Mundane to Marvelous: Masks During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Thomas Mossey 
Dr. Alla Myzelev 
ARTH 300: Fashion, Art, and Politics 
Spring 2021

When the pandemic started last march, we were all sent home. The world was flipped upside down and turned inside out. The hysteria that only the town folks of Western Europe in the fourteenth century could have known. I still had half a semester of Junior year left and not knowing what would come. I was trapped in my tower of a room to finish off the school year. No sun shined for that entire spring- it was grey and dark from March to May. I was not permitted to leave the house, I was not allowed to go anywhere or do anything. Rapunzel trapped in her tower watching the hours tick by- tick tock tock tock. Then one day, in early May- I asked my mother if I could go for a run and then to my Aunts house so I could write some of a final paper. She agreed and handed me a blue medical mask for me to wear and some hand sanitizer. “Be safe,” she said and I went on my first excursion since I traveled home from school. The sweetness of spring turned into the sizzle of summer, and I began to get restless, but I kept a routine. Get up, workout, go for a run, watch my best friend’s coffee blog, shower, make breakfast, and then walk to my aunts house to tan. (She was never home- so we never broke any guidelines). The monotony of those first summer days did keep my skin beautifully porcelain- despite wearing the masks everyday. My first real mask, that was not a medical mask, was sewn and gifted to me by my older sister. It had a blue and red sailboat print and had red ribbons that tied into a bow the back. 

Living through a pandemic is something that is not as easy as you would think to describe. A lot of bad things happen, but life moves on and sometimes good things happen- and sometimes you burst into a full Rockette kickline by yourself and that’s all okay. However, in a pandemic, or not, waiting for something to happen instead of admiring all that is already happening is the main problem. In a life that is driven in commercialism, we all forget that power, prestige, and money are not the main goals of life. The main goals are to center yourself, surrounding yourself with people you love, no matter how far they need to be, and finding joy in the mundane. What’s so funny about living through a pandemic is that what we all need most, community, is the one thing that was stripped from us. The universe has a sense of humor that way. Not to leave any of us without, we have social media: a blessing and a curse. From all of the connection or lack thereof, we have all begun to realize what a crazy world we live in and that in a mere minute things can crumble, but in its place, a phoenix will rise. The tower card will always lead the way for the sun. 

That was the mask that I wore almost every day when I started my summer job at a pool. Why were we open, do not ask me. The pool had a sign with a skull and crossbones on it with the quotation “enter at your own risk”… maybe close then. The only reason I worked was because I had worked at this pool since I was 16 and they needed me to help run the operation. Going in everyday to work at a pool in peak pandemic times does make you feel a little like Jennifer from the Valley of the Dolls (1967) when she goes to Paris to film “ze art films”. Like you need the money so you go to work, but you definitely question the ethical implications of it. At the end of the day, I did get to work side-by-side with my best friend, Jayne, so all troubles did seem to fade. Before I knew it, I was back at school fully immersed in zoom learning and trying to traverse my senior year of college in a mask. 

That really is the funny thing about the whole thing, everyday there was something to look forward to. There was something beautiful about spending the hours by yourself, and when you needed them most, your friends were always a facetime away. Just do not waste the time you have been given because of a bad draw of cards. Find the joy, happiness, and peace within every second because that is what life is truly about. Learning how to navigate yourself through the craziness and find the moments that make you remember why you are alive. Behind the masks, there can always be a little smile on your face.

I think the best way to describe my feelings on masks and the pandemic as a whole was summed up in the last fifteen minutes I just experienced. I decided that I wanted to go out and write this exposee in Brodie Hall, the academic building associated with the arts at SUNY Geneseo. While in the room where my journey as an Art History student truly began, Brodie 242A. As a freshman this was the room of the Art History Association, which was the first club I joined in January of 2018 after transferring. I now sit in the same seat as a senior ready to graduate, and my computer is not loading. For fifteen minutes I watch a loading screen turn and turn until finally I can begin to type. Instead of reminiscing about the room, my time at Geneseo, or even the birds that were chirping outside, I decided to waste that fifteen minutes being upset at my computer because I had to wait for it to start again. That was my last year summed up and tied in a bow. 

Living through a pandemic is something that is not as easy as you would think to describe. A lot of bad things happen, but life moves on and sometimes good things happen- and sometimes you burst into a full Rockette kickline by yourself and that’s all okay. However, in a pandemic, or not, waiting for something to happen instead of admiring all that is already happening is the main problem. In a life that is driven in commercialism, we all forget that power, prestige, and money are not the main goals of life. The main goals are to center yourself, surrounding yourself with people you love, no matter how far they need to be, and finding the joy in the mundane. What’s so funny about living through a pandemic is that what we all need most, community, is the one thing that was stripped from us. The universe has a sense of humor that way. Not to leave any of us without, we have social media: a blessing and a curse. From all of the connection, or lack thereof, we have all begun to realize what a crazy world we live in and that in a mere minute things can crumble, but in its place a phoenix will rise. The tower card will always lead the way for the sun. 

When the pandemic started last march, we were all sent home. The world was flipped upside down and turned inside out. The hysteria that only the town folks of Western Europe in the fourteenth century could have known. I still had half a semester of Junior year left and not knowing what would come. I was trapped in my tower of a room to finish off the school year. No sun shined for that entire spring- it was grey and dark from March to May. I was not permitted to leave the house, I was not allowed to go anywhere or do anything. Rapunzel trapped in her tower watching the hours tick by- tick tock tock tock. Then one day, in early May- I asked my mother if I could go for a run and then to my Aunts house so I could write some of a final paper. She agreed and handed me a blue medical mask for me to wear and some hand sanitizer. “Be safe,” she said and I went on my first excursion since I traveled home from school. The sweetness of spring turned into the sizzle of summer, and I began to get restless, but I kept a routine. Get up, workout, go for a run, watch my best friend’s coffee blog, shower, make breakfast, and then walk to my aunts house to tan. (She was never home- so we never broke any guidelines). The monotony of those first summer days did keep my skin beautifully porcelain- despite wearing the masks everyday. My first real mask, that was not a medical mask, was sewn and gifted to me by my older sister. It had a blue and red sailboat print and had red ribbons that tied into a bow the back. 

That was the mask that I wore almost every day when I started my summer job at a pool. Why were we open, do not ask me. The pool had a sign with a skull and crossbones on it with the quotation “enter at your own risk”… maybe close then. The only reason I worked was because I had worked at this pool since I was 16 and they needed me to help run the operation. Going in everyday to work at a pool in peak pandemic times does make you feel a little like Jennifer from the Valley of the Dolls (1967) when she goes to Paris to film “ze art films”. Like you need the money so you go to work, but you definitely question the ethical implications of it. At the end of the day, I did get to work side-by-side with my best friend, Jayne, so all troubles did seem to fade. Before I knew it, I was back at school fully immersed in zoom learning and trying to traverse my senior year of college in a mask. 

That really is the funny thing about the whole thing, everyday there was something to look forward to. There was something beautiful about spending the hours by yourself, and when you needed them most, your friends were always a facetime away. Just do not waste the time you have been given because of a bad draw of cards. Find the joy, happiness, and peace within every second because that is what life is truly about. Learning how to navigate yourself through the craziness and find the moments that make you remember why you are alive. Behind the masks, there can always be a little smile on your face.

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