That "new normal" was my normal normal. I telecommuted for years until faced with a dean who believed (erroneously) that it didn't work and she didn't trust people to work from home (perhaps she didn't trust herself and that is the reading she was responding to). For her I wasted five years driving an hour a day to sit in front of the university computer instead of my home computer. I retired and took on a web content editing job—that I do from home.

The volunteer work is where it took a hit, though some volunteering can be done online, such as the transcription of old texts in the museum collection. I'm probably going to start going in to rake leaves at the Botanical Garden, something that gives plenty of fresh air and socially distant space.

The thing that these folks working from home will discover is that it's on them to maintain the equipment (unless you're like my ex, working on an encrypted laptop from home and if it needs work he takes it down to the Federal Building.) You can take a deduction for office space if it is a room dedicated to just work. If you use your computer for other stuff, they'll get you in an audit, and if you claim that deduction you're more likely TO be audited. (Assuming the IRS survives the current administration.)

The other thing is that they'll really really miss some of their office co-workers, and it's difficult to get together and a Zoom meeting or Messenger or Facetime just isn't the same. Going out for lunch together, for example, was always the highlight of the day, if not the week. The monthly birthday cake, the holiday potluck meals. Those I miss a lot.

In my spare time I'm making masks, and I'm seeing things turn up on Amazon "Handmade" to do with masks. Now people are selling the equivalent of the chains you put on your glasses so they can hang around your neck to attach to a mask so it can dangle when you're not using it. Shiny beaded chains with lobster claw fasteners on both ends (they need a different kind of clip, I think, so I'll be making a prototype soon). And I'm sure if I looked, other mask accommodations are out there. (To say nothing of the masks for sale, many of them fast and cheap, others well-thought-out and constructed.)

Our new normal says these masks will be around for a while so I have been making fall color and holiday masks for the friends and family who want them. And several have said that even when this is over they will continue to wear masks in public. That's new, and they won't be alone, so it won't be unusual.

There is an exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum to do with "Pandemic Objects." My sewing machines are the object that have come to the fore, as have the machines of hundreds of thousands of others who have stepped up to sew masks and make PPE garments. It's a regular part of my day. I made two custom extra-large masks last night for my daughter's friend who is a big guy with a beard. I've made several masks for guys with beards (and to those I sent out earlier, I have a better design now that I'm using that fits better.) And someone could do an exhibit on the evolution of masks, as we have learned about different designs and materials and finally stopped making bias tape when we discovered t-shirt yarn that is so much more versatile and faster to make. (But I'll never forget how to make bias tape ever again!)

The new normal means every day is isolated, looking for opportunities to talk to people in person, even just conversations in the rare trip to the grocery store or to greet the delivery person who brings groceries.

What I'm looking forward to is the "normal" after January 20, when a grownup takes over the administration and the medical people and scientists can do their jobs again and we can try to pick up the pieces smashed by the angry toddler in office right now.