Quarantine culture Americans are drinking quarantinis with Cuomosexuals. Your guide to what’s popular during the pandemic.
bread, sewing face masks and putting teddy bears in our windows.
As in the Great Depression, when Americans flocked to lighthearted movies — musicals, screwball comedies, Shirley Temple vehicles — we’re gravitating toward reassuring distractions. We’re eating comfort foods and doing puzzles.
“Facebook groups and Facebook memes and Tiger King and quarantinis and stuff like that are all like a Band-Aid,” said Allison Vasquez-Lovell, 28, of Milwaukee, a moderator of the Sounds Midwestern Facebook page.
“They’re all trying to keep us sane when there’s a global trauma going on.” There’s been an explosion of creativity, much of it online, according to Samuel Taylor, an assistant professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. And we’re gathering in new ways, with
Zoom happy hours and parties.
Here’s your quick guide to quarantine culture.
Cuomosexual: We’re looking for heroes in the time of quarantine, and finding them (depending on our political leanings) in confident leaders such as President Donald Trump, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo has broken through with daily briefings that have homebound audiences looking at him with a whole new kind of appreciation and declaring themselves Cuomosexuals.
Joe Exotic: We’re guessing that “Tiger King,” the Netflix documentary about Oklahoma private-zoo owner Joseph MaldonadoPassage would have been a hit regardless of whether we were sequestered in our homes. But in the present circumstances, Joe, a larger-than-life polygamist with a controversial tigerbreeding business, has become a national obsession, with teenagers lipsyncing his so-bad-they’regood pop songs on TikTok, where the hashtag #tigerking alone has racked up 4.3 billion views.
Carole Baskin: With her signature social media greeting, “Hey all you cool cats and kittens,” animal activist and big cat sanctuary owner Carole Baskin has become a national heroine or a punchline, depending on where you stand on tiger breeding for profit and the odd appeal of her nemesis. Teens on TikTok are re-creating her distinctive look, which includes a garland of flowers and an abundance of animal prints.
Quarantini: Yes, we’re eating, and drinking, and coming up with new drinks, and new excuses to drink them. Depending on your recipe, the quarantini can be just a martini sipped during quarantine, or new twists with ingredients such as grapefruit juice, vanilla vodka or rosemary. A quarantini is best sipped in a Zoom get-together, Zoom being the video conferencing app that’s exploded into the popular consciousness with many of us now working from home and attending Zoom meetings.
Homemade masks: There were doubters at first: “Are you going to crochet them?” they snickered. But with a shortage of protective gear for health care workers, hand-sewn masks have become a valuable resource and a way that everyday people with good sewing skills can make a difference.
The COVID-15: We’ve been coining new phrases, including the COVID-15, a play on the Freshman 15, or the 15 pounds that freshmen are said to gain when they go to college. Also new: or the beard grown during quarantine; it’s often spotted via Zoom meeting.
is criticizing someone you believe is not following coronavirus safety guidelines, and a
is what you call someone when you’re engaging in extreme coronashaming. There are also words from the official public health lexicon that have made it into common speech. Who knew what
or maintaining space between yourself and others, meant in February? Now, we’re going to be explaining it to future generations.
Teddy bears: If you see a teddy bear in a neighbor’s window, it’s no accident. American communities have joined in an international social-media-driven movement to create socialdistancing scavenger hunts for children. Quarantine kid culture also includes sidewalk chalk art, signs and drawings taped to windows, and, for those who have video learning, the chance to meet your teacher’s pet dog, cat or hamster.
Baking: The stay-at-home order has given a surprising number of us the time and inclination to bake breads, cakes, even croissants. “The amount of baking people are doing? People seem so mystified that there’s no eggs or butter or flour in the store, but it’s obviously because everybody has become a major baker in their spare time,” said Montana Miller, an associate professor of the popular culture department at Bowling Green State University.
And it’s not just baking, Miller said. Crafts, knitting and group singing are among the forms of creative culture that are thriving under current conditions.
“People have time to do puzzles now; that’s amazing,” she said. “I wouldn’t be too surprised if we do make it through all of this, and look back on it in future years, if it seems like a little period of time when we gained a lot.”