Day 21 of Governor Newsom’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”

Thursday. 9/17/20

8:00 - 12:00 - Up and I take the dog outside. She is still ‘alerting’ on that damn tree and waiting for the dog to do her business takes forever.

L. is leaving at 2:00 today, so I need to make sure I’m finished with recording well in advance of L. leaving so she can airdrop the file. I go over PP slides, get my audio clips ready, and record lecture.

12:00-12:30 - L. airdrops the file for me.

12:30-1:30 - I tell L. I’m going to lunch. I take my insulated lunch bag and leave (exit to my patio table with the dog). I have a spinach salad with celery, cheese, yellow squash, EVOO and the last of my casserole. I read Schuyler’s Monster.

1:30 - 2:30 - Quick shower and then class is starting.

L. leaves for work. After work, she is going to a drive-in movie with R.

2:30 - 5:30 - According to the students in Specialty Class No. 2, they want to be more engaged, both with me and each other, so this class is NOT a “set it and forget it” class. I know that, on Thursdays, from 2:30-5:30, I need to be fully involved.

Today, I incorporated an Extra Credit exercise - “80 for 8”- wherein they have to respond to another student’s comment on the Discussion Board, 80 words or more, so they can receive 8 extra credit points. This goes over well and everyone responds to each other, while at the same time, “live chatting” with me about the course content as lecture unfolds.

I have a lovely student who comments on a section of lecture and then asks me for the link to the audio clip for one of the songs I played during lecture. She says her birthday is Sunday. But, she also asks for a thoughtful response to her commentary and wants to know if she is on the right track. So, I can’t just say, “Here you go”, provide the link, and check out. She is deserving of a contemplative reply and I provide it. Several of the students are like her in this class.

I deploy a Chapter Review quiz and another student takes issue with one of the answers, emailing me that it’s incorrect. The way he addresses me is rude and abrasive - he doesn’t even couch it in terms of, “You know, I think the answer to ______ might be wrong.” No. It’s just, “Hey, Prof. Coleman. The answer to No. 3 is wrong because the CIA states….” and he sends me internet research that he just conducted.

I cite the page in our textbook where the answer is found and quote that section.

Everything is going well and the students start watching a documentary using the link I provided. The video can be streamed for free from Amazon Prime if you’re a prime member. BUT, I provided the “Student Amazon Prime” link if they need to sign up for a free trial so they can watch the documentary. It’s free - the students just need to cancel within 30 days.

If you do NOT want to be a prime member, you can RENT the video for $3.99.

25 students watch the video and take the video quiz without incident; one does NOT.

The student in question, I’ll call him H., begins frantically emailing me that he is unable to access Amazon Prime for the free trial. Apparently, he already signed up for the free trial and it has long since expired so he is telling me, via email after email [he will not pause to allow me time to respond and we are literally “stepping” on each other with every response], that he will not be able to watch the video and (lots of hand wringing) looks like he won’t be able to take that Video Quiz. No.

L. wasn’t here while this was going on, but I have since shared the exchange with her, which lasted about 30 minutes, and she responded to the following.

H. said he already had an Amazon Prime account, which has since expired. I email H. the link so he can RENT the video for $3.99, but he says he can’t afford it. L. later says that if her generation has already taken advantage of a 30-day free trial, they simply create a new account with a different email. She said H. would know this.

Now…I am unclear, as an adjunct instructor, if I am allowed to assign supplementary material at a cost to the student. So, when H. said he couldn’t afford a $3.99 rental and starts alleging that it’s not fair, he is actually ready to take the video quiz, but just because he can’t AFFORD to watch the documentary, this is going to affect his grade on the Video Quiz, I immediately pivot and say that he misunderstood, I referred him to the rental link having every intention of reimbursing him for the $3.99 rental fee. Not to worry. AND I will definitely give him extra time to complete the Video Quiz.

I tell the student to start watching the documentary and we discuss how I can reimburse him as quickly as possible. HOWEVER, the student says he has no money on his card to pay the $3.99 rental fee, so he can watch the documentary.

Ok - does he have a BofA account? I can “Zelle” him the $3.99 rental fee. H. says he doesn’t have a BofA account. L. later tells me you can use Zelle for a variety of accounts - it is not limited to BofA. She said H. would know this.

Ok - does he have PayPal? I can “PayPal” him the $3.99 rental fee. H. says he doesn’t have PayPal. L. later tells me you simply create a PayPal account using the PayPal app. She said H. would know this.

Ok - I can mail him a cashiers check for the $3.99 rental fee and I can send it next-day air so he can start watching the video tomorrow, as soon as he receives the $3.99 rental fee. H. says a check would be too inconvenient because he will have to drive to the bank to deposit the check. L. later tells me you can screen-shot checks and deposit them electronically to an account. She said H. would know this.

Ok - I can send $4.00 cash in the mail - it’s such a small amount, it won’t be an issue. That way, H. won’t be inconvenienced by having to drive to the bank to deposit a check (but as you’re reading this, you know that’s bullshit right? Because the student will still have to drive to the bank, to deposit the cash to his account, so he can use his credit card, in order to rent the video for $3.99 from Amazon, so he can take the Video Quiz). H. says the cash won’t arrive in time for him to start watching the documentary tomorrow, 9/18/20.

Ok - I can Fed-ex the $4.00 cash so that it arrives tomorrow (but as you’re reading this, you still know it’s bullshit, right? Because, allegedly, if we are to believe this outlandish story, the student still won’t have money on the card until he drives to the bank to deposit the cash, which will increase his card balance, which will enable him to rent the video for $3.99 from Amazon, so he can take the 10-question Video Quiz) In keeping with the lie, I would expect H. to continue saying that either a check or cash would still be an inconvenience.

But he caves, because I will. not. stop. No, you’re not going to get out of watching a documentary and taking a Video Quiz. You will complete the assignment. Rarely do I find someone who can match me, step for step, although a female supervisor I had several years ago came pretty close.

H. sends me one last email, with his address, and a long rant accusing me of discriminating against the downtrodden and having no understanding, whatsoever, of poverty because “poverty’s real, y’all” and alleging that I am treating him unfairly just because he’s poor. He also adds, which I think is his true dilemma, that now some of his activities will be pushed back because he wasn’t able to watch the video and take the video quiz during class time - he will now have these activities for homework, to be done on personal time instead of in the class.

I respond immediately, re-asserting everything I have done to help him and stating that I am well-aware of poverty and I do my best to render aid to those students who need it. I point out how I extended the due date of the assignment and ran through the several options I presented to ensure that he was reimbursed for the $3.99 rental fee.

The email thread consisted of over 20 emails due to H.’s frenetic emailing.

The address he provides to send the $3.99??: a very nice area in the Antelope Valley. According to Zillow, the house retails for $400,000.

My 7:00 class is starting soon, but it’s a “set it and forget it” type of class, so I drive to Office Depot, put $4.00 cash in a Fed-ex envelope, and mail it, overnight, to H. It costs me $37.00. I scan the invoice to H. and tell him the $3.99 rental fee will arrive at his home tomorrow.

Home and my class has been ongoing for 30 minutes. I go upstairs and do the first 30 minutes of a HIIT Full Body Circuit training app, with 5-pound weights.

8:15 - I return to class and field emails from some of the students. I get ready to deploy the video assigned for tonight and find THAT THE LINK IS NO LONGER VALID. When I checked last night, the link was there but, apparently, over the past 24 hours, You Tube discontinued the video. This was supposed to constitute the last hour of class. I put out a request to the students to find an alternative streaming site and sweeten the deal by saying Extra Credit is involved. They do try, but in the end, we can’t find it anywhere and I shut the class down at 9:30, due to technical difficulties.

Dejected, I go back upstairs and finish the last 30 minutes of my circuit training app.

Bad day, all the way around.