Elise finally succumbed to exhaustion just as the plane was circling Schiphol Airport. She was flying from New York to Amsterdam to visit an aging uncle. Elise had never left the U.S. before, had ... [+]
Originally published in Creative Nonfiction's Sunday Short Reads series
We have to wear blank black clothes to mask class so our selves don't intrude. People with hair in their face must pin their hair off their face. When you're wearing black and have your face covered, moving in front of people, it's easy for those watching to see your idiosyncrasies. A hunch of the shoulders, a loping walk. A tendency to tense up the little finger and stick it out. We are identifying our idiosyncrasies in order to eliminate them, in order to become essential, that we may then transform.***We do not speak about the centuries of molding that have made what we now consider essenti