Let me preface this by saying that my family has a pretty extensive military background - My grandfather was in the US Navy during WWII (Pacific Theater). Some of my great uncles were in the Army. My dad and his brothers were all in the Navy. My cousin, David, was a US Marine, killed in action in 2004, in Iraq. He was younger than me. Incredible. I remember his funeral ceremony, and the memorial at Camp LeJune were incredibly moving experiences. Have you ever seen a group of Marines cry? It is so, so sad. I did a reading at his memorial service and it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.
History geek that I am, I recently read Studs Terkel's book "The Good War" about WWII, and have been watching the HBO series "Generation Kill" (It was a Christmas present - thanks, Heidi and Jane!) - something about the soldiers' stories, the lost innocence, the sacrifice, the daily life, are all things that we civilians can just never fully comprehend. We watch, we pray, we send letters and care packages, we hope they will come home safely. I think I am about as patriotic as the next person, and I am always deeply moved by military rituals - the presentation of the colors, the playing of taps, all that stuff, speaks to me on such an emotional level.
That is a really long way of saying how much I was looking forward to Black Watch (and I am not just saying that because I work at CST now! Or because it featured a cast of lovely Scottish lads.) - the story of the famed Scottish regiment during the Iraq war. It was performed in the Broadway Armory, which was actually (duh) a military Armory and training facility and is now part of the park district. Gosh, if those walls could talk.
The show chronicles the story of the soldiers in the regiment, with a bit of history about the Black Watch thrown in for good measure. A proud battalion of fighters that participated in storied battles including Culloden, WWI in France and the Middle East, WWII (European and African Theaters), Korea, and were sent to Iraq to support the US Operaton Iraqi Freedom. The unit was deployed to what was known as the "Triangle of Death" between Fallujah and Karbala (the same area where my cousin died in battle). The show included music, a little humor, and a real life look into the Scottish soldiers' experiences in the war.
It wasn't their fight - but they fought. They wondered what the point of it all was -this was not a threat to their country, or even necessarily to that of their ally the US. They faced a new kind of warfare with suicide bombs, IEDs and danger lurking around every corner. They fought for each other, for their mates. Some of them made it home to tell the tale.
I was (can you tell?) deeply moved by the story, even though the sound was super loud (but come on, it was in a gym, for god's sake) and at times the dialogue was hard to understand. Oh and they swore a lot. I heard one guy comment if he had a dollar for every time they said "fuck" and derrivations thereof, he'd be a wealthy man. But I mean, come on. They're IN THE ARMY. In a place called THE TRIANGLE OF DEATH and I think a few "fucks" are warranted. Quite a few. But whatever, should they say "Oh, shucky darn, we're being mortared?" I thank Terry Pratchett's wee free men series for teaching me what "ken" means - because otherwise I would have been sitting there going who's ken? They keep talking about him...
I enjoyed the show. I am planning to see it again. It is raw, it is timely, it is thought-provoking theater.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Gimme a head with... confessions of a part-time (hair) model
Ever wonder what happens at a hair show? Well, so did I, so when Heidi asked me, on Saturday night (while we were enjoying a performance by the saintly saints and scintillating sinners of Goat Song Theatre) if I wanted to join her in being a hair model for our friend Beth at a hair show on Sunday, I said yes. We've helped her out before, serving as models while she practiced up-dos etc, and so I thought it would be kind of fun, and all I would have to do was sit around while someone was playing with my hair. Awesome.
So. Off we went to the Sheraton Hotel downtown (so close to work, I could have wandered over to the office, if I had been so inclined) - we had a small adventure with parking (parking in Chicago is ALWAYS sort of an adventure, yes?) and then were waiting for La Stylista (Beth) to arrive. And we started to... notice things. Things that gave us a bit of... pause. For instance, the name of the show was the Proud Lady Beauty Show. Fun, right? Right? Well, yes. So anyway, short and short of it is, it was a show for African-American women. It included makeup and hair products and other assorted stuff, which is cool, right, but, for one small detail -we are not African-American. We sort of stood out a little bit in the crowd (one of the makeup ladies, bless her for trying, saw Heidi and I approach, gave us a big smile and said "Hello, girls! I've got some beautiful... lip gloss for you to try!")
It made me start to wonder what exactly was going to be done to my head to make it interesting for the target audience of this show. Because my hair? Is very fine, and straight as a republican minister from Kansas.
But then Beth turned up and we learned that we would be given the La Brasiliana treatment on our heads. This product is a deep conditioning sort of thing, with Keratin and Collagen and it provides smoothness, shine and manageability. Which brings me to another issue - this treatment is perfect if you want to achieve all those things - but did I mention my hair is fine? And stick straight? Pretty much all the time? All I have to do usually is brush it and it lays flat by itself. That's all it does. It doesn't curl, it doesn't frizz, it just kind of sits there. So a good candidate for a deep conditioning treatment I was definitely not. But we were what they had to work with, so on with the show - we were instructed to go and wash our hair - in the bathroom sink. We actually got all the way to the bathroom when we were called back - washing stations had been found, so we didn't have to try and wash our hair in the bathroom (thank goodness for small favors).
After the washing, we had to dry our hair "big" to make it look wild and unruly. As Beth started to work on me, she found a reason (and thus a marketing tool) for my treatment - my hair knots up, especially when it is wet, making it really hard to comb through. The treatment is supposed to help with this (we'll see). Anyway, I had to sit for a long time, while she dabbed some stuff onto my head with a little brush, worked it in, dried and then flat ironed with a really really hot tool (something like 450 degrees, I think it was. That sucker was smoking, it was so hot). She did only half of my head at first and then had me walk around like a before and after display, letting people touch the (incredibly soft) finished side of my head. And, amusingly enough, people actually did want to touch my hair - the original texture, versus the smooth treated side. And lots of people came over to watch while Beth was working, asking what she was doing. When I was in the chair, I didn't have my glasses on, so I was pretty much blind, so I did my best (blind) Vanna White impression, smiling and holding up the bottle of product so everyone could see what it was. When she was done, with my whole head, I reached up to touch it - and it was smoothy mcsmooth, like a big stick of buttah.
We were at the show pretty much all day, pausing for lunch breaks and to walk around a little, chat with people and hand out brochures and stuff. Everyone was super nice and friendly and it was a lot of fun. I am not allowed to wash my hair (or pull it back - eeek!) until tonight, and so we will see how long the treatment lasts and if it stays all smooth-like-buttah for very long. My particular treatment would have set me back $250 if I'd had it done in the salon and is supposed to last for 2 months. We shall see. I would recommend it for people with bigger hair problems than mine - frizz, or uncontrollable curls or any other kinds of issues.
It was a lot of fun being "the talent" - so if Beth asks again, I'll spend part of my time (hair) modeling, part of my time next to one of the Conchords, and the rest of the time doing my normal job...
So. Off we went to the Sheraton Hotel downtown (so close to work, I could have wandered over to the office, if I had been so inclined) - we had a small adventure with parking (parking in Chicago is ALWAYS sort of an adventure, yes?) and then were waiting for La Stylista (Beth) to arrive. And we started to... notice things. Things that gave us a bit of... pause. For instance, the name of the show was the Proud Lady Beauty Show. Fun, right? Right? Well, yes. So anyway, short and short of it is, it was a show for African-American women. It included makeup and hair products and other assorted stuff, which is cool, right, but, for one small detail -we are not African-American. We sort of stood out a little bit in the crowd (one of the makeup ladies, bless her for trying, saw Heidi and I approach, gave us a big smile and said "Hello, girls! I've got some beautiful... lip gloss for you to try!")
It made me start to wonder what exactly was going to be done to my head to make it interesting for the target audience of this show. Because my hair? Is very fine, and straight as a republican minister from Kansas.
But then Beth turned up and we learned that we would be given the La Brasiliana treatment on our heads. This product is a deep conditioning sort of thing, with Keratin and Collagen and it provides smoothness, shine and manageability. Which brings me to another issue - this treatment is perfect if you want to achieve all those things - but did I mention my hair is fine? And stick straight? Pretty much all the time? All I have to do usually is brush it and it lays flat by itself. That's all it does. It doesn't curl, it doesn't frizz, it just kind of sits there. So a good candidate for a deep conditioning treatment I was definitely not. But we were what they had to work with, so on with the show - we were instructed to go and wash our hair - in the bathroom sink. We actually got all the way to the bathroom when we were called back - washing stations had been found, so we didn't have to try and wash our hair in the bathroom (thank goodness for small favors).
After the washing, we had to dry our hair "big" to make it look wild and unruly. As Beth started to work on me, she found a reason (and thus a marketing tool) for my treatment - my hair knots up, especially when it is wet, making it really hard to comb through. The treatment is supposed to help with this (we'll see). Anyway, I had to sit for a long time, while she dabbed some stuff onto my head with a little brush, worked it in, dried and then flat ironed with a really really hot tool (something like 450 degrees, I think it was. That sucker was smoking, it was so hot). She did only half of my head at first and then had me walk around like a before and after display, letting people touch the (incredibly soft) finished side of my head. And, amusingly enough, people actually did want to touch my hair - the original texture, versus the smooth treated side. And lots of people came over to watch while Beth was working, asking what she was doing. When I was in the chair, I didn't have my glasses on, so I was pretty much blind, so I did my best (blind) Vanna White impression, smiling and holding up the bottle of product so everyone could see what it was. When she was done, with my whole head, I reached up to touch it - and it was smoothy mcsmooth, like a big stick of buttah.
We were at the show pretty much all day, pausing for lunch breaks and to walk around a little, chat with people and hand out brochures and stuff. Everyone was super nice and friendly and it was a lot of fun. I am not allowed to wash my hair (or pull it back - eeek!) until tonight, and so we will see how long the treatment lasts and if it stays all smooth-like-buttah for very long. My particular treatment would have set me back $250 if I'd had it done in the salon and is supposed to last for 2 months. We shall see. I would recommend it for people with bigger hair problems than mine - frizz, or uncontrollable curls or any other kinds of issues.
It was a lot of fun being "the talent" - so if Beth asks again, I'll spend part of my time (hair) modeling, part of my time next to one of the Conchords, and the rest of the time doing my normal job...
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