See you Wednesday @ 6:30 on Zoom!

Dear Art 251,

We’re meeting on Zoom this Wednesday at 6:30pm. 

Please try to be there. This will be our last chance to plan for our forthcoming trip(s) to the site.

Before my usual bullets, I have a favor to ask of you. Could you please fill out the course evaluation? You should have (and will continue to) receive emails about this. I’d like to repeat this opportunity in the future and would appreciate some feedback from you. (I realize we’ve barely gotten started, but evals run on a fixed schedule, through next Friday only.)

Next up, fill out one last survey right away e.g. before Wednesday.

This will help us coordinate cars and food. 

Our agenda on Wednesday will be as follows. (Numbers this time!)

  1. Field Safety. Jennifer Long is going to join us at the beginning of our meeting to give a brief presentation about field safety and help us think through any projects that might be cause for concern. Bring your questions! 
  2. Strike Impacts. Liz and I have been discussing a growing complication arising from the strike. Many aspects of our work at Burns Piñon are part of a collaborative project that extends beyond this course. So as to not undermine the strike, I’m absorbing as much Liz’s TA work as possible, but she definitely doesn’t want to miss the big trip, which we’ve been working towards for more than a year. In short, Liz will be with us in December, and is continuing to work on certain aspects of the greater project. You may continue to write us both with any questions. 
  3. Site Improvements. Site improvement groups, pick someone to give us a 2 minute update on what you have planned. 
  4. Core Trip. A reminder that the core trip will be Sunday, 12/11 through Thursday, 12/15. We want to maximize daylight hours so most carpools will be arranged for Saturday, 12/10. Some of us will be staying until Friday, which is the last possible day. The survey will help us develop a detailed itinerary.
  5. Pre-Trips. A few of you have cause to go out early. (A few of you can’t join us for the core trip, which is sad but also OK.) We have the site booked starting 12/2 — all are welcome as of this date. It seems like there will be a reasonable crowd the first weekend (12/3-4). We can check in about this on Wednesday. 
  6. Distribution of Time. We want to make sure everyone has enough time to work on their creative activities. Please anticipate about two days of site improvement time. You may get pulled into a different group’s work. For example, the glass project is pretty complicated so we’ll be training a larger crew. Again, there will be a detailed itinerary, but it will need to be a bit fluid as projects progress. 
  7. Evening Activities. It’s going to be dark a lot! We’ll build in 60-90 minutes of evening time to discuss the readings and other collective issues. Liz is also planning to interview each of you for her book project. There will be time for the bar too.  
  8. Food and Drink. Each site improvement group will be responsible for one lunch and one dinner, up to $200 total. Please keep your receipts for reimbursement. Jesse, Liz, Zach K-G, and Mel are a fifth cooking group. 
  9. Purchasing. We’re beginning to execute purchasing for both site improvements and creative activities this week. Thank you to all those who posted to the site with shopping lists. (Beatriz in particular, wow!) Please don’t hesitate to check in about your proposed purchases — there’s a lot going on, we won’t be offended. We’ll also be in touch with some of you individually. 

There’s more I’m sure, but this will occupy us plenty. Please let me know if you have any questions.

I am super excited to get out there again and I hope you are too!

Yours,

—Jesse

Addendum!

Dear Art 251,

Turns out there’s a strike fundraiser during class time on Wednesday. Everyone should go! Many folks from Art are participating. 

For various reasons I can’t really change the class time. But I do want to support this event. Here’s what I’ll do.

  • 1. Jennifer Long, you’re off the hook! Many thanks for agreeing to join us. We can  look into rescheduling. My apologies for the last minute cancellation.
  • 2. I’ll try to keep class as short as possible, say, 6:30 to 7:30 at the latest. (I’d start early but I’m coming straight from something else.) Really I just want to answer any questions you have about the trip(s).
  • 3. I’ll record the class and post it.
  • 4. We’ll skip the site improvement updates. I’ll write your groups separately for updates.

Please do your best to attend, even if it’s from parked outside HR.

Yours,

—Jesse