Archives : COVID-19, Politics, Social Justice Issues and National News

Life During COVID-19 (4/21/2020): Poetry, Sylvia Plath and My Novel

April 21, 2020July 9, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It’s disturbing how normal this is all starting to feel. Staying home, my routine, knowing what to expect at almost every hour of the day. It is becoming tiresome so I am trying to invigorate my days by switching my schedule around.

Normally, I get up read, write a little, have breakfast and then start my 3-4 hours of job searching and applying. I’ve changed this the last few days because I realized applying to jobs, checking my email, and getting no response or just responses that say “we are moving onto other candidates” or “this position is no longer open” was stressing me out. So now I spend my mornings reading as much as I can and then I start looking and applying to jobs around four or five in the afternoon.

Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar

20200421_113035 — Trade gift from a friend for a Poem

I finished The Bell Jar yesterday and it was amazing. I can’t believe I’m almost 27 (next month) and I haven’t read this. It was brutal, depressing, heart wrenching and woven with poetic language, I loved it. I couldn’t get enough of it. Now I am reading Plath’s The Collected Poems now; It was included with The Bell Jar copy I have. This was a trade gift for a poem that I wrote for one of my friends a couple of weeks ago and I completely love it!

Original Poem by Alina Happy Hansen (a Poem for $)

POETRY

My Poetry Workshop is coming to an end. I just finished submitting the last assignment on Sunday and now I am working on revising 3 poems and putting together my final portfolio for submission. This is hard, considering the 3 poems I have chosen to revise need A LOT of work and it will take up the rest of this week to even try to get these poems near “finished”.

I am sad that the Poetry Workshop is coming to an end and I have scrambled to find other classes. I ended up enrolling in four free courses through Harvard’s Free Online Courses.

I’ve enrolled in, Intro to Music Theory (I was going to take this class at SLCC but it would’ve costed me around $500), Ancient Masterpieces of World Literature, The Icelandic Sagas, and Writing for Social Media (starts on April 25th). Besides Writing for Social Media, the other courses are self-paced which will help me complete them all.

There is the option for all four to be “verified” so you can receive a certificate for completing the course but you have to pay. I don’t think it’s worth the money for three out of four of those but I am debating on getting a certificate for Writing for Social Media to put on my Linkedin profile, I don’t think hiring managers are going to care about a certificate when they want experience but I am still debating on it.

ART

I’ve been trying to sketch, paint, anything really to take my mind off of things. A couple things I’ve done or that I’m working on:

two works in progress, blue haired gal has been a work in progress for years now but I actually worked on her a couple days ago

STAYING SANE

April 20th, 2020 visit to the Salt Lake City Cemetery (practicing social distancing works great here so I can enjoy the weather and fantastic view)

Yesterday I ended up going to one of my favorite places, the Salt Lake City Cemetery in the Avenues. It has been a place I go to for over a decade now to get some peace and quiet so I can relax.

I think cemetery’s are beautiful and the memories, the tombstones, the act of remembering and respecting the dead is a wonderfully unique human habit that shows compassion and love for those that have come before us and reminds us to respect life and not waste it.

MY NOVEL

This is a first in a long time. I don’t think I’ve posted any updates about My First Novel in months. Finally because of COVID-19, being stuck at home has made me pull out my manuscript and start the final editing process which I should’ve-could’ve started back in January. One of my friends, who is a Grant Writer, actually read my entire manuscript and made notes, edited it for grammar and punctuation. I’m using her notes finally to work on it.

Yesterday I completed about five chapters. I have realized that my book jolts and jumps gears frequently after I completed another read through last week. So right now I am rewriting, rephrasing, mixing around the sentences for each chapter so it flows better. I know this means I will need to have it proofed again and most likely by a couple different people to get a more accurate estimate as to what needs to be fixed but this is just a necessary step in making my novel better, more coherent, and readable.

This is exciting for me and I finally feel like I’m making progress so this has relieved a little bit of stress and tension that I’ve been feeling lately.

Thank you for reading and being a part of my journey!

How has your Stay-at-Home time been for you? Are you reading or writing or doing both? Do you have any recommendations for keeping life interesting during these strange times? If so, please comment below!

–Alina

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If you enjoyed this post, check out these:

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Life during COVID-19 (4/13/20): Poetry for $ and more poems

April 13, 2020July 9, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It’s almost been a month since the last day I worked (March 17th). It’s bizarre to think that time has passed so quickly and somehow so slowly at the same time. I feel like I’m utilizing my time well but I’m so frustrated I haven’t landed a job yet.

UNEMPLOYED AND JOB SEARCHING

I’ve done interviews and skills tests, I’ve written cover letter after cover letter and still nothing. Right after graduation I spent six months applying to jobs requiring a BA, specifically in English or related fields, nothing. I gave up. I needed a break, now I’m doing the same thing again. What does it mean to keep pushing, keep trying for a job that requires a BA? I don’t know. I hope it’s worth it. I don’t want to cave in and get a Customer Service Rep job for a call center. I don’t want to get another job that is the complete opposite of what I want to do with my life, my career, my writing. But it is so hard.

I am grateful for my unemployment checks. They are small but something and I’m hoping the extra $600/week from the Cares Act Stimulus bill that was passed last month kicks in soon.

RECEIVING $500 FROM THE TIP YOUR SERVER DONATION

By some weird stroke of luck, I ended up winning the lotto for the $500 from the Downtown Alliance’s Tip Your Server donation. I’ve decided I want to help my co-workers so I am building a list of all my friends that need the money right now that are unemployed and looking for jobs and really strapped for cash. I hope to shell out at least $100 each and spread the money out. Thanks to a $100 contribution from one of my friends, this will now be $600 that I can spread out among my friends.

MAKING $ FROM MY POETRY FOR $

I’ve also had quite a bit of luck with my POETRY for $, to date I’ve completed 14 poems for supporters. I accept any $ via Venmo then write a personalized handwritten poem with a little bit of my own stylized art. I send a digital copy (pdf) via email then the original through the mail.

I’ve done two poems barter/trade style. One poem I wrote for a friend who bought me Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar (including her collection of poems). And another friend I wrote a poem for is brewing me my very own small batch of beer (he brews beer for Wasatch Brew Pub in Salt Lake City, Utah) I am so stoked for this!

20200322_175024 — Original poem I wrote/made for a $upporter

MAKING A ZINE

I also drafted up an outline of my upcoming digital zine in InDesign. It will have all the poetry I’ve written during the Pandemic/Stay at Home order. Pretty much since I was laid off. I am including copies of all the poems I’ve done for $upport as well as some art and photography. This is such a fun project and it will be free to the public when it is finished.

I feel so fortunate to have such caring friends and because of their generosity right now I’ve been able to pay a few bills and have extra money for groceries, saving anything extra for the future.

END OF NATASHA SAJE’S POETRY WORKSHOP

My Poetry Workshop at Westminster (online now) is coming to a close. There’s only a couple more assignments left and then it will be over. I am not looking forward to this since I’ve really enjoyed this workshop; reading other students poems, the poetry books, assigned reading, and pushing myself with the poetry assignments. I’m really going to miss it.

CANCELLING MY SUMMER CLASSES

I’m bummed out because this summer I was going to start pursuing an AAS in Music Recording Technology at Salt Lake Community College but since I was laid off, I can’t afford it so I had to drop the classes I already registered for. I just plan on taking free courses online, finding tutorial videos, and continue to make music and publish my songs on soundcloud.

OVERALL

It’s been a good experience thus far, I’ve kept to my daily routine, and I’ve made my daily quota for the number of jobs I apply to, and I write and read and write and read and write and read…

I just have to keep going.

TALK TO ME

How are you getting through the Pandemic? Have you been ordered to Stay at Home? How are you coping?

I would love to hear about your experiences during this time.

Please feel free to comment or message me.

Thank you for reading!

Stay safe and stay well out there!

-Alina
XOXO

Become a Subscriber! Get notified when new posts are published plus once a week I will send content just for you: poem, personal update, reading list, writing tips and more!

If you enjoyed this post, check out these:

Life During COVID-19 (4/21/2020): Poetry, Sylvia Plath and My Novel(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/13/2020): Freelancing, Patreon and New Toys(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (5/30/2020): Reflection on George Floyd, Protests Turned Riots and Growing Tensions in the U.S.(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (4/7/2020): Unemployment, Poetry for $ and Staying Positive

April 7, 2020July 15, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

UPDATE: 4/8/2020

I was notified by Squatters that our company was picked out of the Tip Your Server Lotto, and that I was one of the five tipped employees randomly chosen to receive $500 from this donation.

I have decided that after I receive this money, I will be dividing it up equally among my co-workers that need it the most. I want to say thank you to the Tip Your Server Donation, the Downtown Alliance Salt Lake City, Thank you to Ty Burrell and the Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall. Thank you for your help, I deeply appreciate it, we deeply appreciate it!

GOOD MORNING!

Checking my blog posts this morning, I didn’t realize the last time I posted anything was six days ago National Poetry Month!

I’ve been so busy applying for jobs and working on poem orders, the time has just flown by. I have gotten more donations from friends through my POETRY FOR $. The past three days, I had a poem request every single day which is amazing. Thanks to donations from friends, their $upport is helping me pay a few bills and put some money aside for groceries.

More about POETRY FOR $:

To date I have completed 10 personalized handwritten poems for $upporters. I accept any amount of donations via my Venmo, whatever people can give, I deeply appreciate.

How I Create Personalized Handwritten Poem:

I spend a few hours writing a poem, this takes the most time, then conceptualizing a design. My poems are more like little art pieces synthesizing my writing and my art style.

After I complete the Poem/Art piece, I offer to send a pdf copy of their poem to their email and then ask if they are comfortable with me mailing the original to their home address. I have mailed 7 poems to people. If they don’t feel comfortable receiving mail during COVID-19, I hold their poems (right now I currently holding 3). My poem also comes with a Thank you card and I mail them within 48 hours of receiving their $upport via Venmo.

UNEMPLOYMENT CHECKS & PAYING BILLS

I am relieved because today I received my 2nd unemployment check. If I continue to receive a check a week, which I am figuring out may be how often I receive one? (the unemployment site is not clear on this) then I will be barely getting over $1,000 a month. This doesn’t even cover rent but it’s something. Every Sunday I have to refile so I have set up reminders for myself so I don’t forget.

STAYING POSITIVE & FOCUSED

I have been applying to a minimum of 2 jobs a day. I have only taken two days off since I was LAID OFF from job searching/applying. It is exhausting. I have reworked and redone my cover letter and resume tons of times already and I plan on doing more revisions. I have been utilizing the unemployment job search tools and my various online work profiles such as LinkedIn and Zip Recruiter.

It’s so tiring and I am trying hard not to feel like a failure but I feel the pressure to get a full-time remote job as fast as possible. Yes, I’m being incredibly picky about what jobs I apply to right now (I am only applying to writing related work that require a Bachelors of English or similar degree). It’s my goal to take advantage of this time and try to find work that requires my degree because that would mean a minimum boost in my annual income (compared to last year) by about $15,000 or more. I am also looking specifically for companies that provide full benefits (health and dental) as well as a good 401K plan.

It’s difficult but I’m not going to give up. I don’t want to live off of unemployment. But I have a plan that if I get close to depleting my savings, I will get a Customer Service Rep job (remote call center work) or maybe a Data Entry job to tie me over while I continue my search. The downside of those jobs, I’ve found that the hourly wage is significantly less by $10-$15 of what I used to make working in a restaurant and more importantly about the same amount less as a job that requires a BA. So I will persist and not give up.

HELP MY FRIENDS

So many of my friends are my co-workers and more than half of them had only their jobs at restaurants as their sole income. Many of my friends don’t have degrees, or any other work experience besides restaurant/service/hospitality. Most of them have been able to file for unemployment successfully and have started to receive their checks but many of them are having issues with DWS (unemployment) and issues with discrepancies on their file, so they have still not received any checks.

As for our employer Squatters Pub Brewery and Wasatch Brew Pub (owned by CANarchy) there has been little help. Thankfully, they have started offering to LAID OFF employees the choice to come and get free fresh fruit and produce that is extra from the bi-weekly deliveries and have given the option (within the last week) of getting two free meals a week from the restaurant. I have received emails from our Human Resources department and it has been suggested that they don’t plan on opening in May which means another month of no work.

If you would like to help out my friends, I have posted in LAID OFF: HELP MY RESTAURANT FAMILY Venmo links to some of co-workers (that wanted to participate) and need $ help right now. I think that direct donations are best.

We were expecting some help from the Downtown Alliance “Tip Your Server” donation program but it has been revealed this is a lottery donation,

excerpt taken directly from https://downtownslc.org/tipyourserver

Fund Distribution FAQ

Q: How does selection work?
A: Recognizing that there are more restaurants and more servers than we can fund, we pulled a list of all eligible establishments licensed with approved NAICS codes. 560 restaurants and bars licensed in SLC were compiled and then randomized. Owners from randomly selected restaurants will be contacted in rounds by the Utah Restaurant Association, with the first round consisting of 40 establishments. Once contacted, those owners may submit up to five displaced workers to receive a $500 grant. Owners may select the workers based on their own criteria, whether those individuals with the greatest need, a random selection, or otherwise.

Once the employer has filled out the form, the employees will be contacted directly by the Downtown Alliance with a request to submit a W-9 in a specified period of time. Payment will be sent directly to the employee within two business days.

Additional notification rounds will commence as long as funds are made available through the Tip Your Server program.

Workers that have applied for unemployment are eligible for this grant. However, workers who have not been displaced or currently have income in an establishment should not be included.

This has been a complete let down and I have not heard of a single one of my co-workers receiving any funds from TIP YOUR SERVER.

I WILL CONTINUE TO WORK HARD

It is so important to stay positive during these strange days. I keep up with the news but stay busy. I am positive that I can turn these events into something beneficial for my life. I am focused on my job search, reading, art, and writing as much poetry as possible and I think this has really helped.

Thank you for reading about my experience and I hope you are doing well and staying safe out there!

–Alina

Follow me on Instagram!

For National Poetry Month I am doing live videos on Instagram of me reading a poem a day and talking about poetry. I am doing this around the times of 2-7 p.m. MST, and posting my LIVE feed to my story which is available for 24 hours.

Liked this blog post? Check out there:

‘Poem to Read Aloud’ by Alina Happy Hansen (April 11th, 2020)

Podcast Sesh #2 June 18, 2020: Writing, Freelancing and Coping with the George Floyd Protests

Life During COVID-19 (5/30/2020): Reflection on George Floyd, Protests Turned Riots and Growing Tensions in the U.S.

Become a Subscriber! Get notified when new posts are published plus once a week I will send content just for you: poem, personal update, reading list, writing tips and more!

Life During COVID-19 (3/28/2020): Personal Update, Rant and Unemployment

March 28, 2020June 2, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

It snowed yesterday and today. It’s chilly but not too horrible and all I’ve really needed is a thick sweater to stay warm in our drafty apartment (it’s not that bad).

A RANT: LEAVING US TO DIE

So, the Stimulus Package passed, awesome. But I’m still not expecting anything, or any help financially from the government right away. They already nickel and dimed the country, the people who need the money the most right now, a one-time payment of $1,200 is nothing when looking at the average cost of living, especially for families making less than $30,000/year AND the minimum wage ($7.25/hour).

What it really feels like is a slap in the face. Not only did I lose my job because of the spread of COVID-19 but I’ve lost my health insurance. I keep thinking about the people with families that lost their health insurance, the older employees that couldn’t retire, everyone living paycheck to paycheck, some of which already didn’t have benefits. But those that had benefits through their employers that lost them when they lost their jobs, those that are in the age range with a higher chance of becoming terminally ill or worse dying from COVID-19, I don’t know what they’re going to do. I feel like for many of us, we’re being left to die, if we don’t lose our lives or people we care about we are going to lose everything else with the risk of eviction, collections, bankruptcy, and homelessness.

But I’m trying to stay positive, focused, and busy despite everything’s that’s going, despite the warning signs I have been seeing for the past two weeks that it’s not going to get better any time soon.

it’s not the same [poem #590]

DAILY HABITS

Writing, reading, but mainly searching for online jobs and applying to a minimum of one or two a day. And it’s hard. I’ve been applying regularly like this every single day since March 16th. I have to keep trying.

UNEMPLOYMENT

I have not been given a definitive date as to when I can expect my first unemployment check. And tomorrow I have to refile for the week. I’ve heard from friends, co-workers, and others who have had to use unemployment that their first check didn’t arrive until three or four weeks after the first time they filed.

3.3 Million File for Unemployment

And the monthly unemployment benefits that I was estimated to receive will barely be over $600/month. That doesn’t even cover my share of rent or utilities. I’m hope I’m just looking at it wrong, I hope it really will be more now that the Stimulus Bill passed. But I am still not expecting any help from the Government or the President since they’ve proven through their corporate bailouts who it is they really care about.

World Enters [poem #448]

ART

On a lighter note, I did this a couple days ago.

Photo of a pen and pencil drawing of a woman and a skull framed with highlighted pink blobs by Alina Happy Hansen. — “quarantined” Original Art Work March 26, 2020 by Alina Happy Hansen

Phone screenshot of an Instagram post of a black-and-white photo of a woman .

I used a reference photo I found on Instagram and then made it my own. I should’ve used watercolors or something brighter to color it (just used colored pencils and a highlighter). But I still like it.

MUSIC

Nine Inch Nails released their albums GHOSTS V-VI for FREE! I downloaded them and they are amazing. Totally gives the my life right now an official soundtrack. Love it!

Thank you for reading and being a part of my life during this strange time. Stay well and stay safe out there!

Liked this blog post? Feel free to check out more in this series ?

Life During COVID-19 (3/25/2020): Establishing A Routine

Life During COVID-19 (5/13/2020): Freelancing, Patreon and New Toys

Podcast Sesh #2 (6/18/2020): Writing, Freelancing and Coping with the George Floyd Protests

Life during COVID-19 Personal Update: March 25th, 2020

March 25, 2020July 15, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

I feel like I’ve been pretty productive for the last couple of days. I’ve applied to multiple technical writer jobs, sent story pitches to a freelance writing opportunity, and for the first time in a long time I’ve been making art.

Tree by Alina Happy Hansen 3/25/2020 — Artwork in Progress by Alina Happy Hansen (March 25, 2020)

Me and my boyfriend have fallen into a pretty good routine which I think is helping us a lot right now. Our routine for quarantine doesn’t really differ from our usual routine that much.

My Quarantine Routine:

Wake-up around 9 a.m. Turn the electric kettle on and take our Boston Terrier out for a morning walk. When we get back I make my breakfast (french press coffee and oatmeal), check the news on my phone for a few minutes then either read or write.

After I’m done with breakfast I get dressed and start working. Right now that means checking my unemployment, searching for online jobs, and then applying to ones I find that I qualify for. After this, I log on to my online Poetry Workshop and get started on any reading/writing homework I have.

(I’m pretty bummed right now because I registered for Salt Lake Community College starting this Summer with the hopes of pursuing an Associate’s in Music Recording Technology. But now that I’m unemployed, I’ll have to drop the classes I already picked.)

Around noon I’ll take a break for about fifteen minutes, have a quick snack, and then get back at it. I search for more jobs on the DWS (unemployment site) then try to take a break at about five for dinner, make some food and relax for an hour.

After that, I try to do some art or read poetry but what I need to be doing is writing.

Today, it is chilly outside, and I took our dog for about an hour-long walk, keeping my distance from everyone and just trying to enjoy being outside our apartment for as long as possible. Our walk probably would’ve been longer but it was so cold we ended up heading home early. I took some great reference photos of trees on our walk that I hope I’ll be able to use for drawings this week.

For the rest of the day, I plan on writing some poetry, working on homework, and researching for about another hour or two for online jobs.

Last Monday, I applied online to a tutoring website, the next step I have to complete and finish is passing a mandatory test for English specific topics. These tests are so hard. The first two I took, one for College Essay Writing and the next for English Literature, I only got a 64%, when I need an 84% or higher to pass. Today, for the first time in days, I took another one of their tests, this time it was English Reading. I got a 74% on this test! The highest so far. I can retake the test two more times, each time with a 24 hour waiting period in between. If I don’t pass the next two tests for the English Reading section I cannot try again.

Until I find a job, I am offering POETRY FOR $. I write/create personalized handwritten poems for supporters. I send scanned pdfs of the poems via email to supporters and when this COVID-19 thing settles down a bit and people are comfortable, I will be mailing the originals to my supporters. So far I have completed 6 poem orders to date and cannot express my gratitude to these people for helping me out right now.

Also, I posted “LAID OFF: SUPPORT MY RESTAURANT FAMILY” a couple days ago, it is a featured page on my blog. This post has Venmo links for some of my co-workers that desperately need funds right now. This post also has key information about resources for other service industry employees that have been laid off or can’t go to work in Salt Lake City, and the rest of the U.S. Please check it out.

Thank you for reading!

–Alina

Follow me on Instagram! (I am posting regularly to my story feed)

Liked this blog post? Check out these:

Life During COVID-19 (5/30/2020): Reflection on George Floyd, Protests Turned Riots and Growing Tensions in the U.S.

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My Stories on Medium: Poetry, Writing and Freelancing

Become a Subscriber! Get notified when new posts are published plus once a week I will send content just for you: poem, personal update, reading list, writing tips and more!