image by Markus Spiske (Pexels)
Unexpectedly Polluted
A Short Ethnographic Reflection on Life during COVID-19
by Mikail Albritton (Emory University, C’22)
Introduction:
During the early days of COVID-19, I wrote a short autoethnographic piece about my trip to the grocery store in the style of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. My aim was to capture those first shocks of emotional and technical navigation, as well as what was emerging as a new form of public surveillance. I wrote this for ANT/THEA 377W “Fieldwork into Performance,” taught by Prof. Debra Vidali in Spring 2020.
With red eyes and a tired body, I stumble into a black iridescent car, waiting idly in the brisk late overcast morning. I do my normal routine checking all the normal car functions with a visible contempt for the processes at play. I don’t want to be here, however as I look up and see the tyrant looking overhead, I know that the decision was never in my hands. I pump gas into the engine and begin my short journey towards a brick and mortar store that encapsulates almost everything I despise at this very moment. I wonder why the necessities couldn’t just be delivered to us through an online platform. I finally arrive and get out to the car, careful not to hit the car that just pulled in two feet too close. Smh people. I grabbed a buggy and began to shop around for the list of items assigned to me, upset that my freshly minted cash was outflowing instead of some else’s, as I go down the never-ending list of assigned groceries. Then I begin to feel a sudden feeling of uneasiness, and my body begins reacting to any external stimulus that graces my skin. I’m unaware why I feel this way, and then cough, a sudden expulsion that appears out of nowhere. I realized it was my allergies building up, a usual minor inconvenience to my day. However, I turn around and everyone is staring at me with horrified expressions painted on their faces. Then a sound pierces through, “YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW!!!” a phrase I usually am not accosted with. The manager then hurries me along my shopping experience trying to get me out as quickly as possible. I check out my items and leave, happy to finally go home and take a nap.
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Unexpectedly Polluted
A Short Ethnographic Reflection on Life during COVID-19
by Mikail Albritton (Emory University, C’22)