Re Opening

Studio Wada was closed earlier this year when LAUSD reopened their schools to students.  The curtain was kept as Zoom meetings were still standard procedure for teacher meetings.  If you recall, Studio Wada was created in the early days of the pandemic as the wife taught Kindergarten from our living room, while I was exiled outdoors in the patio under the umbrellas.  I not only built up Studio Wada (upgrade of the internet speed, hard wire instead of wifi to ensure reliability, ceiling curtain rods to hang photo backdrop, external mics and additional lighting).  The only problem was the noise from construction next door.

My office was outdoors to avoid the noise and distraction of Mrs. Wada's room 2 classroom.  Two umbrellas and a shade cloth provided protection and comfort, the picnic bench with stadium seating chair for back support, purchasing a mesh office chair to withstand the outdoors temperature fluctuations, a heavy duty tool cart to house my laptop and external monitor, and yes I did run an ethernet line outdoors.  The issues were the noise from next door that seemed to increase when I had my meetings, dew from the night before and unexpected coastal rain, and the cold mornings and hot afternoons.  Patio heaters, patio lights and moving my coffee station outside helped.  

Bathroom breaks and heating snacks in the microwave were timed to coincide with recess.  Avoiding being seen on Zoom required a trip down the driveway and through the front door just out of sight.  At times, urgency required sneaking behind the curtain and over the couch,  In the afternoon, I sometimes gave up and there were sightings of an old guy in t-shirts and shorts in the background of her faculty meetings.

It is the second week of school and the number of Covid cases increasing.  Today's LA Times reported over 6,500 cases.  The rule of thumb is 3 separate cases of Covid at the school site will close the school down.  So we are preparing to revive Studio Wada and the chaos of Zoom teaching, just in case.

Stay safe.