12 Things That Got Me Through a Horrible Year March 12, 2021 Dwell’s executive editor Jenny Xie picks her desert island essentials—if the desert island were a global pandemic. A year ago, when a friend tipped me off about the shelter-in-place order that would soon blanket the Bay Area, I was incredulous: Two weeks spent confined to our homes? The idea seemed outlandish—we were having dinner at a popular Burmese restaurant in Oakland, and though there were admittedly more free tables than usual, a presiding sense of normalcy made the prospect seem far-fetched. We’re not a country that does well with government-mandated restrictions, I pointed out.