{"id":6623,"date":"2020-07-18T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=6623"},"modified":"2021-10-24T18:24:11","modified_gmt":"2021-10-24T23:24:11","slug":"above-the-neck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/07\/above-the-neck\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00e9colletage but Above the Neck"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Week before last I was in an office for an appointment. We each observed physical distancing and wore cloth face coverings. We had an animated discussion. As the young professional talked her mask tended to slip down along her nose, caused by her jaw moving no doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In larger enclosed spaces, stores to be clear, I get offended by people being half-assed about their Covid-19 protections. It’s either on or off, buddy, any other way makes you susceptible to any of MY germs but mainly I’m worried, with your attitude, about what YOU might be spewing toward me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s not what I found myself thinking about her, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My shy self so far has never confronted people in stores to mask up. I’m there for peaches not provocation. Get my groceries and get out. A couple of times I’ve just left for another store. The first rule in real martial arts is when facing a confrontation and whether to fight or flee, first choose the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That earns me a black belt in the art of chicken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My second feeling in her office turned out to be empathy. She had a lot to say, forcing her to keep adusting her mask to stay up. Can’t be helped, and she knows the need for all of us to follow health guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually, my inclination was to study her nose and cheeks. Nice skin. Do I remember what her lips look like, her chin, from previous appointments? So I tried to picture her whole face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brought on guilt. These face coverings turn out to cover bodily contours, rendering them interesting if not, ahem, attractive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It brought to mind a great line<\/a> from Seinfeld<\/a><\/em>: “Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun. You don’t stare at it, it’s too risky. You get a sense of it then you look away.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, reflection. In the days since, while My Beloved and I stay home as much as possible, we risk excursions occasionally. I’ve been looking at people with a new focus: What’s under the mask? Would I like to see? Sometimes the answer is, oh yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as I know, and I’ve been worried about this for years, face to face you can’t read my thoughts any better than I can yours. Unless you’re obvious with the drooling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That appointment that brought the revelation that the novel coronavirus 2019 has brought something else to ogle. I know she saw me staring at the top of her patterned cloth mask, but for all she knew I was mentally criticizing her for not using a fully strapped-in, molded Puritan sort of mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CDC<\/a>
From How to Wear Cloth Face Coverings<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Never suspected the separation of nose to cheek is a form of cleavage (PG-13 Wikipedia entry<\/a>). Ogling is a form of harassment. I’ve been guilty<\/a> of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are places where looking at bodies is normal and expected for anybody, both men and women \u2014 watching acting, music shows, beaches and pools. …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw the legitimacy of discrete ogling ages ago. We were in San Diego with my sister-in-law and her late husband, watching a suburban performance of Noel Coward’s Private Lives<\/a><\/em>. One of the stars wore a tailored white silky dress. The production got boring, so I spent some time simply enjoying her dress. Shame on me I guess, but the costume was deliberate, to emphasize her attractiveness. Indeed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until limits are crossed. At a grocery entrance yesterday, a mom, dad and two children walked past me with the woman obviously referring to our governor’s new face-covering mandate<\/a>, muttering to her spouse: “Monday they’ll start making us wear them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I continued through the store I spied two women, separately, with their masks covering only their mouths, their virus-aerosolizing noses fully exposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is too much skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright 2020 Ben S. Pollock Jr.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Week before last I was in an office for an appointment. We each observed physical distancing and wore cloth face coverings. We had an animated discussion. As the young professional talked her mask tended to slip down along her nose, caused by her jaw moving no doubt. In larger enclosed spaces, stores to be clear, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-body-home-street"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/cdc-face-coverings-dos-donts.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4432,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2013\/09\/ich-ben-ein-razorbacker\/","url_meta":{"origin":6623,"position":0},"title":"Ich ‘Ben’ ein Razorbacker","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"September 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A few days ago, a fellow journalist asked me if I planned to grow a goatee for her skit in next month's Northwest Arkansas Gridiron, the annual satirical sketch revue of the local SPJ. 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Pollock","date":"November 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2011 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- What a lovely day for a dedication. This is free-range journalist Noah Vale, preparing a live blog for my client Crystal Britches. We are here for the opening of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, although Ms. Britches prefers calling it the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Chronicles of Crystal Britches"","block_context":{"text":"Chronicles of Crystal Britches","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/chronicles-of-crystal-britches\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cool Wrist Bands at Crystal Bridges dedication 11-11-11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/Wrist-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":431,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/06\/its-them-or-its-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":6623,"position":2},"title":"It’s Them or It’s Them","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"June 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The other day as I was leaving a specialty store (as opposed to \"general merchandise\") a fellow whose wife I used to work with waved hello. What we have in common is her so I asked and learned in brief that she's been award more responsibilities at her job and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Brick Bats Reportage"","block_context":{"text":"Brick Bats Reportage","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/brick-bats-reportage\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":410,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/02\/epistolary-in-your-pocket\/","url_meta":{"origin":6623,"position":3},"title":"Epistolary in Your Pocket","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Book report: The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland Is that epistolary in your pocket, or am I just glad to see a writer pull it off? Yes, I am impressed, not only for a novel comprising journal entries and letters -- and e-mails -- but also a novel within a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mr. Boo Klist"","block_context":{"text":"Mr. Boo Klist","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/mr-boo-klist\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":102,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2005\/11\/the-g-rated-spot\/","url_meta":{"origin":6623,"position":4},"title":"The G (rated) spot","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 11, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2005 Ben S. Pollock Not tonight, dear, this is a G-rated spot Friday, November. 11, 2005. Michael Scherer, Salon.com's Washington correspondent, reported today on a hearing conducted Thursday by the Senate's Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights. A writer named Pamela Paul testified, quoted as having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News, Spin"","block_context":{"text":"News, Spin","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/news-spin\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2507,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2010\/12\/belly-up-with-dickson-street\/","url_meta":{"origin":6623,"position":5},"title":"Belly Up with Dickson Street","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2010 Ben S. Pollock DATELINE MIRTHOLOGY -- I grabbed a take-out coffee from Common Grounds and headed across Fayetteville's Dickson Street to the rose garden of the current Walton Arts Center. I sat on the terraced brick wall, waiting for my client-friend Crystal Britches, and shivered. 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