Community in the Time of Covid-19

Since this week was Passover, I’ve spent most of the past two days with my family celebrating. However, some of what I’ve been doing to celebrate has applied to my senior project question. We did both seders on zoom with my mom’s side of the family–most of us were from the Northeast, but my aunt in Italy was also attending, meaning we started really early in the day. Having this family event virtually felt a little bit weird because it’s not the way we usually celebrate the holiday. But it was also meaningful seeing everyone together in a time when we are socially isolated. However, it was hard to have conversations and lead a seder that has an order when there were so many people together who also wanted to simply spend time together.

The second seder with my dad’s side of the family was similar in that my family on the call was from all over the country and world–we rarely get to see each other in other Passovers. But this one was a little bit different than the first seder because this side of the family focused more on going through each of the rituals of the seder and spent time chatting afterwards, while the other group focused more on talking to each other and hanging out. Experiencing these two versions of virtually celebrating a holiday really important to me and my family made me both realize the ways that we can include more members of my family during normal circumstances, and how the face-to-face interactions really do impact these experiences. For example, singing Passover songs is an integral part of my family’s seders, and it was difficult to do so in the same way over zoom. 

I also spent time the past couple days continuing to prepare for an online workshop I’m leading for the jGirls community. I researched tips about leading classes online, and while most of the information I came across applied more to classes that happen every day, and cultivating that community, I also learned about the importance of using interactive activities, not lecturing for too long, and allowing space for chatting/student feedback.