[DIS]CONNECTION [DES]CONEXIÓN
INTRO
By Rosanna Álvarez
A large part of ensuring that Eastside Magazine reflects the heart of the Eastside is approaching the story-telling with integrity. To hold true to that work, we’ve been in several conversations with community residents to encourage the telling of our own stories from our collective perspectives. Additionally, we know that our community is often hit in the biggest ways with systemic issues across the board.
While our children remain the true champions for entertaining such a tall-order of expectations, it’s the parents and the teachers who carry the brunt of the burden of making this setup work day in and day out. Toward that end, we offer two testimonios to capture how much tenacity is required during such a challenging time. Their first-hand accounts as mothers and teachers speak to the layers of frustrations that many of us find relatable as they echo so much of what we’ve heard from so many while also offering a glimpse into how we might support each other through and past this moment.
¡NO HAY MAL QUE POR BIEN NO VENGA!
By Yazmin Hernández
My name is Yazmin Hernandez, and until recently, my family and I have tried to see the silver lining of the pandemic in my home. Unfortunately, I had to give up my job, which I loved, to be present and help my 11-year-old son with distance learning.
Besides having this be a foreign task to us as parents, being the assistant to the teacher from home, being the lunch lady, and having to entertain my child at his recess while disciplining him as if I was the principal is not an easy task.
Of course, this has allowed me to grow closer to my son, who will soon be a teenager. Thanks to my husband’s support I was able to leave my job and dedicate myself to my son. So I can’t imagine the endless work of single mothers and fathers who can’t stop working as they are the only economic livelihood at home.
EMPATHY DURING DISTANCE LEARNING
By Claudia Tercero
I have a son in high school and a nephew in middle school. So my son is supposed to be in class from 8:20 am to 4:00 pm and then still do homework? So they are basically saying they want my child online for over 12 hours a day? Being in front of a screen that long is not healthy.
I have friends who are also professors, but it is concerning because on the one hand, you are supposed to be teaching my child online - but now you are also home, and being home means that you also have a family of your own to take care of, and yourself to take care of. Then, you are also supposed to be doing your work, so I can sympathize with them on that end.
However, what concerns me is what the district that is expecting them to do. There’s no way you can do what you were doing before because there are all of these distractions of being home now.
PASIÓN, ESFUERZO Y DESAFÍOS
Anonymous
As the COVID pandemic continues, we find ourselves trying to do our best with the time, resources, and the energy we have left. When I found out we would not go back to our classrooms for the 2020-2021 school year, a myriad of mixed emotions were felt. I know virtual instruction is not the ideal, but it is the best option we have at the moment, because it protects the health and safety of our students, their families, and ourselves. However, I also know the multiple challenges it brought last March when all students and teachers were asked to stay home and begin distance-teaching in a matter of days. I will not lie: distance- learning is consuming us. It is literally taking over our lives, and we can only imagine what our youth is going through. We are aware of how strenuous this has been for our communities and for all families. I also think it is important that we, as teachers, share what we are experiencing during distance learning and how this pandemic has affected us in countless ways.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
By Rosanna Álvarez
In closing, we offer you these thoughts: in a community that prides itself on the well-being of our children and elders, who takes care of the care-takers? As evidenced by this testimonio, and the ones that precede it, our task is one of community care in a context that often fails our communities by design. All of the struggles of distance learning against the backdrop of a pandemic where we’ve survived the losses of so many beloved community members. We’ve protested against police brutality, ICE detention centers, unjust sterilizations of immigrant women, separations of children from their families, and for the dignity of our indigenous populations. We’ve survived toxic air quality and fires that raged for weeks on end state-wide. We’ve provided food, shelter, and basic aid for those faced with the harsh reality of our economic context and its unrelenting disproportionate impact on our families throughout the eastside. And throughout this struggle, we’ve continued to fight for meaningful connection, as we often have no choice to digitally disconnect, all while navigating to overcome connectivity issues within a context of digital segregation.