After a two week long evacuation, OS37 has returned and resumed classes. The past week has consisted of us reconvening and recalibrating the semester. Due to lost time, we have had to adjust certain aspects of the program and while this is a disappointment for us and the students, the fact that we are together again on a safe, untouched, campus is most important. We owe a huge thank you to the first responders who travelled from all over the country and even internationally. There was a tent city of first responders across the street from us at the Fairgrounds and it was pretty humbling to see them come and go at all hours.

Because the Oxbow campus was physically untouched, the students are better able to support the community of Napa and thanks to a core group of co-organizers we now have several plans in place toward that end. Students are volunteering with Rebuild Wine Country and Napa Strong, are organizing an online art sale of their work to benefit Rebuild Wine Country and Tipping Point Emergency Relief Fund, are designing a Community Resource Day to coincide with their Project X show opening, coordinating a poetry slam/reading for the public with the Napa Bookmine, and looking into other modes of fundraising.

Below is a satellite image of the fire scars. The Oxbow of the Napa River is visible in the right half of the image, about a third of the way up from the bottom.