April 9, 2020: White Gloves -

In the very earliest days of this pandemic, back when the virus appeared in Wuhan, back before the world changed, my pal was readying herself to go to Paris for a six-month stint. She had prepared in many ways (found some graduate students to live in their US home and care for their aged dog while they were away, etc.), and had bought some white cotton gloves, which she intended to wear out and about, or on the Metro, as an alternative to latex. She is a far-sighted person, and she said that having gloves on helped her remember not to touch her face, and what with this new virus in the world and all…. She had bought twelve pairs, for a grand total of $14.99.

Who can’t use a dozen pairs of white cotton gloves? I confess, I got pretty excited. Years ago, in my dance teaching/choreographing days, I had done a whole number with black light and dancers all in black, except white gloves. Actually, we spray-painted the backs of the gloves black, too, so that only the palms showed up in the black light.  Then if the dancers made fists, it was like fireflies blinking out. Trust, me it was a terrific number. I don’t know what the show was, though part of me wants it to be Wizard of Oz.  

Later, for a different show, I needed a bunch of white gloves for a number with top hats and canes. Probably one of the five times I did Anything Goes.  (By the time I did my last Anything Goes, I was thinking of performing it as a one-woman show. I could have - I knew all the lines.) But then one time, I needed gloves for something – it might have been Brush Up Your Shakespeare, from Kiss Me Kate (a show I don’t like but a number I absolutely love), and I couldn’t find them anywhere, not even Goodwill.

Even though I don’t foresee any more big dance numbers in my future, I was delighted to know the gloves were available (no doubt, always had been, if you knew where to look). I ordered myself a dozen. I wasn’t sure they would keep me from touching my face, and I didn’t know what was coming in terms of virus protection protocols, but I thought they might come in handy for art projects.

They did come in handy (no pun intended), but exactly as my friend had imagined. I wear them when I go out. Then I come home and throw them in the wash. I have opened only about five pairs, and they are in rotation. The only flaw is that they are cotton, and after the first wash, they shrink up a bit. But not too much. Someone admired them from across the street the other day, said Oh! Minnie Mouse gloves!

Of the thousands of things to feel bad about these days, I had been feeling bad about having a box of latex gloves. Today I’m giving those to a classmate who works at the largest nursing home in Oregon. She was happy to hear they were available. They aren’t surgical grade – they are just normal old latex gloves – but her particular crew isn’t doing surgery. They are in the kitchen. Also, so far, no COVID cases there. Hooray for that!