March. Multivariable calculus. One day the professor gives his lecture and then adds that vector fields help us model the spread of disease, something we might be interested in given what is happening in China.
My Asian classmates have been wearing face masks for a couple of weeks now, but some of the local students poke their heads up and blink. “What’s happening in China?” one of them asks.
Last in-person classes of the semester are in March. Within a few days of the university closing we are on a flight home. The flight plan has changed a few times as the airlines try to adapt; we are travelling the day classes resume on-line.
I do a calculus assignment in Toronto’s Pearson airport. Most of the services have closed and the only food option is potato chips from a vending machine.
The next day we login to the university website, and carry on. My husband has moved his office into the house. He goes to work in sweat pants. My oldest daughter tells us stories about what it has been like working in a grocery store since the shut-down. “And by the way,” she says to her sister, “they want to know if you can start work now that you’re back.”
This is the new normal. Lockdown haircuts, baking and projects. Study groups via Facebook.
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