Those of you who read this blog know that I'm quite passionate about 3D printing. There is a closet full of filament of all different colors, materials, blends, appearances, and structural properties. I "ROYGBIVed" the closet last week, ordering the filaments by color instead of brand and type. When I step into the closet, I'm happy. There is just so much in the way of possibilities with those filament spools sitting on the shelf.
I went in yesterday and my hand missed the light switch as I shut the door. For a moment, I was in darkness. I had an idea that this is what the closet looks like to my daughter. I kept the light off and reached out to touch the filament. There are so many different textures in them that I thought it might be interesting to have my daughter pick a filament she wanted something printed in based on feel instead of me describing colors.
Some of the filaments look shiny and some are more matte. There are the metallic filaments (that are still plastic but have that look.) There are rough filaments because they have flecks of things in them. Some filaments feel more brittle and some feel silky smooth.
As I felt each spool I felt for those differences. The first three felt the same. Then it was ten, and then fifteen. I knew the distribution of filaments and I should have encountered several different kinds by now. I knew in general where each filament was. I had gone through twenty spools before I found the one brand I knew would feel different because their filament has a sand papery feel.
And that was it. That was the only one that felt any different. All those filaments felt the exact same in the dark, even though visually they looked like they were very different. Maybe my daughter would be able to tell some difference, but I was disappointed. So many colors, and to my daughter, it's all the same.
Is that how life feels to her? Is it all one shade of dark? She talks about colors. We explain things in colors. But she won't ever know colors. It was a bit of a sad moment for me as I stood there in the closet that has always made me feel happy.
The Big Boy Update: My son had his first day of distanced learning today as an Upper Elementary student. The school, administration and teachers have been preparing for this possibility since May. He was able to follow his standard class schedule with Zoom meetings some of the time and independent work at others. He got a little worked up at one point because he needed to send his teacher an email and so far, has had no experience doing so. He is quite adept on his computer, but email was a whole new world to him this morning.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter has distanced learning one day a week. It is completely self-paced and the students know ahead of time what's expected of them. She worked quickly through a lot of the material with some nice long breaks, but it was still a good bit of the day working on things she'll turn in tomorrow when she gets back to school. Her peers turned most of their work in online in Google Classroom. Her work is largely in braille and is hard to do on a computer.
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