” I had decided to work toward a degree in natural sciences. Bombs had fallen on the university, and amid the rubble and smoke from recently extinguished fires, I found the office of the professor whom I was told to consult about my course of study. He informed me that lectures were given sporadically and never scheduled sufficiently in advance to allow me who had so far to travel, to plan to attend them. My best option was to study at home, following a curriculum that he would give me, and show up for the exam which would be given orally” (Amarcord: Marcella Remembers, 32)
When I read this portion, nestled into the World War Two chapter of Marcella Hazan’s autobiography, I almost laughed. Around 80 years ago and 5,000 miles away, Hazan found herself doing remote schooling. Learning how to cope with online classes and trying to live a fulfilling life in the midst of mayhem has been a major theme of this school year and I find it so funny that struggling with remote learning was once an issue that Hazan also had to cope with.
Being young during a time of global unrest is a strange feeling. You don’t have to protect a family or fight on any front lines, but that does not mean that your life is totally unaffected. You must learn how to make something from nothing, to try and recover some beauty and lightness in the face of total gut-wrenching chaos.
Hazan remembers World War Two through the eyes of a teenager, her experience defined by her youthfulness. Throughout the war she tries to find little bits of joy and silliness amongst the ruins. One way that these bits of normalcy were found was through food. When everything else is up in the air, one of the only things that can keep you grounded is the meals that you eat. This daily ritual calls for time to be spent focusing on the senses and one’s company rather than, in her case, abounding outside threats. Hazan reflects on mealtime during the war, bombers often finding this time the best one to strike. When bombs would fall in the middle of eating, everyone would take their plates into the bomb shelter to finish dinner.
This reminds me of my own experiences during the pandemic. One of the only things that can keep you from losing your mind is eating well and eating regularly. When you are a teenager during times of great unrest on a large scale, bothWorld War Two and the Covid-19 pandemic, learning how to keep things bearable and at times joyful is one of the main lessons you learn. It is a lesson in coping and creating beauty from suffering. Both Hazan and I share in these lessons, always yearning to create in the face, and sometimes because of, total disarray.
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