Can you believe it’s been five weeks already? If I basically can sit still for five weeks, I can do anything I set my mind to. We all thought this would be extremely hard, hard to the point that we didn’t know if we could do it. We thought these ordinances were absurd! Crazy! Maybe some of you still think so, maybe not. However, think of all the progress we have made as a community. 

In order to acquire face masks, a necessity nowadays, my mom asked on the Iowa State Parents Facebook page because she was adamant on purchasing something Iowa State-themed. Adamant. She was going to purchase three but ended up talking to two different people, somehow mixing things up, and bought six. i do not believe anyone can have enough sterile technique, so I would prefer the latter to three, but look at this small community support. As I was looking around at other people’s mask in the store, I actually thought to myself, “Wow. That one’s awesome,” when really it was just neon pink. Fashionable? I think so. Think of the positives: our face masks are way better than any old Spanish Flu face mask. 

I can’t wait for my masks to come in, especially because, for the first time in five weeks, I felt the need to leave the house. I went to the store with my mom because food. Literally everyone was wearing a mask except for what I feel was five people. Did anyone else feel like they were dropped in the middle of a science fiction novel? The part where you are in an extraterrestrial film and know something’s wrong but can’t really see what’s wrong? Because it’s a virus? And you can’t see a virus? Truly, I felt like a pariah for not owning a mask. (Don’t worry! I promise they are in the mail.) It’s incredible how fast our society transformed to adapt for the better. I’m proud of us. 

I have seen a lot of face masks in the past few weeks, but I want to see the kind of face masks the Iowa State community has in store. If any of you would love to share your face mask techniques, colors or designs, go ahead and send to [email protected]! Me along with the newsroom would love to see them! Just remember: we can do this and are getting through this. Keep trudging through.