Coral Tree Plaza Weekly Update

Happy Friday Coral Tree Plaza

Friendly Neighbor Reminder: Common Area Distancing 

California remains under the shelter in place order from Governor Gavin Newsom. With this order still in place, residents must refrain from inviting guests to the property. It is important that the association limit outside visitors to the property. If you are using a common area facility, mainly the pool and the tennis courts, you must follow social distancing guidelines. This means that if there are two groups at the pool, consider coming back at a later time. The pool deck is not a large area, it is not built for the type of social distancing that is currently required. Please note that if large groups continue to visit the pool all at once, it may be necessary to restrict all access to the pool. 

Tennis Court:

Coral Tree Plaza has continued to keep the tennis court open for residents to use as a place to safely exercise. However, when using the tennis court to play, please follow the United States Tennis Association guidelines (see link). Do not play doubles, wash your hands, and stay at least six feet apart at all times. https://www.usta.com/en/home/stay-current/national/usta-statement-on-safety-of-playing-tennis-during-the-covid-19-v.html

Maintenance Update:

This week Justin, Victor, and Berna worked on projects at the property. Victor has finished servicing all of the fans in the garage and up on the roof as well as checking all the components on the chiller. Justin and Berna have finished prepping the clubhouse bathrooms for paint, sanded down the walls, and applied the first coat of primer. Next week they will finish the painting and install the new fixtures in the bathroom. We are excited to open up the clubhouse to the community as soon as it is safe to do so. 

CTP Reader’s Corner:

   Hi! I’m Anon−a member of the CTP community. Only Tyler knows my identity. For those in search of Cabin Fever therapy, I’m penning some brief book reviews during our Covid-19 jail term. Each will be, in my humble opinion, on topics of universal interest; must reads for all adult readers; not slanted Red or Blue; published within the last few years; mostly non-fiction; and nowhere near as long as I would like. These mini-reviews are being written only for CTP residents, but (if you’ve read this far) feel free to share them. Finally, this first installment will be longer than most. I can thus introduce myself and my objective. Thanks to Tyler for his support.   

   Maryanne Wolf, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (Harper, 2018). Paperback, $17.99. Among other posts, the author serves as Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA. The first nine pages offer a diverse array of praise from news organizations, literary entities, and book review snippets. 

   Wolf’s organizational schematic consists of nine letters written to the reader. Each offers an authoritative and succinct analysis of the subsets which illustrate a remarkable phenomenon. That is the comparative quality of attention associated with reading traditional print works and today’s ubiquitous screens and digital devices. She intuitively brings numerous authors and studies to the table, throughout this thought-provoking expose.  

   After the Letter One introduction, those of you who are not doctors or scientists might opt to skip Letter Two. 

   Letter Three vividly depicts the impact of today’s fast-paced and screen-based reading regime, on the exclusively print-based culture we experienced prior to the contemporary Information Revolution. We learned the meaning of empathy, when we transitioned into those other worlds where print books took us. But there has been a forty percent decline in the empathy of younger readers over the last two decades−most of which has occurred within the last ten years. They (not us, of course) are too busy checking their cell phones between 150 and 190 times per day. 

   Letter Four focuses on the author’s description of society’s decreasing capacity for developing critical thinking skills. Five through Seven cover child education in the digital age−and the escalating range of challenges confronting today’s classrooms. One study memorably describes traditional methodologies (in and out of the classroom) as creating “theoretical zombies that cannot be stopped by conventional weapons such as empirical disconfirmation, leaving them free to roam the educational landscape.” 

   Letter Eight contrasts the role of print learning−e.g., writing by hand in early grades, leading to better writing and thinking−and the importance of simultaneously teaching digital wisdom, so that children and young adults learn how to make good decisions about content and recall during online reading.

   Letter Nine covers digital distraction masquerading as being “in the know;” the increasingly manipulated and superficial uses of “knowledge” that will never become wisdom; and society’s diminishing ability to read, write, and think beyond 140 characters.                  

“What is a soul? It’s like electricity – we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.”

-Ray Charles

Stay safe. 

Tyler Boelts

General Manager – Coral Tree Plaza

Action Property Management (800) 400-2284