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Life During COVID-19 (5/21/2020): Novel Writing, My Birthday and Opinions

May 21, 2020May 5, 2022 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

For the past couple of days, I have been working on my Novel. The one I have been telling my followers about for over a year now. This week I am focusing on doing developmental edits, something I have been doing for Freelance Clients and my Literary Internship.

Recently, I’ve found myself obsessed with the structure of stories: plot, characters, dialogue. Even when I am reading, I find myself picking content apart, analyzing it from different viewpoints, and rereading. I never thought I’d become so obsessed.

The advantages of my obsession: I am more aware now than ever before when writing is working and when it’s not regardless of its form. Cons? At this point, I can’t just read. I analyze every piece of written content that comes across my path.

Check out my blog posts about Writing My First Novel.

My Birthday

This Sunday is my birthday, I will be 27, not that old but definitely not young. I keep forgetting about it. Since the entire world feels like it’s going through this surreal time with the COVID-19 Pandemic. For most of Utah, except for specific areas including Salt Lake City, we have phased to “Yellow/Low Risk”. It is bizarre to think that we’re already practically in June; half the year is gone. I’ve spent two months unemployed, applying to jobs, and staying home.

When it comes to celebrating, My BF is planning a special dinner for me, and we might go for a quick drive to get out of the city. I am excited to relax this weekend, I need a break from it all, it’s been so stressful, and it’s been so long since life was the way it used to be. I don’t think things will ever be the same. If there is something we can do to celebrate my birthday like we’ve done in the past, to bring some kind of familiarity back into our lives, it will help.

COVID-19 in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is still in the “Orange/Moderate Risk” phase, with select restrictions, rules, and procedures in place to try to slow the spread of COVID-19. Our death count as of today is 90.

What I’ve got my eye on, the Navajo Nation. Their death count is at 140. They are need of supplies, food, and testing. Donations have been set up to help. In my opinion, there is very little news coverage, or just barely some attention being given to the Navajo Nation during the Pandemic. This is unacceptable. One example, in my opinion, of how particular people’s stories are not being given the attention they deserve to spread the word that they need help and resources.

Opinion: Trump and Voting in the 2020 Election

Another concern of mine: voting. Trump continues to try to hinder multiple states move to the mail-in ballot voting system. Luckily, Utah is one of the few states that have already been doing this for years. In my opinion, Trump’s obvious efforts to stop any kind of progress in making voting safer during this Pandemic, accessible, and easy for all is evidence that he is well aware he could lose by a landslide if more people can vote.

There has always been obstacles in place to prevent people from voting. From having voting centers only open specific hours and days, when many full-time working people can’t take time off to go vote. Now, Trump pushes for more rules and regulations. His argument that mail-in ballots allow for fraud, and people voting multiple times, again like his other claims, are not backed up by any facts, data, or substantial evidence.

Unemployed: Searching and Applying for Jobs

I’m still looking for full-time work. But I have become increasingly open to having two part-time jobs. I think that this may be more likely since I am finding more part-time job postings for copywriting, content writers, and freelance writers online. Yesterday, I applied to ten jobs. This week I’ve done two interviews but have still to hear back from anyone.

Freelancing

I have been doing more Freelance Writing the past two weeks. This has been fun but my friends think that I am employed because of this. It’s contract; on a case-by-case basis, and I’ve had to seek out clients. It’s not full-time regular, dependable employment or pay. Starting in March, I have been pitching story ideas to various online journals that pay. It is a laborious and grueling process, you have to stick with it. I am hoping to get the OK-Go on a couple articles from Editors soon.

Staying Positive, Staying Strong and Not Giving Up

It has become increasingly hard for me to stay positive. Spending the last two months searching and applying to jobs with what feels like no progress is devastating. I am constantly reminded by my BF that these are weird times and it can take longer for me to find a job or two because of the Pandemic. The unemployment rate for the U.S. is skyrocketing still. An estimated 14.7% of the U.S. is unemployed. I can’t give up. I have to be persistent. There is no other choice. And I feel, now more than ever, that returning to work in a restaurant would be unwise.

I’ve taken stock of what’s important to me, in my life, how I want to spend my time, and the growing awareness that all of us don’t know how much time we really have to live. No more BS, or messing around, I have to make changes in my life.

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to read about my life during COVID-19. My goal is to document my life, at least once a week, during this Pandemic. It is vital to archive what we’re going through during strange events like this one, so we need as much documentation as possible about our individual lives. I believe that this information will be crucial for future generations when they find themselves in similar situations. My message to you, to them; don’t give up, no matter what, DON’T. GIVE. UP.

XOXO,

Alina

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Why I’m Not Celebrating Independence Day This Year (Opens in a new browser tab)

Life During COVID-19 (6/6/2020): George Floyd Protests and My White Woman Privilege(Opens in a new browser tab)

Podcast Sesh #2 June 18, 2020: Writing, Freelancing and Coping with the George Floyd Protests(Opens in a new browser tab)

My Stories on Medium: Poetry, Writing and Freelancing(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.

20200322_175024 — One of my original personalized handwritten poems for an anonymous supporter

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!

LAID OFF: Support My Restaurant Family during COVID-19

March 22, 2020July 25, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

UPDATE 4/21/2020:

On April 19th, I equally divided the Tip Your Server Donation fund plus a $100 contribution from a friend, a total of $600 among me and four other co-workers. I contacted all of the co-workers listed in this post below as well as fellow co-workers from Wasatch that I used to work with. Four co-workers came forward and said they were in need of some help $. On Sunday, I disbursed the funds equally among us, $120 each. I am glad that I could help my co-workers and I am so grateful to the Tip Your Server Donation and my friend that contributed $100, Thank you.

UPDATE:

On 4/7/2020 I was notified by Squatters that our company was picked out of the Tip Your Server Lotto. 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 me and 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!

The goal of this post is to provide VENMO links to my fellow employees of Squatters and Wasatch Pubs in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have been LAID OFF INDEFINITELY with no financial compensation during the COVID-19 Pandemic. For most of us, our only job(s) were as restaurant employees. Any amount you can spare to help us get through this hard time would be deeply appreciated as we file for unemployment and look for new jobs.

On Monday, March 16th, 2020 Salt Lake City was ordered to stop all dine-in service at Restaurants and Bars by 11 p.m. Only to-go and curbside service are allowed right now.

I am a full-time employee at Squatters Pub Brewery in Downtown Salt Lake. This job was the only source of income for me and countless fellow employees. After the restaurant ‘closure’ for dine-in service our corporate office communicated with us that we could come in and clean the restaurant for hourly pay. They were never clear as to how much that hourly was going to be and I have yet to hear what that hourly was for those that went in and worked when they could.

Squatters Brewpub — Squatters Pub Brewery

In the state of Utah, employers are not required to pay servers more than $2.15/hour. We do not get paid/sick leave and for many of us (before COVID-19) we couldn’t even request time off for vacations/emergencies.

On Wednesday, March 18th, 2020 at 7:09 a.m. MST a 5.7 Magnitude Earthquake hit Magna, Utah less than 20 miles from Salt Lake City. The Earthquake was felt throughout Salt Lake County and many other parts of Utah. Aftershocks have continued since the initial quake.

On Friday, March 20th 2020, all employees (including management) for Squatters Pub Brewery and our sister company Wasatch Brew Pub were LAID OFF INDEFINITELY, approximately 98% of all labor until the COVID-19 pandemic blows over and restaurants can open again. They decided to do this so we could file for unemployment. I was just notified by a fellow employee of Squatters (Server Chelsea: her info below) that her first unemployment check is not due to arrive for another 3 weeks.

HELP

We have rent/mortgages & bills to pay, we need groceries and supplies. More importantly, we need help and jobs asap.

Below are VENMO links to my fellow employees of Squatters and Wasatch. Any amount you can spare to help us get through this hard time would be deeply appreciated as we file for unemployment and look for new jobs.

LINKS, NAMES, and VENMO’s have been deleted as of 7/25/2020 for the safety of persons involved.

Other Resources to help Service Industry Employees in Utah right now:

TIP YOUR SERVER Downtown Alliance Salt Lake City, Utah

This donation program is amazing, all thanks to a local business owner and Actor Ty Burrell and our Mayor Erin Mendenhall.

ty burrell and mayor erin — photo source: tipyourserver

All local SLC restaurants and bars must register their businesses with this donation then employees can be verified and money distributed after March 25th. So far this donation has raised approximately $141,000 for the estimated 15,000 restaurant employees in Salt Lake City.

Our company has registered with this donation.

If you want to help us and donate to other restaurant employees in SLC please donate to tipyourserver .

More resources to help Service Industry Employees in the U.S.

(I will be adding to this list)

Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation

https://www.restaurantworkerscf.org/

United States Bartender Guild

https://www.usbg.org/home

More info about where I used to work:

Squatters Pub Brewery

Wasatch Brew Pub

About the Author,

My name is Alina and I am a writer, artist, poet, and musician. I have been blogging and posting original content on alinahappyhansenwriter.com since March 2017. I am a graduate from The University of Utah with a Bachelor’s of Arts in English with a Minor in Writing and Rhetoric Studies. I have had half a dozen poems published in the last five years and have actively been reading my Poetry locally in Salt Lake City since my Utah Arts Festival Reading in June 2018.

I have been working in the Service Industry/Restaurants since 2016. From 2016 to 2018, I worked at Wasatch Brew Pub sister company to Squatters Pub Brewery. At Wasatch, I worked full-time as a Hostess, in charge of training new hires to host, restaurant policies and procedures, and most importantly providing the best customer service possible. In June 2018, I moved to Downtown Salt Lake City and started working as a full-time Hostess at Squatters Pub Brewery. I worked full-time at Squatters until March 20th, 2020 when I was LAID OFF INDEFINITELY with NO PAY due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic. As an employee of Squatters, I excelled at my job as a Hostess and later trained and worked other job duties including Expediter and Busser.

I miss my job and my friends at work and I just want to help in any way I can during these uncertain times.

If you would like to support me, I am handwriting Poems for $. For more info on this please go to SUPPORT ALINA: POEMS FOR $. So far I have already completed FOUR POETRY ORDERS FOR $ as of 3/22. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support both financially and emotionally during this time.

When I get a job I will continue to write POEMS FOR $ and I will be sending all the money I earn directly to my fellow employees of Squatters and Wasatch who need it the most.

Thank you for your time, your consideration, and your love.

Best of luck to you all, stay safe and stay well out there!

–ALINA

Want to become one of my Patrons? Go to my page here and join a tier. All patrons regardless of Tier have access to all of my patron-only content right now! Tiers start at $3/month! I will also send you via snailmail a handwritten personalized Poem + Thank you card for becoming a patron.

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!

Liked this blog post? Check out these:

SUPPORT ALINA: POETRY FOR $(Opens in a new browser tab)

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Life during COVID-19 (4/13/20): Poetry for $ and more poems(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life during COVID-19 Personal Update: Saturday, March 21st, 2020

March 21, 2020July 25, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Today is a good day. The sun is out, the sky is clear (for the most part) and it’s beginning to feel a little bit like Spring.

I am feeling good and working as hard and as fast as possible. I am drafting up a post that will be published tomorrow to Help Support My Restaurant Family during this time. Yesterday, all of us (including management) were laid off indefinitely with no financial compensation to help us survive.

I feel fortunate and am deeply grateful because I have already had four anonymous supporters donate money to me for poems (POETRY FOR $). These people are lifesavers for me and my boyfriend right now. Since I was the main moneymaker in our household (bringing in 2/3rds of the income) we are budgeting and making plans for the next one to three months depending on how long it takes for me to find online work.

I want to help my friends, my co-workers, as much as I can and I am planning on continuing my POETRY FOR $ after I get a job. All the money I make from Poetry after I get a job I will send directly to my co-workers that need it the most. So I am going as fast as I can to apply and find work.

My family doesn’t want to work in-person during this time and I am respecting their wishes. Since I was working in a restaurant where we have tons of people from the airport coming through they are already very concerned about my health. I am young and I am healthy and am not at very high risk when it comes to COVID-19 but they want me to stay home and be cautious at this time.

Right now, I have two poems and thank you cards to write to my supporters. Afterward, I am looking for more jobs, especially possible online tutoring jobs for English/Literature Studies, Reading, and Poetry.

Best of luck to all of you out there!

Stay safe and stay well!

–Alina

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

Life during COVID-19 Update: March 20th, 2020

March 20, 2020July 25, 2020 Alina H. Hansen Writer & Poet

Today it is cloudy and rainy in Salt Lake City, kind of beautiful and kind of doomy. But there have been very few and very small aftershocks from the earthquake on Wednesday. As of this morning, I don’t think I’ve felt any aftershocks or noticed any so I am relieved.

I found out through the Department of Workforce Services that I am eligible for unemployment, it will not be a lot but it is something. It does not give me any information on my Unemployment page about when to expect my first check or anything related to that but I did apply for one Technical Writer position (remote of course) already this morning using the DWS Job Search.

Starting yesterday I am compiling a list of venmo links of my fellow employees at Squatters. On Sunday I will be posting a list of individual venmo links. My restaurant family is large and so many of us are full-time restaurant employees. For most of us our primary income source is working at Squatters. I believe that giving $ directly via venmo to those in need right now helps faster than unemployment/grants/aid funds. For a lot of us our rent is due April 1st with no exceptions to the current events.

(As for me, I luckily paid an extra month of rent only a week before all of this went down just because I could at the time. I am more worried about my friends.)

What else do I have planned today?

Completing required reading/assignments for my (now online) Westminster Poetry Workshop

Setting up my mic/camera so I can start recording videos of myself reading/talking about poetry (I plan on posting those regularly)

Making Art/Making Music

and HAVING FUN!

This has been a crazy week and I feel like I’m still trying to catch up with everything. Keeping tabs on the spread of COVID-19, looking for jobs, and checking the Utah earthquake maps. It is a lot but I don’t feel doomed or sad during this time. I am focused on working hard and staying in touch with everyone in my life.

If you’re interested in helping me out, I am offering POETRY for $ at this time.

Thank you to everyone who is reading, following, taking time out of your day to read about mine. Stay safe and stay well out there and good luck!

–Alina

For continuous updates on what I’m doing follow me on instagram.com/@ahappyhansen

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!

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.(Opens in a new browser tab)

Life during COVID-19 Personal Update: March 25th, 2020(Opens in a new browser tab)

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