Month: <span>October 2020</span>

Vote

By Jay Torres

It seems like every election year is the most important of our time. That was definitely the case in 2016, but in all seriousness, that is the case again in 2020. It’s no secret how I feel about the current administration, but regardless how you feel about the current presidential candidates, there are a ton of other government positions and propositions that we are voting on.

For us in California, there are a number of propositions on the ballot. If you aren’t up to speed about what the propositions are about, CalMatters has great videos on each proposition. They are neutral in the way they explain them (unlike all the annoying commercials and ads you see on TV and YouTube), and they do so in a clear and concise way. Each video spends less than a minute explaining each proposition.

And once you have filled in your ballot, please make every effort to turn them in early. At an OFFICIAL ballot drop box or polling location. Not a fake one like those dirty California Republicans are setting up in different counties in California. You can find the closest, official one to you here.

You can also track your ballot from when they send it to you, to when it is received after you drop it off at ballottrax.

Please vote. You can make a difference.

The New Helicopter Parents

By Jay Torres

Danielle Braff in the New York Times:

Welcome to e-learning, where some parents have become reluctant helicopters, circling their kids as they attempt to learn, helping them with their every move. Throughout the country, grown-ups privileged enough to be able to stay at home, or to even have a few minutes of “spare time,” can be found sitting adjacent to their children on Zoom — or just a few feet away, poking their dependents when attention wanes, and yelling at them to raise their hands, speak into the camera and stop fidgeting.

This has been my life from March-June, and then when school started again, from August until last week, Monday, October 5. I was kind of torn with the idea of sending our kids back to school when the pandemic is nowhere near under control. At the end of the day, I was ok with all the precautions the school was taking, and the fact that our youngest needed the structure and socialization of school. And my wife and I needed our sanity back. Given everything else going on, I think I can say that distance learning has been the hardest thing on me by far.

Although this aspect of the pandemic has been covered in the media, like it has in the New York Times, I don’t think it is being discussed honestly between other parents.

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