Abstract Work

We live in a country that is divided. And while this has always been the case, it seems especially so in 2021. Why? Because before the pandemic there were ways to avoid engaging with the division: simply refrain from talking about politics or race or whatever other issues divide us. But we no longer have that luxury, because now the presence or absence of a face mask declares--accurately or not--where we stand politically, where we stand regarding science, where we stand regarding the value of human life. Even breathing, an act that communicated nothing before the pandemic, except that we were alive, has become a point of division. Even breathing has been weaponized.