Our Year in Cambridge

We did an interview with Emma on what it's like to learn at home during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was for a school project on the history of education in the U.K. The assignment was to to "imagine a museum in the future about the history of education. Make a collection of objects, pictures, photos, letters, videos etc. that would show people in the future what education was like in 2020." This was our contribution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39WkPX5-guA&feature=youtu.be

Today the government announced that as of July 4th the UK will relax its lockdown rules. That means that in a mere 11 days pubs, restaurants, cinemas, hotels, hair salons, libraries, museums, and theme parks all will be open for business. Social distancing will also ease up, as the standard 2-meter rule will be dropped in favor of a "1-meter-plus" approach. It's tough to tell exactly what this means. The gist of it is that we should stay 2 meters apart if we can, but if that's not possible we can be 1 meter apart. Or something like that. It's clear as mud. Like everything that comes out of Boris Johnson's mouth. We will only have a few weeks to enjoy the opening up of the U.K., but even so I'm grateful that we will be able to go to a pub, see friends, and visit a museum or even an amusement park before we return home to the U.S. Things have already been changing here in Cambridge. As of last Monday bookstores are open, as are a few stores on the High S...

It's been awhile since I posted. We are pretty exhausted, not only with lockdown (we are now in Week 13) but with the news from the United States. Like anyone with a beating heart and a working brain, I watched the recording of George Floyd's murder with a mixture of outrage and disbelief. Trump's response (or lack thereof) to the events that followed has made things worse, and has highlighted what a grossly incompetent, morally weak leader he is. The co-founder of Black Lives Matter called him "a destroyer" -- a very apt moniker, in my humble opinion. Let's hope all of this costs him the election in November. Closer to home the UK government has scrapped its plans for all primary school children to return to school before the summer holiday. This means, of course, that Emma won't be able to see her classroom again. She won't be able to say goodbye, in person, to her friends and her teacher. She won't be able to have her birthday in school, as...