Raina With a Mask On

My group chose a mask as our corporeal marker. As a group we walked through Baker and went to West 82. Individually, I wore my mask in many different places.

I wore my mask at my job, Brennens coffee shop, in my ASL class, to a doctors appointment, to the mechanic while I got an oil change, the grocery store, the library, and while walking to classes. Throughout most of the places I was in, I felt a little weird and out of place because I was usually the only person around me wearing one. While at my job, a few different people asked me why I was wearing a mask or if I was sick. I felt kind of bad when I was working because I didn't want people to think I was sick at work, handling their drinks and things. During my appointment that I wore a mask to, I took it off halfway through, and my doctor looked confused as to why I had taken it off if I was sick. It was interesting because if you're wearing one, people automatically think that you're sick and you need to keep it on. I didn't experience many outright reactions at the mechanic, grocery store, library, walking to class, brennens. I noticed that many people interacting with me definitely looked at and recognized the mask and they were talking louder or looking at me more intently to maybe try and read my expressions better.

Imagining the mask as a marker of something I cant change isn't difficult to do, especially from a social and political standing. Since the mask was so heavily controversial and disputed during covid when there were mandates, it has become an interesting symbol that means different things to many, but ultimately is a major marker that we all lived through globally. I think now that the masks are a trace of such a traumatic time, it makes people panic a little. I think that there was a lot of hate for masks and those who wear them from a political background in 2020, and wearing one puts you in a place to be identified in many different ways. At one point, masks did control and monitor the mobility in public space, and it caused a lot of turmoil! Many people felt like they were useless, an infringement on their rights, etc. etc.

Still, they were enforced in most public spaces and not wearing one was considered against the rule/norm. Now its not that way at all any more, and now that masks are a choice it singles you out more because it is now a personal decision. However, I do think that the people who interacted asking if I was sick did it out of their best interest, because now masks have somewhat become normalized to wear as a preventative measure for many different things, not just covid. To negotiate the space, I think I would mostly continue as normal. It may be a little offputting at first but I think it would be something that would be easy to get used to again.