That Place You Love: Real People. Real Stories.
Round-Up on Praise; Next-Up Image. Eight Themes left in the Year... Let's do this!
I’m from a Beauty Business family…
My grandparents ran a salon during the 1950s up through the early 1970s when they retired to Miami Beach. As you do.
My great-grandfather had a beauty emporium and a salon. That’s how my grandfather got into the business.
My grandmother started working as a teenager and was a buyer at a department store before she married my grandfather.
They went into business together.
He did hair. She did nails and ran the books.
The two of them - first generation Americans eager to lose their cultural & religious backgrounds - were a duo of nouveau Image.
Hair coifed. Nails buffed or polished. Clothes pressed & matching.
It was understood by my mother and aunt that when they were out, they represented the family’s beauty business.
I imagine the pressure they felt to perform when my mom was a bohemian artist & my aunt was an athlete.
By the time I came along, the beauty grip had loosened slightly, but I was raised to be aware of the power of presentation, of image.
My maternal grandmother used to say people can tell a lot about a person my their nails.
My paternal grandmother - my Mom Mom - was not a fashionista at all, but she used to say people can tell a lot about a person by their penmanship.
As I look at my hands right now, typing, I feel like I should maybe file my nails!
Round Up on Praise. New Theme: Image - below!
If you’ve missed a week or you’re starting to feel like you might have a story to contribute, click on a THEME LINK to write 150 - 200 words on:
I always include new posts with unique links in the Round-Up.
6 Contributors weighed in on Praise:
I wrote about mastering the algorithms of digital praise and the time my friend & I were handed a scarlet letter from the rumor mill for making the grade.
Debbie K knows that giving praise for a job well done can be enough to make someone feel valued but also admits that praising one’s self isn’t as simple.
Carole D tracks the progress of a pup’s ability to be trained in good behavior, acknowledging the owner’s role is both in giving & getting praise.
Carol M celebrates the emancipation from praise, that the outside measures of ones worth are fleeting & the mooring of our self-esteem anchor is within.
Julia puts praise through its paces, knowing it comes with a touch of insincerity & a wink even if earned and prefers a smothering heap of praise to know its real!
Intact Animal praises TPYL Contributors & Readers, crediting the forum for awakening the dormant writer waiting to be called upon since high school.
Zig sparks a great debate between earned praise & insult by default, when the projection of cultural DNA & history is a form of racism & microaggression.
READ & HEART this week’s writers & SHARE your own story in the comments.
If you’re reading this for the first time…
And want to know more about the ZINE’s mission, go to ABOUT or FORUM on the Substack platform or read the introductory post I WAS AN EASY LIAR.
Next Up: IMAGE
I came up with the theme this morning after a WhatsApp chat with a group of friends. Those of us on CET were celebrating the record release of our friend, Shirlé, who is also a TPYL Contributor.
Shirlé & her husband, David, presented the new album live by first playing the song acoustic, then discussing the recording process of that track, and then playing the track for the audience.
It was a behind-the-scenes of the creative process, which is often skipped.
We usually confront the finished product, the IMAGE.
It could be a piece of writing, a song, artwork, construction… heck, we see the outcome of all the hard work in the sciences & sports, too.
Where does IMAGE take you?
Read & Share on Monday in 150 - 200 words!
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More to come on Monday….
Have a great weekend.
Sincerely, for real.
Michelle