Summary

The author expresses enthusiasm for wearing masks, citing personal and social benefits, including privacy, sun protection, self-expression, safety, and community care.

Abstract

The article "I Love Wearing a Mask" by Rosalind Warren presents a personal perspective on the positive aspects of mask-wearing during the pandemic. The author enjoys the anonymity that masks provide, freeing her from societal expectations to display certain expressions. She appreciates the sun protection that masks offer, eliminating the need for sunblock. Masks are also seen as a form of self-expression, whether through fashion, humor, or political statements. The author feels safer wearing a mask and believes it demonstrates a commitment to community health and responsible citizenship. Additionally, the author uses her choice of mask to signal her political stance, particularly in opposition to the current U.S. president.

Opinions

The author relishes the privacy and inscrutability that comes with wearing a mask, allowing her to avoid unwanted social interactions and expectations.
Masks are appreciated for providing sun protection, which the author prefers over applying sunblock.
Wearing a mask is viewed as an opportunity for creative self-expression, whether through stylish coordination, humorous sayings, or political messaging.
The author feels a sense of safety when wearing a mask, despite acknowledging its primary benefit is to protect others from the wearer's potential transmission of COVID-19.
The act of wearing a mask is seen as a sign of caring for the community and a political statement, indicating the author's intention to vote for a candidate who prioritizes science over "magical thinking."

I Love Wearing a Mask

5 Reasons Why I Never Leave Home Without Mine

Some folks complain about wearing a mask, while others refuse to wear one at all. Not me. I love wearing a mask. Why?

I Enjoy Being Inscrutable

When I’m out for a walk and another person approaches, I always feel obligated to greet them with a smile or other suitably friendly expression.

Women, in particular, are expected to always smile and look cheerful.

Wearing a mask changes all that. Now all you can see are my eyes.

Am I grinning? Frowning?

You’ll never know.

(And let’s face it. How I’m feeling is really none of your damn business.)

It’s a pleasure to be able to abandon the usual requirement that I slap a pleasing expression on my face and instead remain inscrutable.

You can even make faces at people while wearing a mask and nobody is the wiser. I’ve been really enjoying sticking my tongue out at certain neighbors on my daily walk.

Especially the Republicans down the block who just threw a mammoth party in defiance of social distancing guidelines.

I Don’t Have to Wear Sunblock

I hate wearing sunblock on my face because I can’t stand the smell. Now, thanks to my mask and visored cap, my face is entirely protected from the sun.

Problem solved!

A Mask Can Be a Way To Express Yourself

As Lance Burson recently put it:

My wife gave me a really cool blue face mask and my gloves match so, leaving the house everyday looking like SubZero from Mortal Kombat is making me feel like this new normal is 100 percent badass.

“I feel like an anarchist in a steampunk dystopia wearing my mask,” says Dove Calderwood.

And if you don’t want to engage in character cosplay, but just want to make people smile? You can wear a mask with a silly slogan like “Will Remove for Chocolate,” “Ventriloquist in Training,” or “This Is The Biggest Game of Cooties I’ve Ever Seen.”

A mask can also provide social commentary or express a political point of view. Yesterday, on my daily walk, I wore my This Was Preventable mask with my Nevertheless, She Persisted T-shirt.

Which means that not only can you can tell where I’m coming from politically, but if I see that you’re wearing a MAGA hat and not wearing a mask, I can stick my tongue out at you — behind my mask — with impunity.

I Feel Safer

Even though masking is more about protecting you from my COVID Cooties than protecting me from yours, wearing a mask does provide me with, as they say “minimal protection.”

And covering my nose and mouth when I’m out among the sneezing, coughing public just feels safer.

Wearing a Mask Means that I Care

Wearing a mask not only means I don’t want to get COVID, but that I don’t want you (or anyone else in my community) to get COVID either.

It also signals that I plan to protect us all this November by voting in a presidential candidate who believes in responding to a pandemic with science rather than magical thinking.

And if you can’t deduce that I’ll be voting Trump out of office this November by the fact that I’m practicing social distancing and wearing a mask?

The fact that it’s a “Dump Trump” face mask might help.

Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)