Anatomy of a Zoom background

So now that I am teaching again and appearing on a lot of podcasts with video components, I have had a lot of questions about the room (my home office) that I sit in when I am in front of my computer’s camera. I will have to admit that I thought about buying one of those room dividers or a green screen, but in the end I decided to clean up the space and decorate my bookshelves with some of my favorite things. A few notable items in the background:

Two of my favorite typewriters on top of the bookshelves: my 1930s Urania QWETZ typewriter from Dresden on the right and my 1950s Model T Groma typewriter (from the former GDR) on the left. There is a bust of David on the floor (who will beat the Goliath of capitalism eventually), hiding some storage boxes hidden between the corners of the bookshelves. There is a framed and signed photo of the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, given to me by the late Elena Lagadinova, as well as an unframed photo of Alexandra Kollontai. I still have my original Rubik’s Cube from the 1980s (designed by a Hungarian architect during the Cold War) and a variety of books on various utopian movements and ideologies. On my walls are a poster of the Acropolis in Athens and the Oxford Cartographers World History Timeline that I have often lectured and written about. The big plant behind me is a fake one that adds a little depth to the room.

It’s not the most exciting background, but I feel like it is at least visually more interesting than a paper screen.

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Ocean City, Maryland: Winter Festival of Lights

So I had to evacuate my house because my ex-husband flew in from Bulgaria to spend a few weeks with our daughter before she heads off to college. Since she really wanted to stay home so she could pack and get organized, I decamped to a little condo in Ocean City so that they could quarantine for 2 weeks. There isn’t much to do here because of the pandemic, but there are still a few outdoor events. The winter festival of lights is a yearly thing here in Ocean City, and it felt so American. Everyone was wearing masks (except the dogs!).

27th Annual Atlantic General Hospital Penguin Swim in Ocean City, Maryland, January 1, 2021

I decided I really wanted to get rid of 2020, so I ran into the Atlantic Ocean on January 1st so a socially-distanced 2021 Penguin Swim to benefit the Atlantic General Hospital. That water was mighty cold…

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That’s me with my arms up about to dunk under the surface of the water.

That’s me with my arms up about to dunk under the surface of the water.