Mask

In this strange time, as so many do, I went to Costco to purchase some items. It is strange now to go to any public vendor and be one of many masked and gloved people. Sometimes we smile at each other for the irony—but unless our eyes crinkle it is hard to tell. It adds to the sense of unreality. At any rate trundling down the aisles behind a gentleman in cowboy hat and vest with a bandana mask—another gentleman coming the opposite way put up his hands as if being robbed (which is how it feels). A chuckle and we all go on our way—but the brief levity lightened my mood.

In the museum, we have a robber’s mask on display, a simple square of brown cloth with eye holes cut out. It doesn’t seem like it would be very good as a mask, a modest breeze could remove your cover—which may be how it ended up in our collection!

MHS X1908.06.01, rendered by Roberta Jones-Wallace