I’ll never forget the moment I turned off the Coachella Valley Independent’s online events calendar.
It was on March 17. A Tuesday. I’d taken a break from editing copy to apply for a grant application, and I went to our website to get a link I needed for the application. My eye went immediately to the calendar module.
All of the events listed there had had been cancelled.
Palm Springs had just followed San Francisco’s lead in issuing a shelter-in-place order; it was expected the state would soon follow suit. That’s when it truly sunk in for me that no in-person events—plays, concerts, library story times, etc.—would be happening in my beloved Coachella Valley anytime soon.
I’ve been in the newspaper biz for about 2 1/2 decades. I had my first byline in an alternative newspaper, my hometown Reno News & Review, in 1996. For much of my time in newspapers, our backbone has been the events calendar—something to which we’d dedicate many hours of time, and many pages of print, because people depended on our listings to plan their social lives.
Of course, Google, social media and other online options changed that. The calendar, as part of a newspaper, became less and less important—so much so that when we launched the Independent in late 2012, we didn’t even have a calendar at first, mostly because we didn’t have the resources we needed to do one properly.
However, I am an old-school newspaper soul, and I must admit the Independent never felt complete to me without an events calendar. That’s why several years in, I decided to sign up with the CitySpark events-calendar platform—giving the Independent a good online events calendar.
Then came that Tuesday, and the realization of the magnitude of what we were all facing. I’ll never forget the sickening weirdness I felt when I turned off the calendar—and even removed the calendar from the main menu.
Well, yesterday, I turned the Coachella Valley Independent’s events calendar back on, after a 22-day hiatus. This was not as momentous of an occasion as it was to turn it off; after all, we’re still weeks and probably months way from the return of in-person events. However, it did feel good, because the fact that I was able to turn it back on shows we’re adjusting to this new, temporary reality.
CitySpark changed the calendar software so it defaults to what are now called “virtual events,” aka online events—plays, concerts, library story times, etc. Right now, the only things listed are events originating from elsewhere—in part, because anyone can attend online events from anywhere, and in part, because our part of the calendar was shut off for three weeks.
So, Coachella Valley: If you have a “virtual event” taking place, please add it to the calendar. It can be a music show or a class or a support group or an ongoing art show or anything. It’s free and easy; just go to our calendar, and click on “Add Event.” I hope that, with your help, we can turn the calendar into an excellent resource for the local virtual events we’re doing via Facebook, Zoom, Twitter, etc.
Thank you for your help. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: We’re all in this together.
Today’s links:
• The latest installment in the Independent’s Pandemic Stories series doesn’t have directly to do with the virus; instead, it’s a fantastic, if bittersweet, story brought to us by Valerie-Jean Hume, about her husband, Ted—the only person she can do an in-person interview with right now. Here’s the tale of how the clarinet saved Ted Pethes’ life.
• I was again a guest on the I Love Gay Palm Springs podcast/zoom-videocast with John Taylor, Shann Carr and Brad Fuhr. Per usual, we checked in with the incredible Dr. Laura Rush about the status of COVID-19 in the Coachella Valley, before talking to Davey Wavey and David Powell.
• Yet another bit of frustrating evidence about the haphazard, sloppy federal effort to fight the spread of COVID-19: The federal government’s support for many coronavirus testing sites will end tomorrow. While the idea was that the states would take over these sites, that is not necessarily happening.
• Yet more evidence that many government systems, in general, are terrible: Are you an old-school computer programmer who knows COBOL? If so, states including New Jersey and Kansas need your help, because their mainframes still run on this language that was widely used in the ’60s through the’80s, and they are being overwhelmed by things like a whole lot of unemployment claims.
• The Los Angeles Times offers this good-news, bad-news update on California unemployment benefits. Bad news: It’s still hard to get through and apply due to the depressingly large number of people applying. Good news: Extra money is coming.
• Here’s an update from The New York Times on the efforts Zoom is making to fix security and privacy issues on its now-ubiquitous teleconferencing software.
• Speaking of Zoom: Even though Zoom meeting backgrounds are generally terrible things that don’t work very well, the Palm Springs tourism folks have created some locally themed Zoom backgrounds for your consideration.
• A sliver of hope: Dr. Fauci says summer vacations remain a possibility for Americans. Maybe.
• Like so many other awful things, COVID-19 is disproportionately harming Black and poor communities. The Conversation looks at the systemic problems that are making this happen.
• If you missed the city of Palm Springs’ COVID-19 webinar that took place earlier today, never fear; here’s the video of it on YouTube. (Pro tip: It doesn’t start, for some reason, until around the 9-minute mark.)
• The Greater Palm Springs Tourism Foundation has launched a fund to help families of people who work in tourism or hospitality. To contribute or to ask for help, head here.
• It’s good this is happening, but depressing that it needs to happen: A coalition of Asian-American and Pacific Islander groups have created an online portal where people can report COVID-19-related racist incidents.
• Will Congress come to the aid of struggling newspapers and other local media? Some Democratic senators hope so.
• Eater offers an update on the big-name push to get the federal government to force (or help) insurance companies pay restaurants who have business-interruption insurance.
• Saturday Night Live will be back on, duh, Saturday, with all the cast members working remotely. How in the heck will that work? We’ll just have to watch and see.
• Are you familiar with comedian Laura Clery’s “Help Helen Smash” videos? If not, you should know they’re crass and juvenile and definitely not safe for work, as her character, a square-faced Helen, tries to pick up a dude named Steven (Clery’s real-life husband). Well, Helen’s back with a coronavirus-themed series of pickup lines—and I will admit to laughing loudly.
• Healthcare workers: Please enjoy this … um … unique and certainly special tribute, presented in GIF form.
That’s plenty for today. Hey, the deadline for our special coloring book project is tomorrow; artists, get us your submissions! We’ve gotten some fantastic ones so far, but we need more! If you’re fortunate enough to have a few bucks to spare, and you value independent, quality local journalism, please consider becoming a Supporter of the Independent. Wash your hands. Wear a mask when you go out. #flattenthecurve. Back tomorrow!