I assigned my history classes to write a \u201cLiving History Journal\u201d for this last quarter of the school year.\u00a0\u00a0Every week, they add a couple hundred words to their project, telling their story of life in the 2020 pandemic.\u00a0\u00a0I feel like someday, they will want to know what it was like to be twelve, or thirteen, or fourteen when the world came to a halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was tempted to compare the project to the Diary of Anne Frank,<\/em> but I didn\u2019t want to scare them. Anyway, it gets them thinking about everything that\u2019s new and different in their world. In the beginning they wrote about toilet paper shortages (and Raman noodle shortages too) and being able to sleep in. Now they talk a lot more about missing friends, lost trips and vacations, and struggles to stay on task in \u201conline\u201d school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And they talk about the crisis. You can hear their parents\u2019 views echoed in the journals, some saying we need to stay in isolation until we are sure, others talking about how we need to \u201copen up\u201d right away. You can also hear the fears, from the kids with parents working on the front line as nurses, or a police officers, or prison guards. And you read the worry they have about losing the \u201cold\u201d people in their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what you hear most is the isolation. They miss their extended families, and they miss their friends. We have \u201cZoom\u201d classes, something I\u2019d never even heard of two months ago. In case you missed it, the kids all log their computers into a video meeting. Their pictures are arrayed on the screen like the Brady Bunch <\/em>(that reference shows some age) and they can all participate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are issues with Zoom.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a time lag in the audio, and only one person is able to speak at a time.\u00a0\u00a0If a dog or someone’s little brother gets in the picture everyone sees it.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s a chance for the kids to communicate \u201clive\u201d with the teacher, and even more importantly with each other.\u00a0\u00a0As a teacher, it\u2019s a frustrating experience (at least for me) but the kids get to socialize, maybe even more than to learn.\u00a0\u00a0In fact I \u201clost control\u201d of my first sixth grade \u201cZoom Class\u201d, the kids were talking to each other about anything besides Ancient Indian history.\u00a0\u00a0But that session also served a more important purpose than history, I think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The kids talk about all the work they are doing around the house. Rooms are being built, mulch is being laid, gardens planted and lawns mowed. It\u2019s happening here at my house too, right outside our front window. It\u2019s good to get out in the sun even if it is to \u201cwork\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was my oldest sister\u2019s birthday last night, and we had a \u201cZoom\u201d meeting for our entire family.\u00a0\u00a0We\u2019ve been talking to each other a lot, but it was the first time that my two sisters and I have seen each other for more than a year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was great to see everyone:\u00a0\u00a0sisters and husbands, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren.\u00a0\u00a0Like the sixth grade class, it was confusing and disjointed, but it was fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My \u201cmiddle\u201d sister is hunkered down in New Jersey just outside of New York City; my niece is a Nurse Practioner in the Denver area, working in nursing homes. They are in \u201chot spots\u201d for the virus; it\u2019s not a \u201csomebody else\u201d problem for them. But even under that risk, they continue to live their lives. My New Jersey sister and her husband are artists, and they do their work from home. And my niece does her job, and then comes home to three young kids. There\u2019s not a lot of time to worry, though both do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We are all getting to that point here in the COVID-19 crisis. It\u2019s been six weeks in isolation, and the kids, and my family, are all getting anxious to \u201cget on\u201d with life. My family is lucky, everyone who needs to work is working, and the oldest generation, mine, are all retired. Many of my kids\u2019 families aren\u2019t as lucky financially. But both from my family, and from the History Journals, the pressure is on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This will be the really hard part. As pieces of the United States open, other parts will need to remain closed. Folks in Ohio will see people in other states going back to restaurants and bars, and wonder why we can\u2019t do that. In Florida they are opening the beaches, while in Pataskala they just cancelled high school graduation and closed the local athletic fields. There\u2019s a lot of mixed messaging going on. And the folks hearing those messages are anxious to \u201cgo\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But \u201cgoing\u201d might be too soon, and create a whole new round of COVID-19 illness and death.\u00a0\u00a0No matter how you read the statistics that risk is clear.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can we suffer more time apart, available on \u201czoom\u201d but not in real life?\u00a0\u00a0Can we handle the isolation even if it takes until we can all be tested, or even vaccinated?\u00a0\u00a0And if we can\u2019t, are we willing to accept the moral responsibility of the death and suffering premature \u201copening\u201d may cause?<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the commercial on TV just said, \u201c\u2026we\u2019ve got to get this right\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zooming<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Family<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Time Served<\/h3>\n\n\n\n