TBD

TBD on Ning

This is my serious side (seriously).

I'm always curious about gender issues. I believe many issues are 'people' issues but media bombards us until some issues, rightly or wrongly, become associated with a specific gender. As I've aged I have noticed that I seem to have become more anonymous in public. Frequently I've heard that many 'older' women become invisible in our society. My 69th birthday is coming up and I've had a ponytail for 50 years, with the exception of a brief stint in the army, where it turned out ponytails were frowned upon. Anyhow, my ponytail no longer seemed to offend people, so I had it cut off. I then proceeded to go about my daily routine. Exactly 4 younger people who I know, out of over 25 people, noticed that the ponytail was gone the first time they saw me...which to me was an indication that that they never really looked at me. One of my sons 'saw' me 3 times before noticing the ponytail was gone.  

Now I'm not claiming that my little experiment has any scientific validity...or that age was positively the determining factor in my invisibility...but I kind of feel like I'm fading away. 

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I question the validity of the age factor as it applies to invisibility. While I am much younger then you, and have never had a ponytail, I have found that as I progress toward a more advanced age, I seem to be getting more visible. More carts, large slow women, and children seem to recognize me and block my passage wherever I go. I find lines are getting longer and strange people run into me on the street....No ponytail but I have had a beard for a couple of years. Wait, my analysis is totally wrong! You are right! Since growing the beard I have become invisible! They are not blocking or accosting me on purpose! The beard has made made me invisible.....Uno, you are definitely on to something here. But it seems it is not the age...it is in the hair! More deep thought required here.

Another conundrum...how can I be expected to be capable of deep thought at my age? 

A good question. I have always thought the lack of hair on my head allowed the memory cells to leak out...thus the growing of the beard was partially to cover skin area and prevent leaks. Perhaps cutting off the ponytail has created a leak causing a leakage in your thought processes? 

You fellas are thinking too hard....I think Callie has the answer...This time it really is them and not you. Y'all are off the hook on this one.

I don't have a ponytail or a beard but I am getting older, 67. I do seem to be invisible to lots of people.
What I really can't understand why when I go to Kroger or some other store I rarely see anybody I know. I have lived in this relatively small town for 42 years and taught about 15,000 student in that time. Where have all these strangers come from.

I think it depends on where you live. uno get out of lala land and you will find you aren't fading away.  Oh, and put the pipe down, much too early in the morning for that.

uno is in Los Angeles?

No, he wouldn't be safe there.  That's where the remains of one of his wives is.

That is good! I didn't want to have to move the body again. Being best friends with this guy is tough....always with the bodies......

I always had a good head of hair. Had it grown down my back at one time . Even had a full beard for around 15 years . One day i went home from work . Got out my trusty dog clippers and cut all of it off . Then shaved my head to a shine that glowed . I have lately just let it grow . Probably clean up some by the end of August .

I think we are all so wrapped up in our own mishigoss that sometimes we just don't notice things. 

But, really, I would have noticed. I even notice when the cashiers at ShopRite change their hair or lose weight of look like Kanye West.  Maybe it's because I was a teacher and notices individuals in classes of 28 all the time.

Lesson in this: Uno is NOT his ponytail!

I think women notice those things more. I usually have pretty long hair. Recently, I went in and had about 5 inches cut off. It just lies on my shoulders now. My dil noticed right away; my son didn't notice until I brought it to his attention. My daughter just went red.....hair-wise. RED. It took her husband almost a week to notice. All the ladies at school spotted it when she walked across the parking lot. Age-wise.....I do feel invisible nowadays. I used to attract attention; I had a few things going for me.....I was tall, abundantly endowed, and I had a walk that I am told was attention-getting. Now, my arthritis has taken away my walk, I'm an inch and a half shorter, and my breasts stopped being "perky" a while back. So I am now just another old lady on the street. I am learning to,live with it.

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