The other day on FB, there was one of those silly little quizzes to figure out what your solar eclipse identity is (I guess there’s one coming up). This was the quiz:
Based on this I am the Guardian of Radical Ideas.
I embrace this designation wholeheartedly.
I have never been one to play things safe. As I wrote previously, I was encouraged to settle for being comfortable.
My most recent radical idea was to dye my hair teal and purple. My mother would be rolling over in her urn. She never got over my becoming a redhead (I was born blonde – really).
When I first dyed my hair red in 1998, it didn’t go that well. All the years of “enhancing” my blondeness resulted in the red color being absorbed a little too thoroughly and vibrantly. I went to a party that evening and I’ll never forget a colleague looking at me and saying, “Christine, that’s not a color found in nature.”
Boy, what would Russ Kopitzke think now?
But it’s a funny thing – when I went auburn, it was because I’d taken a “get to know your friends” quiz (another quiz, this one pre-Facebook – it was an email chain). One of the questions was, “What color would you dye your hair if you had the guts?” and I thought, “Auburn,” because every time I’d worn a red wig in a show, I felt more like me in a way that I didn’t as a blonde.
And then I thought, “Hey, I have the guts.”
And I had the guts this summer. Maybe it was because of the pandemic. and being cooped up. But I felt a need to do something different. There’s a term called, “having a wild hair,” which means:
“To have a fervent, usually sudden, desire to do something surprising or unexpected.”
–Wiktionary
And while I loved being a redhead, this hair color also makes me feel authentic, even though it’s a color “not found in nature,” and one some people might find inauthentic. Maybe I’ll go back to being a redhead again someday – or maybe I’ll do something even more – dare I say – radical?
If I’m going to be inauthentic, I’m going to be radically inauthentic. And that may make me feel even more authentic.
What radical ideas do you have? Do they feel authentic? Would they make you feel authentic? As a performer? As a person?
Are you ready to take a chance?
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