Donald Koger: A caring dinosaur who bakes sourdough...
Introduction:
Donald Koger is a 36 year-old bisexual American male with Russian and German ancestry. He is a graduate student, and lives in Piscataway, New Jersey. Donald says that the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have been cushioned because he lives with family: his two parents and two cousins. They have worked together as a team to get through the pandemic. Contributing more to the household than before, mostly in the form of purchasing food stuffs and baking sourdough bread, has been the biggest change in Donald's life since the pandemic began. Because his parents are older and he, himself, has some underlying health conditions, Donald takes social distancing seriously and has latched on to the premise that strangers could be dangerous. They might be infected and not even know it. As for his sex life, because of the pandemic, he has halted all dating efforts. Donald jokingly refers to himself as a dinosaur: he prefers monogamy, his relationships develop slowly, and he needs to feel a strong connection with someone before he is comfortable with sexual intimacy. As the pandemic drags on, however, Donald admits to feeling lonely and having pent up romantic energy. As a result, his usage of pornography has increased since the pandemic began, helping to augment his fantasies and release some of his romantic energy. Donald is very selective about the pornography he watches, always mindful to avoid content that may be exploitative. Such mindfulness, however, is not related to the pandemic; he has always cared.
Notable Quotes:
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFETCTED YOUR LIFE GENERALLY?
“So I was doing the college thing and living with my parents when the pandemic hit, which really cushioned the blow in some ways, because we now had... ...there's five of us in the house, and... ...we could do team efforts. We really combined our finances a lot more during the pandemic than we had previously... ...I increased my contribution, in the form of buying more food for the house.”
“My parents are both older, I'm overweight and I have asthma, and I've got some residual health effects from military service, so we're all on the naughty list for high risk of Covid complications. So, we really tried to limit our exposure to the outside world, even early on.”
“Our brains really locked on to the concept of the “other” is dangerous, that strangers are dangerous, you know. That other people might have the virus.”
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“In the pandemic I kinda halted all dating efforts, and increased the usage of, like, I watch more porn, is the short answer [laughs]. And I'm selective with that, because as a, a person who, I also have some anxieties and some fears about people being exploited or people being taken advantage of.”