Students create COVID-19 brochures amid professor’s loss
When Lucia Fuentes’ honors biology class moved to Zoom, she thought of a new assignment for her students. The LaGuardia Community College professor assigned her class to make brochures on everything they could learn about COVID-19. As a result they created an online multilingual brochure that pulls information from peer-reviewed journals, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Their brochure helps immigrants learn more about the virus; it’s available in Spanish, Albanian, Korean, Portuguese and other languages.
Making the brochure happened at a difficult time for Fuentes. Her husband died on March 25, 2020 due to complications from COVID-19 while she was also sick. Through it all she channeled her energy to keeping her students safe from the sickness and making the brochure.
“Science is complicated and we have to make it more accessible,” Fuentes said. “This is why … I thought it would be a good thing for the students, and that it would be a contribution.”
Pizza man paints street to help customers avoid tickets
When customers park outside Mootz Pizzeria and Bar, some unknowingly park in a handicap spot and get hit with a $150 ticket. One handicap sign stands posted on the side of the road, with the intention of reserving four parking spots for handicapped vehicles. But some customers were unaware of how many spots were considered handicapped and parked in that area. Tony Sacco, co-owner of the business decided to take matters into his own hands and painted the side of the road blue.
“I was talking to my buddy sitting with me and I said, ‘We’re going to go buy some blue paint.’ And we did,” Sacco told WDIV-TV. The paint will not be permanent, instead the city will insert three more handicap signs and remove the blue paint. But Sacco still stands by his decision. “I did the right thing,” Sacco said.
Comics go pantless to support clothing donation
A group of comics are coming together to support No Pants Day, a holiday dedicated to going without pants to support clothing donations. This year comic writers are joining together to support the holiday as thrift and secondhand stores are experiencing a shortage in clothing donations during the pandemic. Tea Fougner, comics editor at King Features Syndicate, thought it was a great way to push for a good cause in a lighthearted way. She reached out to other comic agencies to put together an ensemble of comics to celebrate the holiday.
“We may be business competitors, but we’re all part of the same family,” Fougner told the Associated Press. “We all love comics and we love our communities. And, at the end of the day, that’s really what cartooning is about. So we want as many cartoonists as possible to take part in initiatives like this.”
No Pants Day is on Friday, May 7, as per tradition the first Friday of the month.
