Thursday, March 3, 2011

March 2 (even though it's March 3)

I wrote this yesterday, but I didn't have access to my blog. Here it is, even though it's posting on 3/3:
On the way to class today I saw a girl with the most unusual hair style I’ve seen in a while, especially in our hallways. I don’t know if I have the words to describe it adequately. On the left side of her head, the hair looked like what I might normally see: dark brown, straight, cut at an angle so that it was chin length in the front and longer—to her shoulders below her ears. But on the left side, the hair was straight up, like a stiff wave. Like the wind had blown it up and by some magical power, it stayed that way. In places the stand-up hair was 8 inches high! The issue for me isn’t the hair; it’s what I’m supposed to do in response to it. Should I stare? Should I look past her as though nothing is unusual? Should I gasp? Does she wear her hair in such an attention-getting way so that I will pay attention? say something? look shocked? Did my (what I considered) sophisticated response (acting like nothing could shock me) ignore her need for attention? Or was it an accident that she hoped would look better and then was glad no one reacted? Did she do it as some sort of social research project: do something weird and see what people do in response? Did I ruin her study? What IS the appropriate response in these situations?

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