By Joan Gaughan, Chelsea ALI
Although the closure of most of the venues for the Chelsea Adult Learners has forced the cancellation of all our classes for the rest of the winter/spring term, there are many positive things about the coronavirus lockdown.
It has allowed us to re-read War and Peace, Leviticus, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, including the “X” section, and renewed the rapture of learning the symbols for all the elements on the Periodic Table.
We have discovered the joy of 1500- piece puzzles, and uncovered what has been lurking in the dark corners of closets, the horde of dust bunnies under the beds, and where the lost socks have been going for years.
We have also discovered online classes. Charlie Taylor has figured out a way to offer his class, “Senses and Memory in the Brain. How do they work?” on Zoom on Tuesday mornings in April.
The class is a useful reminder that, despite what appears to be evidence to the contrary, our brains really are working. Still. Most of the time.
If this works as planned, we will be adding more online options in the future, which will be useful for people who think social distancing is a great idea.
In the meantime, for those of you who think otherwise, we are developing an incredible line-up of in-person classes for the fall semester.
Happily, most of our excellent and generous volunteer instructors have agreed to return, assuming the virus has disappeared from the globe by then.
Unhappily, the volunteer appreciation party in May has also been canceled which is quite sad because without our volunteers we wouldn’t … be.
