Sound Bites - Issue #76 - June 2020 #345

On the Cover
Alon Goldsmith Wins Sixth Annual Photo Contest!

SMC Community Education is thrilled to announce that Alon Goldsmith is the winner of the Sixth Annual Student Photo Contest (2020) – and his picture, “Surveillance,” will grace the cover of Community Ed’s Fall 2020 brochure. The first runner-up is Mark Harding for his image “Covered Bridge,” and Julian Tso’s “Yosemite Mist” is the second runner-up.

Visit our Sixth Annual Photo Contest page

Altogether, 241 images from 67 students and/or alumni were submitted for the contest – a record number, again. The submissions were judged at two levels to boil the contest down to three finalists for public voting, which tallied a record 1,070 votes.

“I’m really proud that our community is constantly responding to us, in this case, to our annual signature event,” said Alice Meyering, Program Coordinator of Community Education. “We have a true interactive relationship, and this is most evident with our Photo Contest.  The community is sharing our vision, and I really like that.”

“I shot Surveillance using my iPhone 11 Pro Max and the Hipstamatic app,” Goldsmith said. “The location is the Boardwalk in Venice Beach at the height of the Coronavirus shutdown in mid-April. I was out riding my bike when I noticed that this wall, which is usually painted with a brightly colored mural, had been painted over with what I think of as Covid Brown. I felt compelled to stop and wait for something interesting to happen. I photographed a number of decent images, but I knew immediately upon capturing this one that my work was done.”

Goldsmith, a Del Rey resident, has taken three photography classes at SMC Community Ed and speaks highly of the instructors he had, Larry Jones and Ed Mangus.

“I'm really happy to have won and more importantly that my image will appear on the cover of the Santa Monica College Community Education fall 2020 class schedule “

 Again, congratulations to all three of the winners!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets for the latest on our contest and other news. And for questions on the voting process, please do not hesitate to contact us at commed@smc.edu.

What's Next:
We're Remote Live...and Ready for Summer!

from the desk of Alice Meyering

Thanks to our instructors and students who have adapted to these challenging times, we are offering a robust variety of classes this summer!

We all know these are challenging times, but I am excited that we’ve been able to keep so many classes alive and thriving because our instructors have switched to online formats and our students are still seeking out lifelong learning opportunities. That’s why we’re able to offer a robust schedule of online classes this summer, beginning June 22 – and you can register now!

Right in the middle of March, we successfully switched to online formats for about 30 of the 45 classes in session at that time. Since then, we’ve continued to offer classes that started in April or May. Some classes simply don’t lend themselves to remote learning, but I’m amazed at some of the courses we have preserved – such as Adult Ballet, which is on our summer schedule.

I’m so proud we have this many instructors who could change their teaching modality so quickly. And I’m equally proud that our community continues to support us by enrolling in our classes, despite the changes. Our community, our students, understand our motto: “Connect. Discover. Expand.” Even if the “Connect” part is on Zoom.

Getting back to our summer schedule, not only have we preserved many courses, we have added classes. They include Writing a Short Story, Night & Low Light Photography on a Smart Phone, and a Summer Featured Lecture “Early American Architectural Styles and Interiors.”

And, as usual, we are offering several business and entrepreneurial training classes, as well as self-development.

I invite you to browse our courses on our website. You can always view the summer class schedule as a PDF on our website. If you have questions, please feel free to email us at commed@smc.edu.

Thank you again for your strong support and dedication to lifelong learning!

From Our Kitchen:
The Chicken That Sage Likes

New Perspectives:
Lessons from the Pandemic

We asked our instructors how they are dealing with the Coronavirus and lockdown, as an instructor and/or as a person. Here are their responses.

Silvia Masera, Italian for Continuing Students (Remote Live)

Here is how I have adapted to the lockdown: It has been over two months since the lockdown started, and we have all had to adapt to a new normal.

Santa Monica College Continuing Education’s foremost concern was the wellbeing of the students and faculty, so many of us instructors moved quickly to online teaching.

Teaching Italian online has been a positive experience for both my students and myself. Even when there were a few technical connection issues, no one was discouraged. The platforms (Zoom and Skype) I have been using have multiple functionalities. One in particular is that I am able to monitor and split the students in groups into different “rooms” with a time limit to either converse or do exercises just as if we were in the classroom.

On a personal level, I have been worried about my family that lives in Bergamo and Milano, which were the epicenters of the pandemic in Italy. Being so far away was tough, but using the same teleconferencing apps has allowed me to hear and see them, which made it a little easier.

Sadly, I did lose a few friends. Some of my relatives are physicians who worked on the front line and got infected, but fortunately their symptoms were not severe, and they were able to go back to work soon after they recovered. They, too, lost friends and colleagues. I also have friends here in Los Angeles who have fallen ill doing the work they love. I’m thankful to the medical community for their selfless work.

There has been so much misinformation that I have decided to read less news and to focus on my wellbeing instead. I tried to be more productive by attending online webinars to improve my skills and health.

I realized I cannot sit in front of the computer all day so I started taking long walks, discovering more of my neighborhood wearing a mask, embracing our astonishing Mother Nature. To help me be more at ease I started participating in an online breathing guided meditation. If you have not tried breathing meditation, I highly recommend it! Especially now.

In the end, we all need to do our part by staying home to ensure the safety of others. We are one world team collaborating with one another to fight and defeat this epidemic, but I do hope to be in the classroom soon, once it is safe to do so. Meanwhile I will see and meet you online. Stay safe!

Robert Klepa, Legal Aspects of Business (Remote Live)

Here is how I have adapted to the lockdown: I walk more. I try and walk a couple of miles every day to keep me from going completely stir crazy.

My favorite lockdown activity has been jigsaw puzzles. I recently completed a 1,000-piece puzzle over the course of a few weeks.

Todd Carpenter, Experimenting with Oil Paint (Remote Live)

As an artist primarily working out of my home, I did not expect the lockdown to substantially change my routine. I knew I would miss the regular interaction with my painting students, but other than that I anticipated mostly painting in my apartment as usual.

But as the lockdown settled in, I found myself doing a number of things differently. I can’t explain why I made these changes, though perhaps it was because when the world became different I felt compelled to be different as well.

One of these changes has been in the subject matter of my paintings: I have always been primarily a landscape painter, but since the lockdown I have been working on a series of portraits based on faces I sculpted in clay. I am not sure yet whether these paintings have any merit, but I enjoy the novelty of making them, so I see them as a small positive outcome of our current unfortunate situation.

Jackline Daneshrad, Cardio Salsa (Remote Live), Total Body Workout (Remote Live) and Stretch & Release (Remote Live)

Here is how I adapted to the lockdown: The first three weeks were very traumatic to say the least for a person like me who is very active as I am an exercise instructor and a personal trainer. I was missing my students, the energy I was getting from teaching full classes, and my own workouts.

The lack of endorphins during and after workouts resulted in a "low" that I was not familiar with. Needless to say, after many sleepless nights, I decided to start exercising by myself (which is still hard to do) but I was committed to get out of my slump! I went back to my exercise routine to give some "normalcy " to my life.

I feel much better and am much happier. In the meantime, I learned how to conduct classes remotely. Being your own producer, director, sound and lighting engineer is not an easy task. Also, I have been catching up with projects in the house that I previously did not have time to do. I’ve also been watching lots of movies. Oh my, I need 26-hour days to finish my projects! Quarantine is not so bad after all.

Eleanor Schrader, Art & Architecture Lecture Series – Summer Featured Lecture: Early American Architectural Styles and Interiors (Remote Live)

I’ve adapted to the lockdown as an instructor by doing my art and architecture lectures via Zoom. I owe it all to Alice Meyering, Program Coordinator of Community & Contract Education.  I’ve had a blast with Zoom. I’ve adapted all my classes to Zoom, and especially my older crowd loves it, as they are more likely to be sheltered in place and are looking for things to do. So many of them have told me that the Zoom classes have been a “godsend.”

My favorite lockdown activities have been doing more research for my classes and swimming in my pool.

Jonathan Leigh Solomon, How to Write Funny (Remote Live) and Stand-Up Comedy Workshop with Graduation Show (Remote Live)

Switching from teaching in a classroom to teaching online has required the following: On Zoom, mastering the finer points of breakout rooms; getting to work with even more wonderful writers from across the country and around the globe, thanks to an uptick worldwide in the use of Zoom; having faith that although I can’t shake hands with my students, or high-five them, or give them hugs, the ideas I present nonetheless will touch them; accepting that when I’m on Zoom and I start the video, the guy I see on screen isn’t my dad, or Methuselah – it’s me.

Nicola McGee, Accent Reduction - American English (Remote Live)

I have remembered how to cook! I thought I had forgotten forever. Such a happy surprise and a yummy one. There’s something about trying not to waste any food and having a lot less on hand that is a source of fun and creative inspiration. Come to think of it, those kinds of constraints are what Charles Eames said led to his best work.