fall grades that remain missing. Faculty will be working over the coming weeks to implement this decision. We have provided students with information about who to contact if they continue to have delays in grading. My team is also monitoring grades daily and working with instructors through these new procedures.
With the spring quarter approaching, we have heard concerns about the ability to enroll in classes. Enrollment limits have been placed on courses that are critical to meeting some students’ degree requirements. We are prioritizing the needs of students who are applying to graduate in spring or fall, and we are committed to ensuring that they graduate as planned. Although some students will not be able to access their first-choice classes in spring, departments have already increased spaces in courses in several majors. We anticipate additional course seats will be available over the next week.
 From you and directly from our undergraduates, I have also heard of the stress some are feeling as a result of the strike. The campus has a variety of mental health resources, including the  Let’s Talk  program. These sessions with mental health professionals are a place our students can talk through any issues or concerns. In my message, I encouraged those who are feeling the stress of the situation to outreach to our Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) team for support.
I have also heard from you as UCSC parents a wide range of opinions about the manner in which this unique strike situation should be managed and resolved. We appreciate hearing your perspectives as we continue to engage with our graduate student TAs to address their concerns.
Should you be interested to learn more about the underlying student concerns and to keep up to date on this situation, please see this website.
Thank you very much for your continued support of your students. We will continue to keep you updated on these important topics.UC Santa Cruz
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
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Sestina Poem Coronavirus

SestinaCorona Virus Poem


Paper towel turns on.Wet hands large glob of soap.Cover with big bubbles.Rub and count to twenty.Shake for fifteen seconds.Don't touch anything hard.
Sneezing gets your guard on.Bless the elbow, not hard.Share to wash with bubbles.Our lives count on seconds.Virus flies almost twenty.Liquid or bar's good soap.
Glycerin rose is soapKilling molecules onsurfaces that are hard.The beauty of bubblesscrubs away in seconds.Give it a count twenty.

Rabies creates bubblesIt takes months not secondsBites cause one in twenty.Clean a wound with much soapreduce molecules onmuscle joins fast and hard.



Our panic is not twenty.Will there be enough soap?C. P. C.  evil turns on ~No vaccine makes it hard.Guns not filled of bubbles.Virus spreads split seconds.
Life has many secondsrecall being twentythe solution is soapyou desire to go onwithout beloved its hardmemory pops bubbles
Keep strong, although its hardrecall: wash with bubblessing birthday for secondssee children be twentythe solution is soapyou desire to go on.

  Caroline Gerardo © copyright 2/4/2020 
Please wash your hands in hot water and soap for twenty seconds, some say to sing the Happy Birthday song, before you eat, touch another person, come home, before you touch your face. As a matter of fact train yourself not to touch your face with your fingers.

Sestina Coronavirus

SestinaCorona Virus Poem


Paper towel turns on.Wet hands large glob of soap.Cover with big bubbles.Rub and count to twenty.Shake for fifteen seconds.Don't touch anything hard.
Sneezing gets your guard on.Bless the elbow, not hard.Share to wash with bubbles.Our lives count on seconds.Virus flies almost twenty.Liquid or bar's good soap.
Glycerin rose is soapKilling molecules onsurfaces that are hard.The beauty of bubblesscrubs away in seconds.Give it a count twenty.

Rabies creates bubblesIt takes months not secondsBites cause one in twenty.Clean a wound with much soapreduce molecules onmuscle joins fast and hard.



Our panic is not twenty.Will there be enough soap?C. P. C.  evil turns on ~No vaccine makes it hard.Guns not filled of bubbles.Virus spreads split seconds.
Life has many secondsrecall being twentythe solution is soapyou desire to go onwithout beloved its hardmemory pops bubbles
Keep strong, although its hardrecall: wash with bubblessing birthday for secondssee children be twentythe solution is soapyou desire to go on.

  Caroline Gerardo © copyright 2/4/2020 Please wash your hands in hot water and soap before you eat, touch another person, come home, before you touch your face

Argentina

El Chaltén 
Los Glaciares National Park
Argentina hike
A view of Fitz Roy
On this rock a stranger
showed me the macarena

Let Go

"In the end only three things matter:
how much you loved,
how gently you lived,
and how gracefully you let go
of the things not meant for you."
 Buddha

Flannery O'Connor

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."

Self portrait oil on board by the writer. 

The halo behind her head has been compared to saint icons of the Orthodox Church;
but, I believe she was playing with a couple themes. Perhaps it is merely a big brimmed
straw hat shading her from the Southern sun? Or even the sun rising in the morning?

The color palette of the pheasant is not one of the hundred peahens on her farm, it is
drab rust, autumnal browns and black. The humor of the straight faced writer and the 
broody hen looks the viewer in the heart. She knew herself.

Fog

Fog in the evening rolls in from the seashangs low in the sky to hug  palm trees
Memory of those gone from my lifestirred sticks with purple loose strife 
Will my toes find graves in the sandContinue to reach for a healing hand



copyright Caroline Gerardo poem and images © 2018 August 20 

Fireworks Parade

Fireworks Poem
the world on firescreaming desirespeaking in capsdiplomat mishaps
Do you worry about being hacked?about kids in cages?about climate change?about cuts to dear?
the smell of sulfurearth gastric ulcertanks breaking icedream of paradise



Copyright ©  Caroline Gerardo  July 3 2019

Water Lily Grace

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Water lily

A post shared by Caroline Gerardo (@carolinegerardo) on Jun 16, 2019 at 12:17pm PDT

Waterfall Willson Dam

Willson Dam Poem
 Carbide transforms for acetylene lamps  Magic calcium and nitrogen gas makes a cheap nitrogenous solid cheap to grind into farm fertilizer.
Far from  the odor of fertilizerAll finances from the fortune of lampsHe builds a compound and dam so solid Pumping Lac Meech uphill as if was gas.
Call him crazy Elon Musk so solidwhat remains of the plant is merely gaswells flow as light grows a fertilizerCarbide Willson's passion still ignites lamps.



Willson Dam Canada
Please click video twice to run

Caroline Gerardo copyright 5/21/2019