My Empty Class and Congressman John Lewis

No one showed up for my senior citizens’ writing class today. Like every Thursday since May, it was to take place at 11 a.m. on Zoom.

But today wasn’t like those other Thursdays. It was the day of Congressman John Lewis’ funeral. I was amused when I realized the start time of the send-off to that great man — 11 a.m. ET.

Why amused? Because this was the writing prompt I had given my senior students for today:

Rosa Parks inspired me to find a way to get in the way, to get in trouble … good trouble, necessary trouble. -John Lewis

Instead of hearing what my students had written on that topic, it was only me and the director of the seniors’ program on Zoom at class time. We chatted for a bit, wondering if someone might come along late. I speculated to her that our lack of attendance was because they wanted to watch Lewis’ funeral. She shared some of her own activism from the 1960s — “you’d just go limp so they’d have to drag you away” — which I found fascinating.

By 11:15 I told her I’d be happy to keep Zoom live in case someone came late. So that’s what I did. Then, with Zoom open on my computer screen, I went to my couch and turned on my television to catch the live coverage of the funeral.