Beauty has always asked something of us. Sometimes it asks us to stand before a painting or to listen to an orchestra. And sometimes, unexpectedly, …
psychology
The Tattoo Artist with No Tattoos
Imagine meeting a tattoo artist with no tattoos. Would it make you pause? How about a makeup artist who doesn’t wear makeup? A wedding planner …
What Obsession Understands About Desire
Horror films are rarely about monsters. More often, they take ordinary human tendencies and push them to their logical conclusion. The supernatural simply illuminates what …
The Exchange Rate
One of the more surprising discoveries of visiting the Pacific Northwest has been the diminished status of makeup. People there wear makeup. But it seems …
Following Your Heart Is Harder Than It Sounds
“Follow your heart” is among the most common pieces of advice we receive, and perhaps one of the most misleading. The phrase suggests that the …
What Remains When Nothing Properly Ends
Absence of closure rarely gets named directly, perhaps because it is so socially awkward. The pain of things that have not properly ended, and therefore …
Color Analysis and the Question of Who Is Wrong
We tend to speak about color as if it were a simple matter of fact. I don’t look good in pink. It sounds scientific, like …
The Moment You Question Everything You Started
Five years in business. Fifty years old. Ten years married. And suddenly, everything feels up for review. And so you begin to look back. In …
What Remains When Everything Is Replaced
The Ship of Theseus puzzle gives this question form. A ship is repaired plank by plank until nothing original remains. Is it still the same …
Say It So I Can See You
Clarity, we tend to assume, is a technical virtue—something belonging to instruction manuals, contracts, or perhaps the more dutiful corners of communication. It does not, …