quarantine – Spatchcocking the Future

Killer Looks for Killer Times

Tired of sitting around in pajamas while you shelter in place? Bring out your sickest looks, and look absolutely killer while you fight the apocalypse from home.

Just because you are sheltering in place, there’s no reason not to break out the apocalyptic glamour! Don’t sit around in pajamas, while living through the most end-of-the-world excitement that most of us will ever experience. In fact, because you now exist in the world mainly as a digital presence, you have the freedom to be anyone you please. So, dig into your wardrobe, and get to work creating a new you (or, several!)

Wigs are a great way to change your appearance from day to day. They’re also practical, because they allow you to cut your natural hair very short, thus making it easy to cover when you venture outdoors, and easy to wash and dry quickly. The same wig can be used to create different moods, simply by changing the clothing and accessories one chooses.

Add sunglasses, hats, and shaggy fur to create a retro-glam feel. Or, perhaps add a softer touch, to create a romantic vibe.

Don’t forget to rock a mask… they are the hallmark of a well put together pandemic look. No need be boring about them, either– a mask can be the accessory that pulls your whole look together.

A mask can create a look all on its own, so don’t neglect the importance of them as a fashion staple of your 2020 look!

Remember, by staying home and avoiding contact with others, you are being a warrior, fighting a pandemic with your actions. Look the part, embrace your role …. get creative and have some fun!

No matter how you choose to portray yourself, these 2020 looks can be absolutely sick!

Signs of the Times

Daily routines have become nightmarish, due to the changes brought about by the pandemic. Once-familiar places are strange, deserted shells of what they were before the plague descended upon us…..

Lone nitrile glove, discarded on the sidewalk. Photography: Copyright of Sandi Ball, 2020.

When one leaves the relative normalcy of one’s home, and ventures (perhaps with trepidation) into a public place, it becomes undeniably evident that the world outside is not the one we remember from a mere four months ago. The streets are nearly empty of both cars and pedestrians, and the few people who are to be seen are generally wearing masks, and perhaps other protective gear.

On weekends past, it was not uncommon (if perhaps unpleasant) to see discarded condoms littering the sidewalk or parking lot; now, one finds the unmistakable blue nitrile gloves, thrown down with the same amount of disregard for whomever might encounter this trash as were the condoms that were their predecessors. Condoms are nowhere to be seen, presumably because few people wish to be close enough to one another to need a such an item.

Line of masked customers, waiting at a distance from one another, in order to enter the produce market. Photography: Copyright of Sandi Ball, 2020.

Once-thriving businesses are struggling or failing completely, due to the shelter-in-place ordinance that has been extended until at least May 31, 2020. Most of the businesses that are allowed to remain open have instituted a policy in which only a few people are allowed to enter at one time; the customers who are waiting to enter are mandated to stand at least 6 feet away from one another, unless they reside in the same household.

Empty shelves where paper products are normally displayed. Photo: Copyright Sandi Ball, 2020.

One commodity that has been coveted in the United States, oddly enough, is toilet paper. It is a rarity to find it in stock anywhere, and customers are limited in the amount that they can purchase if they do find it. Paper products, in general, have been in short supply.

Rejoicing after finding the last of the toilet paper, hidden at the back of a low shelf. Photo: Copyright Sandi Ball, 2020.

Shopping for necessities, which was once a routine daily task, has become a feat; one must don protective gear even for the most basic of errands, and they are done as quickly and as infrequently as possible. Leaving the house for any reason is threatening. It is impossible to ignore that the world we left behind is gone, and a strange, threatening new landscape has overtaken the places we once though we knew.

Appropriate spacing for customers in line is marked on the floor with x symbols. Photo: Copyright Sandi Ball, 2020.

It is painful to venture out into these streets, that once were home to customers enjoying each others’ company. Many businesses display signs stating that they are temporarily closed; others have simply vacated their spaces, aware that the shelter-in-place order is not likely to be lifted in the near future.

Outside the Alameda Theater, which has closed indefinitely due to a county mandate. Photo: Copyright Sandi Ball, 2020.

Leaving the house for any reason has become a noteworthy event. Venturing down the block for a quick errand is now a monumental task, that requires preparation, both physically (mask, gloves, etc.) and psychologically. It is difficult to shake the haunted feeling one has when returning home after having tread across such unfamiliar terrain.

Returning home with a sole purchase, through a near-empty parking lot. Photo: Copyright Sandi Ball, 2020.

Time Is Dissolving

As we near the close of the third week of a shelter-in-place quarantine order, days are beginning to meld one into the next. Sleep is furtive, and comes when it pleases, often leaving for days at a time, and returning with a furor to encompass nights and days back to back. People are checking their calendars more often, not because they have things to do, but because they can’t remember which day of the week it is, with no daily schedules to help them mark the time passing. Few of us are working regular day jobs, as many have moved to working from home, and many more have become completely unemployed.

We (here in the SF Bay Area) are no longer allowed to leave our homes, except to perfom necessary tasks such as grocery shopping, pharmacy pickups, and animal care. We are still permitted to exercise outdoors, though it looks as though that privilege will soon be greatly restricted.

We are not to congregate in groups, and are discouraged from having any physical contact with others, excepting those with whom we live.

Each day, a good portion of the world looks with fascination and horror at a somewhat-meaningless chart, detailing how many new cases of COVID19 have been diagnosed, and where. We see a running total of active cases, recovered cases, and (increasingly) deaths.

We read articles about politicians bickering, casting blame, and fumbling around ineffectively in attempts to mitigate the damage. We listen to our Clown President changing his story daily, always in an attempt to make it look as if he is doing a fantastic job handling this crisis, when nothing could be further from the truth. We cringe, we attempt to turn off the news, and many of us fail.

It isn’t as if there are no projects to be done at home — for many of us, there is work that is piling up rapidly, and for me, there are also many organizational, craft, and art projects that I have yet to get to doing. This time at home seems as if it would be the perfect time to do those things, yet I feel mostly emotionally paralyzed, and unable to turn away from the slow-crush apocalypse that is encroaching on my reality. I know that the world I once knew is not coming back, and I have no idea what to expect in its place.