| In 15 years of teaching nonfiction writing to Yale undergraduates, Anne Fadiman never asked for much. She didn't need a Smart Board or a digital projector or a Blu-ray player, just a cozy seminar room, a round table, and 12 brilliant students. Then came the pandemic. This year, four days into spring break, Fadiman learned she'd have to trade her classroom for a Zoom room. To the great good fortune of readers everywhere, she decided to keep a journal about her new life as a virtual instructor. Eventually, with help from a few Pulitzer Prize winners and a blue teddy bear named Barry, she gets the hang of Zoom. She revels in being able to wear slippers during class. She admires her students' pet fish and teaches them about the 10 sources of humor in Nora Ephron's "A Few Words About Breasts." She also shares their frustrations and griefs—aggravating parents, canceled internships, loved ones lost to Covid-19. Although she misses the smell of chalk, she writes, "sitting at a table—real or virtual—with 12 young people who believe in the importance of writing, especially in hard times, still feels sacred." Anthony Lydgate | Senior Editor | 
Post a Comment