May 30, 2008

This is my face

By In Photography, Thoughts


So I shaved off my goatee a few days ago, and so far no one has noticed, not even my sister or mother. I know one person who will probably notice when I see her on Saturday. But she probably won’t say anything either because of the recent unpleasantness.

The only reason I mention it, blog, is because in the past, people have always mentioned it when I have shaved my beardlet off. Because of my job, I know a lot of people here. Or more accurately, they know me. I walk through the halls with, “Hey there (finger gun point).” “Lookin good, you (half wave)”. I’ve gotten a lot better, but I’m still pretty bad with names. I even didn’t want to introduce the new guy at the company-sponsored quarterly birthday celebration and political re-education gathering out of a lack of confidence that I would say all 15-20 people’s names without screwing up and inviting harsh retaliation. Anyway, in the past, when I have screwed up shaving and have had to shave everything off, people would comment as I walked down the halls. “OMG, what did you do?! Where’s your goatee?! You look so young! You look like a childlike man!” So I’ve mostly been keeping the facial hair maintained because I didn’t want the attention. But now that I DO want attention for the change, where is it?

People aren’t cooperating.

Written by Jon Hillenbrand

Jon Hillenbrand is a Chicago-based artist working in photography and filmmaking. He has over 15 years of professional award-winning experience working both locally and nationally in television, print and web advertising. He currently calls Evanston, IL home.