Quarantine Lunchbox (2020)

Backyard State U had a covid trainwreck last month. Who could have imagined that behavioral scientists and epidemiologists actually know what they're talking about?

E heeded the poem, but some of his bright-eyed bushy-tailed first-year suite-mates did not. (And who can blame them, really? We know that kids do all sorts of risky stuff when they're away from home for the first time.) A suite-mate tested positive for covid. 

Thus E spent two full weeks in quarantine, as required by BSU's overwhelmed Student Housing, waiting to find out if he had covid too. He tested negative ten days in, so was either barely symptomatic early on or never had it. As soon as E was sprung from confinement, S helped him move out of his quarantine dorm and then out of his regular dorm. E might not be on campus anymore, but hoo boy, he's certainly getting an education this year.

While hunkered down, E received two meals each day, delivered at the same time by Dining Services, providing him with a grand total of 14 memorable hummus-veggie wrap lunches and 14 functional dinners. E, a budding environmental engineer, set to work redeploying the cardstock lunch containers. He prototyped a lot of paper airplanes, but he also made some art. If you want to know what 14 days in quarantine looks like, check out the exhibit below.

E

Quarantine Lunchbox

2020

Cardstock boxes, glue, metal tin

9.5" x 3.75" x 2.25"

Private collection