COVID-19 revelation: We’re ‘twisted together with others like a pretzel’

Lawyers learn to reframe. They take what is bad and squeeze out the good from it. This is not spin. Rather it’s the ability to adapt and grow from the most trying circumstances.

The COVID-19 pandemic? Here’s what I’ve learned from our current national nightmare: First and foremost, none of us does anything alone. One day I’m teaching in the classroom, the chief in charge at the front of the room. The next, I’m reduced to trying to “zoom” the material from my apartment. I couldn’t have learned to use online meetings app Zoom without the aid of my research assistant and the faculty administrator. I have almost zero tech skill. They have tons to share.

Each of us is twisted together with others like a pretzel. That once put me off, but now I embrace it.

‘Same-sized box on a screen’

Zoom is teaching me a lot. Here is one thing: If death is the great equalizer, then Zoom isn’t far behind. The once-powerful professor is now just another same-sized box on the screen. Hierarchy gets its comeuppance. We see one another for what we truly are: human beings doing our best in a trying world.

Students see where I live and vice versa. I may stop to interview a student’s child who ambles into view. I’ve noticed class participation has increased. Students are less shy about speaking up or wanting to meet with me virtually one-on-one. My physical office has a desk with me on one side and them on the other. No more. When the walls come tumbling down, true communication soars.