Month: April 2020

I would like to do a story on the effects of the pandemic on mental health. A lot of people are in compromised living situations. They’ve lost jobs. They’ve lost people. Having nothing to do often leaves a lot of time to think. I have several friends who have mentioned being unmotivated and upset at home. I’ve seen it on my newsfeed. I want to address this topic and zero in on a few spotlight stories of what people are battling and how they’re coping. I also plan to reach out to maybe Baruch’s counseling center to see if they’re experiencing an influx of clients.

Host intro: Since March 20, when Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York issued an executive order that called for all non-essential businesses to shut down, and workers to stay home, many states across the country have followed suit in hopes of bringing the COVID-19 outbreak under control. While those deemed non-essential workers work from home, essential workers such as nurses, service workers, and elderly caregivers, must brave the frontlines of the pandemic. Naydeline Mejia spoke with some of those essential workers across the country about how it feels to work through a global pandemic. 

AMBI: NAT sounds of Jessica Gomez, an In-take Coordinator at a homeless shelter in Los Angeles, walking out onto her backyard to escape her crowded home in South Central, L.A. for some fresh air (Fades down as TRACK1 begins.)

AMBI: Room tone (Layered under tracks.)

TRACK1: I’m speaking with Jessica Gomez, an In-take Coordinator at a homeless shelter in  Skid Row, Los Angeles––a neighborhood with one of the largest homeless populations in the United States. During our Zoom conference call, Gomez tells me about a decrease in residents at her shelter due to government buildings shutting down in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

ACT1: JESSICA: There’s a lot of people who aren’t having the opportunity to get shelter right now and that’s because […] in my case in particular, I work for the DPSS and that stands for the Department of Public Social Services, and so all the county buildings in LA county are closed, so usually our clients would go to the DPSS office and get a voucher in order to be housed there, ’cause there’s different programs, but for our program in particular you need an LA county voucher to be housed there, but due to the closure of all the DPSS buildings, they can’t get a voucher so […] usually we have, in our program, up to like thirty clients and right now it’s gone down to I think it’s like four clients.

TRACK2: These government building closures have left many out on the streets, and searching for alternative options. 

ACT2: JESSICA: Even pre-pandemic our shelters would fill up and not everybody got a chance to, you know, get emergency housing. But yeah, pretty much if you’re not able to get a voucher, you’re kind of stuck outside and you literally have to find another way to get some other type of housing.

TRACK3: Social workers, like Gomez, aren’t the only ones seeing a shift in their work environments because of COVID-19. Healthcare professionals across the country are seeing shortages in PPE, the Personal Protective Equipment they need to protect themselves from infectious diseases. I spoke with a nurse in Arkansas about how her hospital is responding to the shortages as coronavirus cases in the state climb over a thousand.

ACT3: NURSE: So for us, down in Arkansas, we are doing fairly well, we’re just really trying to conserve what we do have, so like if we have a mask usually I am used to like wearing it into the room––wearing the mask for the 20 minutes I’m doing care and then I’ll throw it out because it’s kind of, you know, I’ve already used it, and then I’ll go to the next room, but now we’re having to use it [the mask] for basically the whole 12-hour shift, which is a lot.

TRACK4: As the situation becomes more dire, this Arkansas nurse expects many healthcare professionals to walk out on hospitals out of fear and lack of Personal Protective Equipment. 

ACT4: NURSE: I definitely am showing up and doing my best; however, if I’m being told that I have nothing and I only can bring a scarf from home to take care of these COVID-positive patients then my life does matter and I’m not a martyr, so I will be walking out and probably saying, “I’m not doing it,” and so will other people. A lot of healthcare workers I’ve talked to, if they have nothing to wear, they’ll walk out, so that’s just the reality.

TRACK5: While healthcare workers grapple with treating infectious patients at work, outside of the hospital, these professionals face the threat of eviction by anxious landlords and even verbal abuse from the public––adding to their list of things to be fearful of. 

ACT5: NURSE: So, people have been sometimes physically abusing healthcare workers because they think that they’re spreading the virus. So, that’s just a concern that I have as a woman, also, that I have to be careful and so I’m just kind of going straight to work and going right home [after] and I don’t stop at the store, at all, in my scrubs because I don’t want any negative connotations or abuse from just wearing scrubs, which unfortunately happens.

TRACK6: Here, in New York City, workers outside of the hospital face different fears. Joel Bautista, a student at Baruch College, continues to work his shifts at Paris Baguette in Midtown Manhattan during the weekends. As essential businesses, many restaurants and cafes have remained open during the city’s temporary shutdown. Commuting on the MTA, usually a rather safe and normal aspect of city life, has become an anxious experience for many essential workers as reduced service causes longer wait times and crowded trains. 

ACT6: JOEL: Um, yeah I definitely have fears now more than ever ’cause when I go on the train I see […] I don’t know why […] the first few days of going to work with this whole coronavirus thing, it was empty at first and now there’s more people which has made me more anxious, but also I’ve worked with my family and try to like […] because they know I’m working and I’m coming back, so what we do now is we have a bottle of alcohol, like a small spray bottle, by the door, so every time I walk in I have to spray my hands because I do touch a doorknob to get in, so I have to spray my hands and everything. But yeah, I’m going to be honest I’ve been really anxious the past few days and it’s really, I wouldn’t say it’s affecting my work, but it’s definitely affecting me, in general, at home and stuff. 

TRACK7: While every employee has the right to refuse work, especially if one feels as though their health might be in danger, a common theme among the essential workers I spoke to regarding their decision to continue to work through this pandemic was that of wanting to be there for others––from serving meals to those who need it to providing shelter for the homeless. Brenika Banks, a caregiver at Home Instead Senior Care in the Manhattan borough of New York City, feels a need to maintain her elderly client’s routine during these unprecedented times. 

ACT7: BRENIKA: So yeah we have a cool relationship and I’m the one who […] I volunteer to do this every week. Sunday morning when I’m about to leave I wash her hair and I wash her hair like she’s my little sister, like with the shampoo and the Shea Moisture conditioner. She’s a white lady by the way, not that that really means anything, but I wash her hair like she’s of color. [laughs] I make sure she gets the deep wash and the good conditioner, like let it sit in everything while I shower her and then rinse it out afterwards. So I don’t know who would be the one to do that. I mean yeah, someone else probably would, but I feel like it’s good for me to still be there because I was one of the first caregivers that took on her case when she joined the company, so just […] she’s very familiar with me in these past, almost three months. So I know for older people routine is very important to them, and I feel like I’m a part of that routine for her. I’m a caregiver that she’s comfortable with so a part of me still goes [to work] for that.

TRACK8: As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country, these essential workers are urging others to flatten the curve and limit the spread of this infectious disease by practicing social distancing. According to Governor Cuomo in a press conference last Tuesday, there are some early indications that it’s starting to have an impact in New York.

ACT8: CUOMO: We talk about the apex and as the apex [as] a plateau, and right now we’re projecting that we are reaching a plateau in the total number of hospitalizations, and you can see the growth and you can see it starting to flatten. Again, this is a projection, it still depends on what we and what we do will affect those numbers. This is not an act of God that we’re looking at, it’s an act of what society actually does.

TRACK9: There may not be a vaccine available to the public as of yet, but there is one solution we do have to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and that is staying home so those on the frontlines can save lives. For Baruch College, I’m Naydeline Mejia in New York.

Host intro: The coronavirus pandemic is raging across the United States. The Department of Labor announced that more than 10 million people filed for unemployment within the first two weeks of the coronavirus shut-downs. New York State, the new epicenter of the world, has officially been shut down for approximately a month. More than 195,000 people have been infected within the State. One question still remains amongst Baruch’s Class of 2020: But what about graduation? Many soon-to-be graduates are sitting at their computers in angst. While adjusting to remote classes, students anxiously wonder about how their lives will be affected, from their families to the job market and commencement. Reporter Nadia Khan interviews two members of the Class of 2020 and the Director of Student Life.

AMBI: Sounds at Jay’s house (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)

AMBI: Room tone (LAYER UNDER TRACK)

ACT: JAY: My name is Jay Park. I go to Baruch College and I am graduating in 2020.

TRACK: For Jay, the worst part about the pandemic is having to stay home.

ACT: JAY: I hate being home but now I don’t have a choice. This was the first couple years that I had the freedom to go out. I feel like me being home is me having to build that up with my parents all over.

TRACK: Among the things that were taken from her because of the pandemic, she talks about softball.

ACT: JAY: School is not a thing anymore. I was really excited for this semester because it was my last semester and I had my last season of softball. Being a senior on a team can get your perks. You have senior day. You have the banquet. Basically all the years you spent working towards that sport is leading up to your senior night moment. It’s just hard and frustrating because not everybody gets it.

TRACK: Here we have Shehtaz Chowdhury, another senior from Baruch College. When asked about the effects of the pandemic, her first answer is graduation.

ACT: SHEHTAZ: Obviously, my whole graduation is thrown off. I imagined I would be here in four years but everything is different than I expected it to look. I came halfway across the world for college. This is literally my core purpose of why I’m here. So for me to go through my four years and finally execute everything, this has been the milestone that I’ve been waiting for.

TRACK: In fear of contracting the virus, Shehtaz has been using up all of her paid time off to stay home. Shehtaz works in a bank, which is listed as one of the essential businesses by New York State’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo.

ACT: SHEHTAZ: I’m using all of my paid time off to not go to work for as long as I can. Afterwards, when I run out of them, I don’t know what I’m really going to do. I’m actually worried about my safety. Personally, I don’t have the greatest immune system and I get sick very often.

TRACK: On top of these concerns, Shehtaz notes that she is worried about the kind of job market she will be graduating into.

ACT: SHEHTAZ: My whole job process is unstable because nobody’s hiring right now and I don’t know what kind of economy I’ll be graduating into. That makes me nervous.

TRACK: On April 3, 2020, CUNY’s Office of the Chancellor released an e-mail stating that “commencement ceremonies across the University-system will be postponed”. Baruch has yet to tell students what that means for their commencement ceremony, which usually takes place at Barclay’s Center. Here we have Damali Tolson, the Director of Student Life. In collaboration with the President’s Office, Ms. Tolson is the primary planner for graduation ceremony. Since the outbreak, Student Life’s first concern has been the safety of their students.

ACT: DAMALI: We’ve had a lot of students in crisis emotionally but we’ve also spent the first few weeks trying to get student resources. We have a lot of students who have been putting in for emergency funding because they’ve lost their jobs. Their parents have lost their jobs. There’s just been a lot happening so we’re trying to make sure students are physically okay and emotionally okay.

TRACK: As for the commencement ceremony, Baruch is in the process of putting together a virtual graduation experience to be held on the original date of commencement, June 8, 2020.

ACT: DAMALI: We are one of the largest commencements at CUNY. We have about 20,000 attendees so we are very limited in when and where we can have our commencement. Barclay’s is one of the only places where we can have one commencement ceremony indoors. With the WNBA and the NBA being delayed until the fall, we just don’t see when the league will allow us to hold a commencement date. We’re going to be at the bottom of the totem pole and we don’t want students to not have a celebration of all they’ve worked for.

TRACK: Student Life is currently brainstorming how to make this virtual experience more palatable for the Class of 2020.

ACT: DAMALI: We have some fun, interesting things up our sleeves. We’re working with a vendor where students will have the ability to maybe see their names called, which we don’t get to do in person since we have 3500 students participate. We’re not going to try to have the same exact commencement online because that won’t work.

TRACK: Since the duration of the coronavirus pandemic and its long-term effects on large gatherings are uncertain, Baruch College is unable to predict when they would be able to hold a commencement ceremony for the Class of 2020. The Office of Student Life aims to hand out diplomas in the fall and hopes to give graduates one last time to say goodbye to the campus. For Baruch College, I’m Nadia Khan.

Host intro: According to the U.S. Travel Association and Tourism Economics forecast, the economy could lose 5.9 million travel-related jobs by the end of this month due to COVID-19 crippling the travel industry. Megan Jeon spoke to people who owns the tourism business in New York about their difficulties from shut down of non-essential business.

AMBI: Nat sounds of keyboard typing.

AMBI: Room tone (LAYER UNDER TRACK)

TRACK: I’m here with Bryan Valdes over the phone call, listening to him speak as he sends the cancellation mails to his clients. He is a New York City tour guide who works doses much his business throughout the Viator.com which is one of the largest tourism booking platforms.

ACT: Valdes: Since the middle of March, I have tons of cancellations and re-bookings. So far all of my guide sessions suspended to the middle of June and it’s still not clear whether I can recover from this or not. I mean the future is as ever uncertain as it’s ever been for me and..

TRACK: He says uncertainty is the biggest concern that he has right now.

ACT: Valdes: I am uncertain where the world is at right now, and how we are going to fight with this pandemic, and I am uncertain if I ever be able to provide my family in the coming weeks, I am also uncertain if my kids will be healthy or my mom and dad are should be under a watch because of their age..

TRACK: Also Airbnb host Jason Hsiao is facing tons of cancellations.

ACT: Hsiao: Honestly, It’s very horrible. Because as you know Brooklyn is one of the highest dense population of affected people with Coronavirus, so there is no business here for me. Every single day people are cancelling their booking, and practically I’m making no money.

TRACK: Airbnb has announced that they will pay the host 25% of guest reservations for check-in between March 14 to May 31. However, Hsiao says it is far from enough to cover his income.

ACT: Hsiao:That is not realistic. That is not going to help us throughout income or throughout bills for people especially who is living in New York.

TRACK: Many airlines have slashed most flights to New York City. The lights went out on Broadway because of the crowd capacity rules in place to combat the spread of coronavirus. Times Square, where usually about 330,000 people pass a day, left virtually empty. The shutdown had a ripple effect on people who depend on the tourists and local crowds who visit this area. For Baruch College, this is Megan Jeon.

Link: https://soundcloud.com/mark-morales-885394178/finalradioproject

Host Intro: On March 11th, Trump announced a Europe ban to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, giving everyone little time to make a big decision. Amongst those people, were students studying abroad. With little time to take action, they had to decide whether they should stay in a foreign country or go back home. As classes around the world transition from in-person classes to online classes, students have to adapt to a different style of learning.

AMBI1: Room Silence

AMBI2: It’s four in the morning and I have class in a few minutes. I did an all-nighter to finish a project and I’m really tired.

TRACK1: In the 2017-2018 academic year, over 340,000 (341,751) students participated in study abroad programs in the U.S\. I am speaking over the phone with Katherine Martinez-Valdez, a junior at Baruch College because of social distancing as her classes transition from in-person classes at Paris Dauphine University to online learning in New York. There is a six-hour time difference between France and New York.

ACT1: “I didn’t know about online class till the day before. I thought maybe that the time difference wouldn’t be that bad. Until I realized I had my first class at 5am in the morning. 5 am in the morning is not fun at all. I ended up taking a nap during class but thankfully the professor didn’t want to use video or microphone.”

TRACK2: The situation becomes even more challenging when you have to complete group projects. Between New York and Singapore, there is a 12 hour time difference.

ACT2: So I have to do a video project for my marketing class and it’s very interesting but my group members are in Singapore, which is not something I ever had to do a group project so far away. It’s way harder than I expected because when I’m sleeping, they’re awake, and there are no apps or websites to edit a video with more than one person.”

TRACK3: This impacts the quality of education and takes a mental toll as Katherine needs to stay awake to avoid being penalized. As an international business major, she is required to study abroad, but due to the virus instead of immersing herself in a new culture, she needs to spend her mornings in front of a computer.

ACT3: “When it’s really early in the morning and they don’t have any excitement in their voice and you’re listening to anything that interesting you just happen to fall asleep. Then your friend has to text you if she calls on you and you’re quiet and then she’ll be like ‘Oh she not here anymore, then she’ll mark you absent.’ That’s why you always have to be paying attention. It’s just so hard to wake up that early and be expected to stay awake for that amount of time.

TRACK4: However, not all students left. Jesselle Ramierez, junior at Baruch College decided to stay in Bangkok, Thailand despite the fact that the country is in lockdown. She is currently attending Chulalongkorn University taking four online classes pursuing her bachelor’s in Marketing.

ACT4: At first, we were in a residence with about 150 maybe 100 study abroad students and the majority of them left. So let’s say Like 20 remained.

TRACK5: Study abroad programs are meant to be a unique experience, but now the experience has become memorable for all the wrong reasons.

ACT5: It definitely completely changed the dynamic especially since the end of March everything has been quarantined, so all the malls shut down, the pool in our residence closed and things just got more depressing, to say the least. It was very difficult to say goodbye to your friends because you thought you’d get to see them and get to know them until May.

TRACK6: Despite the lockdown, Jesselle does not regret her decision.

ACT: I decided to stay here because I would rather be quarantined in Bangkok than back home. I guess it was a good decision since New York is one of the worst cities in the world when it comes to the virus.

OUTROTRACK: New York State currently has more confirmed cases than any other country in the world, with an estimated total of 190,000 compared to 2,500 cases in Thailand. With the semester coming to an end, students are still learning how to adapt and make the most out of their situation regardless of what country they are in. For Baruch College, this is Mark Morales in New York City.

https://soundcloud.com/user356114795/radio-project/s-waGoMXbPacZ

Host intro: The rise in the coronavirus outbreak has caused the NCAA and professional leagues to postpone and cancel other seasons. Valsenia Michie spoke to a couple of athletes affected by the cancellations. 

Ambi: Sound of phone vibrating (fades ashost intro begins)

Track: I am on the phone with Sameera Ahmed, a collegiate athlete at Baruch College, and Dashaun Michie, an athlete at Lehman College. Both of these athletes have to deal with the virus halting their season. 

Act:Sameera: My opinion in COVID-19, at first, was that it was very exaggerated, but looking at it now and the situation everybody is getting into, uhmm, it seems like a very big problem, especially with people losing their jobs and having to stay home, and everything closing, it’s just causing havoc.

Act:Dashaun: At first, I felt like the COVID-19 was a little exaggerated,that it wasn’t as big of a deal, but now i feel like, as time passed and we’ve seen the amount of deaths that’ve been happening, that it’s a big issue that we have been taking it granted for.

Track: They have to alter what their daily routines consisted of.

Act:Sameera: It’s been affecting my daily routine a lot because I would go outside and workout, I would go to a gym, I would go play basketball, uhmm, with other people, so us not interacting with others has brought my motivation down. I try very hard to workout when I’m at home but it’s a struggle.

Act:Dashaun:So, with the whole COVID-19, it affected my daily routine as a track athlete, so since the issue has sparked up, I haven’t been able to practice or compete. My season has been cancelled for this year, so pretty much, my second life of an athlete has been, pretty much, put on hold until this issue is fixed.

Track: They must improvise on what their schedules will hold.

Act:Sameera: I started to make a daily routine of things I should be doing, because I started to realize that I’ve gotten lazy, and, like I said before, me not going outside to workout or play basketball with other people,I’ve tried to set aside times so that I could workout and still get my work in.

Act:Dashaun: Well, since I’m not able to compete or practice, I, pretty much, do at home workouts, uhm, and I also just focus on other aspects of my life, like video games and school work.

Track: Everyone has been ordered to quarantine themselves, in order to help diminish how many people contract the virus.

Act:Sameera: I believe the outcome of us going into quarantine will result in us just getting out faster. For example, they locked the whole country of China down and they’ve just reopened everything, there’s not a single case, so if we just, uhmm, take precautions like that, I feel like the outcome will be good.

Act:Dashaun: Uhmm, well, before this cancellation, I was looking forward to this season, pretty much. This was my comeback season, I’ve stopped running for almost a year, so this would’ve been my “season debut,” I guess, after taking a break, I was looking for PRs and new beginnings.

Track: With professional athletes contracting the virus, it caused NCAA to cancel its remaining seasons.

Act:Sameera: It’s sad to hear that because of this outbreak a lot of people won’t be finishing their season of play. Many athletes worked very hard in the preseason and during the season. Everyone felt like they had something to play for, and, now, it just feels like everything is being thrown away. 

Act:Dashaun: Uhh, I feel like the current route of cancelling the season is the best route. As you can see, that,  without social distancing a lot of people are losing their lives. You don’t want athletes out there to fear for their lives, so I feel like cancelling the season was the best choice.

Track: Everyone had things to look forward to before the season ended abruptly.

Act:Sameera: I was very excited because, even though, our season didn’t go as planned, I had an opportunity to play on another team. But after finding out that, because of this outbreak, our season would be cancelled, it made everyone, including me, very upset. Even though we’re all very sad, we’re going to come back stronger.

Act:Dashaun: Uhm, even though this was my season back and I was just getting back into shape, uhmm, with this delay, I feel like it’s just a sign, it gives me more time to prepare for next season. Since I was able to start the season, I was able to see my pros and cons and now I can work on that in this offseason to come back in better shape.

Track: Collegiate sporting seasons will remain cancelled, while professional seasons are postponed, as they come up with solutions to limit the chances of anyone transmitting and contracting the virus. From Baruch College, I’m Valsenia Michie.

https://soundcloud.com/user-88360655/covid-19-remote-learning/s-02R7QWaKRTo

HOST:  Like many cities around the country in an effort to slow the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic, New York City Public Schools have switched over to remote learning since last month. Over 1 million students and 75,000 teachers are now working from home, and some are struggling to adjust to the new format. This new mode of instruction has greatly limited the ability of teachers to work closely with their students, and have posed problems for students who require one-on-one assistance for their educational success, like special education teachers. 

Recently, Mayor DeBlasio announced that New York City Public Schools would be closing for the remainder of the school year, causing much frustration and uncertainty for teachers across the city. Therese Rodrigues has the story.

ACT:  Bill de Blasio school closure announcement on March 11, DE BLASIO: After very careful consideration, I announced today that the New York City Public Schools will remain closed for the remainder of this school year. Having to tell you that we can not bring our schools back for the remainder of this year is painful, but, I can also tell you, it’s the right thing to do.  

AMBI: Sounds of online class

TRACK: This is not a conventional classroom. There are no whiteboards, posters, or desks. Only a teacher, her books, and a computer. Aloma Rodrigues is a 5th grade Special Education teacher at P.S. 97 in Queens. She is looking into her laptop camera, and her students smile back at her. Some are trying to talk to their friends who they haven’t seen in weeks, others are distracted by their siblings and parents in the background. She tries to get their attention, which proves to be a difficult task. 

AMBI: Sounds of online class 

TRACK: Rodrigues teaches a self-contained class of 12 students. Each child has special educational needs and requires extensive individual attention. She, along with many other educators, have had difficulties adjusting to teaching from home. 

AMBI: Sounds of online class 

ACT: RODRIGUES: So, the remote learning format has been stressful and challenging for me. It takes a lot of time to look for resources, just to make sure that you’re finding the right one that’s appropriate for your students’ needs, so it takes a lot out of your time.

TRACK: The majority of Rodrigues’ job consists of one on one instruction. Her students each have unique sets of educational needs, which is difficult to accommodate in online instruction. 

ACT: RODRIGUES: I feel as though my role as a teacher has changed, in the fact that I don’t feel like I’m actually teaching the kids, I’m just assigning work for them to do, and the kids are basically left to figure it out on their own. 

TRACK: Coordinating with parents is essential in remote learning. They have been tasked with the responsibility of making sure their children complete their work. Communication with parents, however, has been difficult. 

ACT: RODRIGUES: It has been very challenging dealing with the parents. A lot of times, I’ve been sending out multiple messages a day, just to make sure that the kids are doing their work on time, and parents are not responding to the messages, so it’s been very challenging.    

TRACK: For elementary school students, remote learning consists more of online assignments than video calls or conferences. Students have had difficulty adjusting to this new format. 

ACT: RODRIGUES: I’ve noticed a lot of changes in my students. For some kids, they’re producing work that’s really outstanding- and I know that they’re not doing the work themselves, and they’re getting help. And on the other hand, I know that kids are not putting their best effort in their work, I know they can do a lot more. 

TRACK: Although Rodrigues tries to schedule daily meetings with her students, she feels as if the experience is inadequate in replicating the dynamics of her normal classroom. 

ACT: RODRIGUES: When we have a Google Meeting to do a read-aloud, sometimes you have six students showing up, or you have students showing up maybe five minutes before the meeting is over, and some days only three students show up, depending on the day, or I guess, how late they went to bed that night.    

AMBI: Sounds of online class     

TRACK:  The parents of these students have also had to adjust to the new learning format. Remote Learning requires extensive parental or guardian support, as children do not have the same organized schedule as they do during class. Anisha Ramjattee, the mother of a student in Rodrigues’ class, expressed her thoughts on the new learning format. 

TRACK: Ramjattee is grateful for teachers’ support during the transition 

ACT: RAMJATTE: He adjusted to remote learning faster than I thought he was going to, because of the teacher’s help, it made it very simple and easy for him.

TRACK: Her child, like many others, found trouble focusing on assignments and working independently. 

ACT: RAMJATTE: The challenge that he faced in remote learning was working independently by himself. Also at the beginning, me as a parent, having to go over the assignment with him. 

TRACK: Although Ramjattee is grateful for the support her child has received so far, the remote learning system is far from perfect.

ACT: RAMJATTE: If I could change anything about remote learning, it would be for all the teachers to work together, and send all of the work in one page. 

TRACK:  Another issue teachers have faced is coordination. Students have separate classes for Art, Technology, Dance, and Physical Education, but it is often confusing for children to balance the workloads from all of their classes.

AMBI: Sounds of online class 

TRACK: With schools closed until September, teachers, parents, and students alike have no option but to adapt to the new format. What that entails continues to evolve. For Baruch College, I’m Therese Rodrigues. 

 

 

For Theatre Students, COVID-19 Prompts a Semester Without Applause

Kenneth Fremer

HOST: For students across the country, Coronavirus precautions have resulted in a shift towards online schoolwork. Homework assignments are moving online, and classes are being held through video conferencing services like Zoom as most states issue shelter-in-place notices to their residents. But what about students in the arts, who now find themselves cut off from their peers, essential materials, and mentors? Kenneth Fremer spoke to students at Arizona State University about adjusting their hands-on course of study during a time in which physical contact is essentially forbidden.

AMBI: Lucy’s backyard in Arizona. Wind chimes in the distant, and birds are heard in the distance

KENNY: Most students are having trouble living with their families every day while working and studying from home. Speaking to me through video chat from Arizona, Lucy Primiano has found refuge in her backyard from the commotion of her family indoors.

NAT: Wind chimes close-up. 

LUCY: “Working from home has been interesting, I can’t say it’s been the most productive. Not just because I’ve got eight cats and four dogs who also want to participate in all of my work. For instance in lighting design, we were supposed to go into the lighting lab and create these lighting cues for a podcast we were listening to. And so we had to shift to an online software called vectorworks, and we were able to create these lighting cues but it’s really no substitute for learning how to use the board and seeing how the lighting hits a person.”

KENNY: At Arizona State University, home of the state’s largest theater, the Gammage, theatrical productions have been completely halted and campus facilities shut down. Lucy has found herself without a job, and without access to the resources at ASU’s sprawling        campus, or the inspiration she receives from fellow creatives.

LUCY: “I’m limited in that I can’t actually apply any of these concepts, and a lot of it is muscle memory. And again, even if I’m not in a traditional classroom setting, I’m learning through my job. So right now, I mean every theater across the country is shut down. Not being able to continue that learning once the classroom setting is out of the question during the summer, with what we’re learning hands on through our jobs, that’s another element that’s up in the air right now.”

KENNY: As productions are cancelled, students are missing out on vital hands-on work and the satisfaction of seeing shows through to completion. The biggest disappointment for Lucy and her classmates came with the cancellation of the school’s production of the Crucible, which would have premiered on March 20th. 

LUCY: “We should have been going into tech week, and actually this past Friday would have been opening night. And so missing everything that is being learned as we all watch it come together, and then missing that celebratory mark of seeing the show open and everything we’ve done, and all the tech and design elements that we’ve combined, right now we can’t do that.”

KENNY: Phoebe Leisinger, another student who worked in Arizona State’s theater department on the cancelled Crucible production, has had to move back home because of an outbreak at her apartment building near campus. 

AMBI: Phoebe’s room noise

PHOEBE: “And so, like I called my parents and was like ‘there’s an outbreak at my apartment’ and they were like, you have to come home and you have 24 hours to pack your stuff and get home now. I didn’t have time to pack everything, I could just grab the essentials and got out of there because it’s just not – it’s so close quarters, it’s not worth it.”

KENNY: Phoebe’s also hosting her roommate, Oliver, who won’t be able to drive back to his home in Kansas due to safety precautions

PHOEBE: “One of my roommates is at my parents’ house with me, ‘cause he needs to go back to Kansas because that’s where he’s from. But like, all the hotels are closed between here and there and he can’t do a two day drive in one go, and it’s below freezing at night so he can’t sleep in his car. And it’s just this situation where everyone is trapped and there’s nothing to do, y’know? It’s scary.”

KENNY: Phoebe isn’t sure what her work will look like after the Coronavirus pandemic. She’s graduating this semester, and won’t be able to find theater work this summer. Right now, theater students at ASU don’t have much of an idea of what their future will look like. Nobody knows for sure when students might be able to return to campus. When they do return, though, students will have lost an essential part of their college experience.

LUCY: “We’re gonna have to come I think first come together and acknowledge what we lost during these past few weeks, and however many months we have to come, and really rally around rebuilding our sense of community… we’re gonna have to let each other have our little dumb and forgetful moments, and then just remind each other that it’s all understandable, we just have to keep moving forward and pick up the pace.”

KENNY: For Baruch College, this is Kenneth Fremer from a basement in Staten Island, New York.

Host Intro: As many of us are home as a result of COVID-19, a novel coronavirus that has been declared a pandemic in mid-March, essential workers head to work in New York. Hospitals all over New York State are struggling with overwhelmed staff and dwindling supplies. Shali Huang has a story of how this pandemic is affecting healthcare workers.

AMBI: Natural sound of a faucet running. (Fades as TRACK1 begins.)

TRACK1: Recently, as the pandemic unfolds, hospitals all over the country announced that they would terminate employees who would speak to the media regarding the lack of PPEs and long hours. Several hospitals enforcing this policy include New York’s Montefiore System, NYU Langone and Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital. I have an NYU Langone employee here today as  she describes how COVID-19 has affected her hospital. Her name will be withheld as a result of this policy.

ACT1: I work for NYU Langone as a housekeeper. I clean the rooms. My hospital is now limiting PPEs. They didn’t use to do that. We just took what we needed. They didn’t keep count. We are not allowed to wear masks now. Only doctors and nurses who treat the COVID-19 patients can wear them.

TRACK2: Social distancing rules are constantly adjusting with rising infection numbers. One major issue is maintaining social distance in close quarters. This is especially difficult to do on subways and buses, especially when this is how most essential employees travel to work. The MTA have implemented policies to sanitize their stations, subways, and most recently buses, everyday to assist these essential employees, even as rider numbers have been decreasing by at least 60% since March.

ACT2: I wake up very early, at 5:30 am to take the M34 bus when I go to work because there aren’t many people. But when I get off work, I walk home. It takes me about one hour. 

TRACK3: As the number of COVID-19 cases increase, hospitals are overwhelmed beyond capacity. Nurses and doctors all over the country have stated concerns regarding the lack of PPEs in their hospitals. Since NYS have become the epicenter of this pandemic, hospitals are overrun with dying patients that temporary morgues had to be built. Lack of hospital beds and ventilators are common throughout the city, with rising reports of frontline workers being infected. Emergency room doctor Colleen Smith, working at NYC’s Elmhurst Hospital describes the situation in her hospital. SMITH: We had to get a refrigerated truck to store the bodies.

ACT3: The cases are growing so much, especially in New York. Since last month, I have had to work overtime. Every two weeks, I get two days off. I keep seeing on the news that doctors and nurses are getting sick so I worry a lot. Now it is even more important to work. We need more healthcare workers. It is dangerous but this is our responsibility.

TRACK4: As the governor calls on retired doctors and nurses to return to service during these trying times, supplies are dwindling. SMITH: We don’t have the protective equipment we’re supposed to have. I put on one N95 mask in the morning. I don’t take it off all day. I don’t even care if I get in trouble for speaking to the media. I want people to know that this is bad. People are dying.

TRACK5: A growing number of healthcare workers have taken to social media describing their situation regarding safety issues and a lack of PPEs despite retaliation from their employers. As the number of COVID-19 cases increases, those on the front lines are most at risk. For Baruch College, this is Shali Huang in New York City.