We’ve all been there. We spend hours upon hours with eyes glued to a computer screen filled with squares of human beings. Many are visibly tired. Some are forcing a smile. Others have their cameras turned off, only represented by a grey screen with a name. Then suddenly, we are graced with the unexpected attendance of an adorable, non-human creature. The day becomes a little bit better and brighter.

Who can hold back a grin or chuckle when a curious cat or nosy dog inserts itself into our virtual classes? The furry, sometimes scaly friends of our Zoom peers have given New School students and professors a reason to authentically smile in a virtual and disconnected world. 

The New School Free Press spoke with New Schoolers and their beloved pets. Stay tuned for more…

Lindsay and Lenny, the Lizard.

For Lindsay Keller, a fourth-year Journalism + Design student at Lang, two furry friends in a pandemic were simply not enough. The latest addition to her pet family –– which already included a dog and a hamster –– is Lenny, a bearded dragon lizard. She adopted Lenny in July, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He is high maintenance in terms of his case. He has to have a heat lamp, [an ultraviolet] lamp and then a night lamp,” Keller said, adding “and he eats live bugs.”

Keller admitted to being a bit anxious about how people in her classes would react to her recently-acquired reptile, saying: “At first I was like, kinda self conscious [that] everyone’s gonna think I’m the weird girl with the lizard.”

But a few weeks later, another girl in Keller’s class brought her lizard to the Zoom meeting too, Keller said. “So we had a connection with our lizards in the cameras.”

The reactions to Lenny have been positive so far. Keller said that once in a breakout room, her professor paused all activity to ask for a proper introduction of Lenny. Pet introductions have since become an official rule in Keller’s class, with all pets that intentionally or accidentally appear on camera requiring a formal introduction.

Keller said that the only times she has felt notably awkward with Lenny hanging out with her on Zoom are when her classes discuss more serious topics and when her classmates share personal anecdotes. Keller said that there have been times that a class would discuss topics surrounding racism, and Lenny would go leaping across the screen, distracting everyone.

When asked if she felt more or less productive with her pets around, she confessed, “[For] productivity, maybe not so helpful, but [for] comfort, yes.”

Like many pet owners, Keller said her pets have been beneficial to her mental health during the pandemic, when times are so uncertain and isolating.  She also said that she appreciates being able to “unplug and reflect” whenever she walks her pets, especially in these trying times. 

“I try and take my lizard outside with me and my dog. It’s nice. It’s like emotional support,” Keller said. “I feel like classes sometimes get stressful. Being able to be in my own bed or downstairs in my living room with my dog next to me is really refreshing.”  

When Keller graduates from The New School, she said that Lenny will come with her wherever she is in life. “This is the thing I didn’t think through. I am 21 now. I adopted a lizard. They live like thirteen to fifteen years, which means I’m going to be in my thirties with a real-life big girl job and have a bearded dragon,” she said.