Interview with the World’s Foremost Beard Expert

I've never "reblogged" something before, as blogger doesn't have a button for it and I feel weird copy/pasting the entire content of a website posting from elsewhere, but I have never wanted to do so more than now. About two years ago I first heard an excellent interview with Dr. Christopher Oldstone-Moore, a historian at Wright State University. He is a pogonologist, or studier of beards (among other things, I presume). The interview is conducted by David Malki ! of Wondermark.com, an excellent website featuring repurposed Victorian illustrations used to make comic strips. Malki ! (the exclamation point is part of his name) is a very vocal beard advocate, so I was not surprised to see/hear him follow his interest into the academic realm.

I think it is safe to say that this interview is fascinating, even if you are not as thoroughly interested in beards as I am. Particularly notable is the discussion of the origins of shaving, and how it came to be the "default" look of men. Then later, the time when beards suddenly burst back on to the fashion scene. Both can be traced to remarkably specific historical events (hint: they are 2179 years apart)!

To quote Dr. Oldstone-Moore:
"The one thing I’m absolutely sure of is that these changes are connected to whatever conceptions we are developing of masculinity. Ultimately, it is always tied to the question of what is it to be a man, and 'how should I be a man?' That’s the existential version of that question, as a man. However that question gets answered is going to have a lot to do with what you do with facial hair. And that’s why I’m interested in studying facial hair, because I think it’s a way of looking at the history of how people think about their masculinity."

The interview is 24 minutes long, and both the mp3 and the entire transcipt (with visual aides!) can be found here:
http://wondermark.com/the-worlds-foremost-beard-expert/

Anyone who cares about me (or history, fashion, or masculinity) at all should listen to or/and read this interview.



The blogger's beard visits Glacier Point at Yosemite National Park

Macksims

Sitting, working, listening to Satie in a coffee shop, I'm pondering one of my favorite quotes:

"When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere."
- François de La Rochefoucauld

Recently I've been interested in François de La Rochefoucauld, a 17th century aristocrat/author. The dude published a whole book called "Maxims" which is quite remarkable. It's just a long collection of pithy sayings, with no narrative and no context other than that which the reader brings. Yet somehow it's really engaging, readable and relevant 350-ish years later. Anyway, I've always thought I'd improve upon quotation over my usual logorrheic way, so maybe I should publish my own books of "Macksims." But I write like I speak, and concision was never my strong suit. Maybe that's why I love punctuation so much: it just lets my thoughts keep on going.

_ . _ .
_ _ . _

The weather is nice and I wish that I owned a bike that wasn't currently being used by some West side thief. (We're coming up on the anniversary of when it was bikenapped out of the old apartment.) I'll get another one eventually, but in the mean time I'm just going to dream about these killer accessories:

Phrenology Bike Helmet. Hand-painted by the artist, all of these bike helmets are amazing. I think it would be well worth $80-$250. I also quite like the wood designs.

Hermes-style reflective pant clips. Are they built on snap-bracelets? There are like 10 cool things about this simple little product.

And as long as I'm dreaming, I wish I had an iPhone so I could put it in this. That's real wood folks! I'd get the bamboo one.

_________________________________________________________

THAT REMINDS ME: I think I'm developing an aesthetic fascination with phrenology (not to be confused with my already established love of Phrenology.) I can add this to my (similar?) fascinations with clipper ships, clocks and old maps. Clearly I am channelling some 19th century explorer, scientist, or general quixotic type.