From the desk of Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – In these challenging times I spend countless hours on video calls with all sorts of collections of people. It is an interesting exercise and a very effective way to meet in these times of social isolation.
I am fascinated by the measures that people go to in order to have a certain back drop, or perhaps privacy, during video calls. I have seen leaders in their child’s bedroom, on their deck, in spare rooms, in dining rooms, in corners of basements.
My favourite video call background is the virtual background – knowing that I am connected to someone in Haliburton in April and seeing the sandy beaches of Jamaica behind them is a little unnerving, but entertaining.
And then there are the inevitable interruptions during video calls – husbands delivering supper, children in states of undress, and another favourite of mine – assorted pets behaving badly.
In a time of separateness how lucky we are to have the technology we have – to be able to meet, collaborate and keep connection while all the time sharing these little extra pieces of our lives both intentional and unintentional.
I once did an interview on the local television station and noticed that the well-dressed host had huge pink fuzzy slippers on. We all hide some things about ourselves from view; we carefully take pictures to show ourselves at our best and maybe even enhance them a little. Yet it is important that we never forget that behind every Australia opera house background we all have dirty dishes, a little pet hair, messy parts of our lives and probably some ugly slippers. This is the stuff of life that none of us puts on the camera, yet in it we can all relate.
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