Be Who You Are.

 Welp. How y'all doin? I realize that's probably a silly question, given the state of the world and all. It's not like many of us are out whooping it up and raising Cain. Mister and I had the COVID a few weeks ago, after escaping it for over two years, but we're good now. Nobody went to the hospital and nobody died, so I'm taking that as a win. Yes, we have *all* the vaccinations.

Anyhow, one thing we started doing during the Pandammit was just watching random YouTube videos, mostly about cooking, music, gardening, and dogs, and maybe whatever else looked interesting. The other night, he happened upon a pre-pandoomic video from Ireland's Got Talent, so we watched it just for giggles. (Honestly, I hate those shows, but that's another topic for another day.)

The singer was an Irish Traveller, and she said she mostly sang traditional Irish songs, but for some inexplicable reason, she sang the standard "Stand By Me" instead. It was okay. Her voice was good enough but the song didn't fit her somehow, like it was a too-small pair of shoes or the wrong shade of lipstick. It was uncomfortable to watch. Mister and I both agreed the song didn't suit her voice.

When she finished, one of the judges asked why she hadn't chosen an Irish song if that's what she was used to singing. "Well, I was going to, but . . ." 

"What would you have sung?" he asked her.

"Probably something by Finbar Furey, but . . ."

"Which Finbar Furey song would you have chosen?"

"Probably Sweet Sixteen," she said.

"Well, sing it for us," the judge said.

She hesitated for a moment, and began the song. Y'ALL. It was the difference between night and day. Her voice rang out clear and strong and steady. She had a confidence she didn't have with the first song. It was, to use an old expression, like buttah.

Now, I tell you all that to tell you this, which is: be the person who suits you. I know most of us over a certain age were taught to do this, do that, do whatever it takes to fit into someone else's box. I'm about to turn 55 and I'm still undoing that mess. But in just five minutes, this singer illustrated it so perfectly. She doubted her true voice instead of leading with it, and the judge was perceptive enough to realize that.

Never doubt your true voice. Be who you are, and support others to do the same. 

Lands. We do live in "interesting times" these days, don't we? Plagues, wars, political divisiveness . . . But all that aside, what I really want to talk about is Sophia Loren's armpits.

I belong to several vintage groups on the FacePunch. People post photos & articles about vintage style, cars, food, whatever. Usually it's really cool to see what everyone shares, but there's one thing that's absolutely guaranteed to get people upset 100% of the time, and that is . . . Sophia Loren with armpit hair.

Back in the mid-20th century, European women shaving armpits regularly wasn't a thing yet. And really, in the grand scheme of time, women shaving is a relatively new concept, brought about by razor companies wanting to sell more razors in the early 1900s. Yep. What we accept now as a normal and expected grooming practice was a marketing ploy. (Yay, capitalism.)

Anyhow . . . there are mid-century photos of Sophia Loren, a marvelously beautiful woman, with armpit hair, and anytime one of these photos gets posted on the Interwebs, people inexplicably lose their shit, as if *hair* on a *mammal* is some awful, terrible thing. It's "gross," "nasty," "unattractive" --- you name it --- but nobody can seem to explain why they think it's gross, nasty, or unattractive beyond "women are supposed to shave."

Can y'all just take a moment and ruminate on the ridiculousness of that statement? 

Listen. I prefer to shave, but that's *my* choice and I have no expectation that all other women are going to do as I do. I also don't care. But why do we keep doing this to ourselves? It's the Twenty-First Century, for Pete's sake. Why are we still pressuring women to conform to arbitrary beauty standards? Now, y'all may think that's ironic coming from me, a person who LOVES her makeup, but while I do enjoy cosmetics, I also fully support women who don't want to wear makeup. 

And I support women who don't want to shave. What someone else does with their armpits ain't my bidness.

Until next time --- keep calm and carry on.