We relax into the routine and our usual habits of the day. I go into the office for my lectures, my husband into his for his meetings. My elder daughter at the dining room table. My younger daughter at the desk in her room. My students. “Good morning, everyone!” I say as I open the meeting. “Good morning, Professor!” they say as they join. I can see myself, but I mostly see their black screens. Once in a while someone shows themselves to wave at me with their beautiful smile before vanishing from the screen once again. It feels good to hear their voices. I have missed them. “We miss you, Professor!” they say. “I miss you too, my dears,” I say. “Insha Allah, you and your families are well?” I ask. “Alhamdulilah,” they say. Alhamdulilah. Thank God. I am glad they are well. That is what matters. It feels good to know they are well and their families are well. This is a good day. Waves of joy and gratitude wash over me. The ones I know and love are safe. We have a lot to be grateful for. Black screens, vanishing faces.
Not at work, just working from home. Online lecture, gone is the classroom. These are the first days of quarantine. We are living in quarantine. Yes, I remember. That’s why we have time.
I begin my lecture talking about Napoleon III. Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. The first president and the last emperor of the French. Napoleon III began as the first elected president of France, riding the waves of the peasant revolution of 1848. After four years, he had not even begun to complete the reforms he had envisioned for his nation. The reconstruction of Paris that his uncle, Napoleon I, had envisioned for the city. Napoleon III named himself emperor of France on December 2, 1852. Napoleon III commissioned Baron Georges Eug è ne Haussmann, his chief architect and engineer, to rebuild the city of Paris. They had discovered that crowded city streets and narrow alleyways,
80
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online