My fellow docents,
I am planner. I love to make plans. My whole life, I have loved calendars and date books, and now Google calendar. When I have a list of chores or errands to run, I will often write them down, chronologically order them, and check them off as I go. I love to plan vacations and create detailed itineraries. This virus is ruining my need to plan. My calendar is empty. There is no reason to think about a vacation. I am adrift. But it is mid-month, so it is time for me to pen another letter to all of you. Perhaps, I should put this monthly activity on my calendar? Then there would be something on the calendar to look at!
In all honesty, my calendar is not completely empty. There are docent council meetings, committee meetings, and, of course, CAC Live events on my calendar. Special thanks to all the docents who have offered presentations and tours for our members as well as paying customers, attending from all over the world. Many people have told me that the CAC offerings are more impressive than other online programs from entities that were not previously online. A huge shout-out to CAC’s staff for their hard work, and to the docents and volunteers working to keep the CAC in the forefront of our members’ minds. Maintaining membership is important, and CAC Live will be a huge factor in retaining members during this time.
So, where are we headed? Isn’t that the only question that matters? Yes…..but there is no easy answer. CAC continues to work with the state and city regarding the stages/phases of getting back to normal. I have said it before, please rest assured, there is much planning going on regarding what we may or may not be allowed to do and when. I’m not communicating these many and varied plans, as most will be irrelevant as we learn more. But it is important to remember that we won’t flip a switch back to normalcy. It will likely be slow and incremental.
It is unclear what the rest of 2020 will be for docents and volunteers. I want all to know that docent “requirements” for 2020 have been waived. I understand that holds true for volunteers, as well. The language adopted for docents at the May docent council meeting was, “Docents in good standing at the end of 2019 will maintain their status in 2020. Docents on provisional status can fulfill their 2020 obligations in 2021.” This includes the annual 10 tour requirement, the one tour a year certification requirement, and others. There is plenty to be stressed about these days, but your docent status is not one of them!
So, I have no plans. I am literally going to vacuum the crumbs out of my kitchen drawers when I complete this letter. While I had put this kitchen drawer activity on my calendar, looking at it was just too pathetic, so I deleted it.
Stay safe and I hope to see you all soon!
Kent.
Thanks for bringing us along with all the information you have, Kent. We need a planner-in-charge for this last month, hopefully, of being indoors all the time. Keep us posted as to what is going on and at least we see that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.