Basic B*tch

Mask-making mammies

Do you know a mum

who’s at home right now making masks? The answer to this question is the best predictor of your emotional response to the pandemic. I’ve become obsessed with people’s mums making masks and I think it might be the key to surviving

2020 — spiritually and actually.

We saw the first stirrings of this phenomenon way back in March, when the advice was still murky — they cause more harm than good, we heard. It didn’t sound right for a disease spread by coughs and sneezes, but sure there was a PPE shortage, so what could we do?

The first people to quietly call BS were people’s mothers, who began sewing masks for their adult children. It wasn’t loaded with politics or ideology; it was mothering, pure and simple. It was ‘better safe than sorry’; ‘a bit of common sense’ —and soon all kinds of mums started making masks; mums who weren’t into stuff like that; mums who didn’t bake or mend, who started haphazardly turning old clothes and hair elastics into something that could keep people safe. Some of them got requests from other friends and family, and a few even found themselves with their own tiny businesses — their first ever.

Whenever I see another tangential friend-of-a-friend’s mum making masks online,

I’m powerless to resist. These powerful little symbols of love and care are the ultimate mothers’ lessons: mind yourself, and look after each other. The world doesn’t revolve around you.

It’s still not about politics or ideology. I can only wear masks made by people’s mums — they remind you why you’re doing it.