
It is day 50 of the COVID-19 Lockdown. I am a teacher. I have been teaching remotely since the end of the first week of March, so we are going on week 7, the missing week the result of the one-week hiatus from the virtual classroom for Easter break. That’s roughly 32 days of staring and talking at images and icons on a screen, and listening to icons and images on a screen, and forgetting if the camera is off or on and if they saw me put my finger in my ear or my nose, if they saw me bite my fingernail or scratch my armpit. I have my obsessions and addictions, but the screen isn’t one of them, unless a good movie is playing on one bigger than the one into which I am presently staring. The only other screens I like are the ones on my doors and windows that keep out the flies and mosquitos. So, now I hate them even more, but they are a means to a middle ground, because we, teachers and learners, can’t be on the same ground.





