Saturday, June 30, 2007

Three Beautiful Things 06/30/07: Hell, Pain, Shave



1. Hysterical: My stepson Pat is going to Burning Man. For me it would be five days in hell, but he's wanted to go for several years. Lord. Pat will be a burner.





2. I read Bee Lavender's poignant memoir, Lessons in Taxidermy today. By age thirty, she had suffered enough disease and trauma for a roomful of people and her book chronicles her trials without a trace of self-pity and in eloquent, illuminating prose. It also opens a window to working class life on what I gather is the Kitsap Peninsula. Her trials are engrossing. Her writing is beautiful. What I liked most about the book was that it did not invite me to say, "Bee, you are so courageous." Instead I reflected on the impact so many cuts and intrusions into her body had on her heart and soul and mind. It's complicated.

3. No more beard. What a pleasure. I had shaved off my beard last summer and was asked to grow it back for my role(s) in Othello. I was too self-conscious to shave it during the school year. Inevitably, a freshly shaved beard draws a lot of comments. But now, in the hermitage of summer, I shaved it and look forward to lathering my face again with a shaving brush and feeling the scrape of my razor against my neck and chin and bracing my skin with after-shave. I had also grown tired of how I looked with a beard. But that's another story I'm not sure I'll ever tell.......

3 comments:

Christy Woolum said...

Wow! Within thirty days I have learned about Wii and Burning Man... oh and I browsed at iPods. Is the generation gap getting narrower? Thanks for the reminder of the book again. I am adding it to my evergrowing list.

Anonymous said...

Well, now you'll have to tell. I don't think I've ever seen you without wiskers.

Pinehurst in my Dreams said...

I am not fond of facial hair, unless it is neat and well trimmed. My husband grew a goatee once, and I told him that it made him look like the devil, so he shaved it off. LOL!