LittleVillageMag.com
they can claim some credit. —Jason A.
B R O C K
A B O U T
T O W N
AUDREY BROCK
GENTLE READERS, for the first time in over a year, Brock About Town is living up to her name. Having gotten my “Fauci ouchie” (and
LITTLE VILLAGE ASKED: Iowa students, teachers, administrators, parents: What was your experience on Thursday adapting to a sudden ban on school mask mandates?
muted all my Facebook friends who call it that), I have ventured outside of the nuclear fallout bunker that I’m beginning to worry was a waste of money to find a summer like any other. The ice cream truck is making the rounds; college students who live two blocks away from the police station are flagrantly smoking weed on their front porches; and many of our town’s beloved summer traditions, like the farmers market
My kids were doing great, they have never complained about the masks, not even once.
and blowing things up in the middle of the night, have resumed. I was at said farmers market, buying some of my favorite hypoallergenic foot cream,
They knew why masks were necessary and
when it suddenly occurred to me that people have pretty much stopped wearing masks. Even
went on with life. But as soon as it became
there, in the spiritual home of the crunchy IC mom! A month ago, these women were making
optional, masks were off. And now...”masks
masks out of hemp cloth and spraying everything with tea tree oil before they touched it, and
are the worst!!” If the state just would have
now they were looking at me like I was some kind of rube, showing up to a cocktail party in a
stuck it out... they actually made our job (as
Renaissance Faire costume. I felt slightly betrayed.
parents, teachers, etc) much, much harder. —Jessica P.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m overjoyed that people are getting vaccinated and that it’s allowing them some freedom. It’s just that like most people, I can no longer keep up with the pace at which the world is changing, and I’m now slightly traumatized by all normal social
It was weird. I felt that the timing and the
interaction. I took my mask off at a bar last weekend and I spent the whole night with my
suddenness of it didn’t make sense, especially
arms crossed over my chest, subconsciously fearing I’d had a nip slip. I’d forgotten, though,
if you’re in favor of local control. To wake up
how much fun going out can be. I even sort of enjoyed being held hostage by a sloppy, mid-
and find your protocols and expectations that
dle-aged drunk with a 45-minute monologue about how Yeats is the greatest poet of all time.
had been in place were suddenly null and
So, you know, have your fun, but remember that even if you do have clearance to go out
void for no good reason other than, what,
without your mask, there are dangers other than COVID that surround us. Having a gin-fueled
convenience? —Ben S.
one-night stand with an armchair lit professor, for instance.
LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV295 June 2021 17
