Green Shirt Green Bikini
i’m not gonna try to be modest here. i looked good. not in that trying too hard way, or overly sexual. Casual, well-put together, ready to enjoy an outdoor interior design market at Socrates Park (second weekend in a row). My sister and her friend were supposed to meet up with me and i was on the phone getting an update on the situation and again, not gonna lie, using my outdoor voice, this being outdoor and all. So i approach the bus station and stop right outside the booth, where some man proceeds to check me up and down, sneer in disapproval, and turn around to look away from me. my neighborhood is an odd mix of cultures that ranges from new-comer young family types and religious muslims who walk around with their women shrouded head to toe give or take some fabric so i let this go but he turns around to look at me again, and repeats the whole check up disapproval gesture. “Do you have a problem”, i say in an outdoor voice intended to be heard at a substantial distance. Silence. “because if there is, maybe we can talk about it”. He is motionless. “Hey, Green Shirt, I’m talking to you“. No response. “Good. Just making sure everything is ok”, i concluded.
The thing is that when someone innocent is being targeted for something they didn’t do they usually try to communicate to the offender that there is a mistake. When one does not instinctively do this, it means they identify personally with the statement. In other words, he was called out on behavior that is unacceptable. This is not the sentiment that i find appropriate in a healthy community. In the worst case scenario, he was a middle aged man of modest means and semi-kept appearance passing judgement over me because i am a woman behaving inappropriately somehow. In this case, looking good, feeling good showing it, and speaking confidently on the phone in public. The best case scenario is that he wasn’t even aware he was doing it. To which I have to say, watch that hateful behavior toward women. If you’re unhappy somehow about your life I am pretty sure it’s not because of a woman but because of poor choices that you made likely not even your own. So aim those looks where they belong. Your poor choices. And then after you zapped yourself for those, begin making good ones. Get an education. By this I mean, learn the truth of the world we live in. All the different sides you can find. Aim to make things better than they are. Starting with the small things. Yourself. Your appearance. Your confidence. Saying/doing something nice toward another each day. Setting a goal to attain each week, each month, each year.
Yet, i don’t mean to pick on a man who didn’t know better. there are women requiring education too. And here i am speaking about woman to woman education. when better to do this than while getting a bikini wax. by ‘this’ i mean asking personal questions. “you have a husband?”, she asks while dusting some talcum powder over me. “No.”
“No? that’s nice. no children?” “No.” She begins applying wax. it’s just the right temperature. not too hot.
“You work in the city?” “Yes.”
“You live in the area?” “Yes.”
“Astoria is very expensive”, she exclaimed with extra emphasis and dragging out the word ‘expensive’. “That’s true, when you don’t have children you have more money for everything else”, i say. She takes a few moments to process this and i enjoy a rip in silence.
“no boyfriend?” she simply cannot register this. i smile “i am absolutely free”.
ERIC BONNIN CERAMICS handmade in new york city
Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Privyet!
No Responses Yet to “Green Shirt Green Bikini”