A Special In-Person Writing Class
In August 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, Alisa, a fourth-grader in Singapore, began taking writing classes with me.
During our first Zoom meeting, I felt sad, thinking that we would probably never have the opportunity to meet each other in person. After all, at the time, I had several local students, including ones who resided in the same county as me, whom I had never met in person.
In May 2022, shortly after I had begun to reluctantly accept that meeting people online instead of face to face is the "new normal," Alisa's mom sent me an email asking if Alisa could have a face-to-face class with me during their family vacation in the United States. I was thrilled that the long-awaited opportunity for Alisa and me to meet in person had presented itself.
As Alisa's vacation to the United States neared, she and I would talk at the beginning or end of our Zoom meetings about how many days remained until we would finally get to see each other in person and she would finally get to buy some chewing gum (I recently learned from Alisa that there is a chewing gum ban in Singapore).
At the end of her last class with me before her departure to San Francisco, I updated her homework document in Google Drive. Instead of typing, "Scan and upload your revised prewriting to your homework folder before your next class," I happily typed, "Bring a hard copy of your revised prewriting to your IN-PERSON class!"
Meeting Alisa and her parents in the courtyard of my office building on June 16 was a surreal experience—like meeting famous people I had only seen on an electronic screen.
As we made our way into my office and Alisa and I set up for our two-hour class together, it felt like she and I had so much to catch up on, even though we had been meeting online weekly for almost two years.
During class, we discussed editing and writing as we normally do, but we also asked each other a lot of questions that allowed us to get to know each other better. One question I asked Alisa toward the end of her class was, "What are you going to do for the rest of the day?" She replied matter of factly, "I want to get some Hubba Bubba gum (blue-raspberry flavored)." I laughed and then realized that Americans take many things for granted, including being able to buy gum!
When Alisa's class was just about over, I found myself not wanting it to end and wondering if she and I would ever see each other in person again.
At around noon, Alisa's mom returned to my office. I thanked her for the gift she had brought me all the way from Singapore: a set of plates with an image of the island of Singapore or a traditional Singaporean home on each. Then she, Alisa and I chatted for a while before taking a picture together and then parting ways with an unspoken hope of meeting face to face again.
Although our world has forever changed due to the pandemic, my brief meeting with Alisa and her parents reminded me of the importance of in-person human connection. I believe the feeling associated with that connection should not be forgotten as we attempt to release ourselves from the grips of the pandemic because that feeling has the power to make us feel alive inside by filling us with a joy that makes life feel like life.
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