I've just arrived back in DC after be snow-exiled in NYC for the weekend. We left Friday 11am, just as the snow was falling, and all of the transportation options to get back into the city (included our first bus, and our rebooked bus) were canceled on Sunday. So, work had to be missed, and our trip to NY had to be extended. Spare a tear, really.
All of which is to say...no crazy photos of Rebecca and I in the snow in DC. Oddly enough, New York got maybe 2 inches of snow on Saturday during the DC snow deluge. It was definitely cold up there though. To satisfy your curiosity, I'm re-posting photos taken by my good friends John and Carrie and their Capitol Hill snow experience.
Also, it one of those I-don't-believe-it stories, our roommates skied from our house, through the streets, down to the memorials, and back. Happily, they made a video about. Enjoy!
Monday, February 08, 2010
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Mustache Club
What do you think to yourself when you see a young, energetic man, reasonably well dressed, carrying himself respectfully, and going about his business in a dignified manner? You think nothing, right? But wait: Everything seems entirely normal about this city-dwelling fellow, except: he is mustachioed. You probably thought of something derogatory, didn't you?!
This is a question I have been asking myself a lot recently. In the movies, the characters with facial hair are the bad ones. Well, really only goatees and mustaches; Call it the Chuck Norris phenomenon or whatever, but bearded guys are usually on okay in movies. In fact the bearded young gentleman seems to be an increasingly common occurrence in my daily travels. The message is clear, the word is out: it's okay to be bearded. Even in the class of undergraduates I teach, there are a few bearded kids. That's really new, I can't remember a single classmate, bar the odd rebellious one, who had a beard when I did my undergrad (ten long years ago). Yet now, while perhaps not commonplace, the beard certainly does not draw the looks askance that the brother mustache does.
Yet, why? Why this mustache hatred? In many other parts of the world, thinking specifically of South Asian, the middle east and latin America, the mustache is a desired facial amenity. In fact, if you lined up all the men in the world side by side, I suspect somewhere near 20% might have mustaches. For some myseterious reason though, those men wouldn't be in America. We've all heard the quips about cops and hicks wearing mustaches. Back in the 70s, though, mustaches were cool for non-cops too! What the heck happened? Did mustaches get associated with afros and bellbottoms and suffer their same fate? Do you have to be a truck driver or 'uncivilized' type to sport a mustache? I see many older gentlemen sporting the stache. But their is a mustache-sized hole in the membership of that club: men under 40.
The mustache has so much going for it. It is more hygenic than the beard. It is easier to care for. It doesn't trap nearly as much food or other random treasures. If anything, the mustache is like an aristocratic beard: the same thing only better. It can be waxed, shaped, curled and styled. It can be brushed, dyed, or scented. In short, it is a versatile tool for the adornment of any man's face.
Like all good things, I expect the mustache to make a comeback. As alluded to earlier, the beard is now showing up in strange places, and where the beard goes, the mustache follows. And I'm not talking about purpose-driven, isolated events like movember or halloween parties. I'm talking about walking around, sporting a stache, and not getting funny looks: I'm talking about social acceptance. We're not there yet. But we will be. And I, my friends, I will be waiting.
This is a question I have been asking myself a lot recently. In the movies, the characters with facial hair are the bad ones. Well, really only goatees and mustaches; Call it the Chuck Norris phenomenon or whatever, but bearded guys are usually on okay in movies. In fact the bearded young gentleman seems to be an increasingly common occurrence in my daily travels. The message is clear, the word is out: it's okay to be bearded. Even in the class of undergraduates I teach, there are a few bearded kids. That's really new, I can't remember a single classmate, bar the odd rebellious one, who had a beard when I did my undergrad (ten long years ago). Yet now, while perhaps not commonplace, the beard certainly does not draw the looks askance that the brother mustache does.
Yet, why? Why this mustache hatred? In many other parts of the world, thinking specifically of South Asian, the middle east and latin America, the mustache is a desired facial amenity. In fact, if you lined up all the men in the world side by side, I suspect somewhere near 20% might have mustaches. For some myseterious reason though, those men wouldn't be in America. We've all heard the quips about cops and hicks wearing mustaches. Back in the 70s, though, mustaches were cool for non-cops too! What the heck happened? Did mustaches get associated with afros and bellbottoms and suffer their same fate? Do you have to be a truck driver or 'uncivilized' type to sport a mustache? I see many older gentlemen sporting the stache. But their is a mustache-sized hole in the membership of that club: men under 40.
The mustache has so much going for it. It is more hygenic than the beard. It is easier to care for. It doesn't trap nearly as much food or other random treasures. If anything, the mustache is like an aristocratic beard: the same thing only better. It can be waxed, shaped, curled and styled. It can be brushed, dyed, or scented. In short, it is a versatile tool for the adornment of any man's face.
Like all good things, I expect the mustache to make a comeback. As alluded to earlier, the beard is now showing up in strange places, and where the beard goes, the mustache follows. And I'm not talking about purpose-driven, isolated events like movember or halloween parties. I'm talking about walking around, sporting a stache, and not getting funny looks: I'm talking about social acceptance. We're not there yet. But we will be. And I, my friends, I will be waiting.
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