Okay, I started laughing almost immediately when I heard this one. With the knowledge of our mutual background, I will simply utter, with extreme irritation, the phrase, "Happy Cobbers."
Oh yes.... That was my first true individual experience with this public face (my mask) you speak of, and it drove me Up. The. Wall. I don't know if this graffiti was showing up during your time there, but the chalked word "Conformia" was appearing on mailboxes and sidewalks and even on the Bell Tower for a few months before stopping as suddenly and mysteriously as it began.
I wear masks in public. I readily admit this. I got so sick and tired of not being seen for ME and instead being seen as a "disability in front and me behind" character that I decided it would be more efficient to simply hide as much of the rest as I could so my interactions could be more productive and shorter overall. Much the same reason that for a long time, I wore maxi skirts over my knee braces at work. It wasn't because I cared how they looked - medical tech necessary is simply what it is - but more that if I had a new client come in, they almost always fixated on the braces and wanted to know what happened, tell stories, sympathize, etc. Which I suppose was standard human SOP but the braces didn't bother me, and in fact were very helpful. I just wanted to not waste their time and my own, and get down to doing the intake. So I threw a skirt over top and there ya go - not visible = no comment.
Thus my "work face" and my "out in public mask" and the ever-present "I look just fine when inside I am fighting chronic pain and a host of other issues you've likely never even heard of and I'm too utterly fatigued to explain even if you were to ask me about them" mask.
You may recall me saying some time ago that I don't cuss. At least, not out loud and if it's vocalized, it's either a very mild one (relatively speaking) or in a foreign language. I also tend to be put off by being around people who do cuss. Not you though. When you speak, I feel the sincerity and vulnerability coming through. Your cussing comes from a genuine depth of heart and soul as the cry of a spirit beating its fists upon the restrictions of that condition which we laughably call "polite society." I cry foul to that as well.
Love you to bits, Betsy. In my mind you have become the "Angry Cobber" in the most perfect, respectful, admirable sense of the word. If the Happy Cobbers of the world are the Stepford Wives, you are like Bette Midler's vibrant, no holds barred, tell it like it is character in "Beaches" (or almost any other film role she's had). Or perhaps the character "Carla" from the tv show "Cheers" is more apt.
Either way, you are a breath of fresh air, cussing and all. I did consider that perhaps you might think about altering the title of your sessions to be "A Hit of Salty Hope," owing to the number of self-described "salty" tracks of late, but honestly, you're simply being real and authentic. And that right there inspires hope to me, regardless of the language used (or not used). 🥰
Passing you some Himalayan pink salt, finely ground. Full of the additional minerals necessary for a healthy lifestyle. Goes great on corn, too. 😜
Dang, now I'm wishing that, cold as it is, I could be out on the canoe up in the BWCA and escape what I'm sure will be an...interesting...Election Day here in NC. The sun is rising, there's frost on the ground, the horses across the street have steaming breath, but all I can think of with some wistfulness is a sunrise over a relatively placid lake, steam rising from the surface, with the single solitary cry of a loon echoing across the still landscape. Sigh.
Continue in your salty goodness, my friend. Dance upon that mask. I'll hold your corncob and plate for you while you do. 🌽🤪❤
And thanks, too, for this gift, even if it might not have been exactly received as you might have anticipated. Then again, it's possibly a unique common reference point, so there's that, too. 《Flashes her "Wonder Twins/Green Lantern" superhero secret decoder ring》 😂🤣😂
As always, I see you and the light within you. Be well - and safe today. 🤲🏻❤🤲🏻
EDIT: I should probably note that I personally did not toss on the Happy Cobber mask. However, I did have to throw on the "pleasant professional" mask there quite frequently, which carried much the same saccharine banal energy as the HC mask, in my experience. It's quite possible you actually saw me employing that mask, though it would have only been in passing if actually recognized at all as distinguishedfrom background activity. (We did wear black shirts to blend in, after all.)
Your last year was my first, but from my first day on site, I became part of the sound crew and thus had to interact with all those who needed microphones or recordings or whatever, be they outside guests, students, professors, etc. We recorded and provided amplification for the chapel services, talent shows, lectures, did football games (and other sports, such as my massive "oops" that was televised but turned out for the best during one huge basketball game), the Peace Prize Forums (I got to supervise that one my third year), and I - being one of the only females on the crew and aside from that first year while in training, the ONLY female supervisor - got to handle the up front and in public "talent management " aspect of things.
And after four years of doing that, with local, national, and global guests crossing our various stages, I can say immediately and without reservation that my biggest challenges were ALWAYS the Homecoming Committee members when it came to the HC faces. Didn't help that one year one of those folks was also a particular former HS classmate of mine - same class - who was like that back then as well, which got on my nerves even at that point. Imagine compounding the pleasant professional mask you are wearing while working with the HC mask of the talent staring at you and informing you to cheer up or think positive or simply using that chirpy voice (you know the one) to tell you how to do your job. (Or don't, and save yourself the torment.)
*As I would slow blink, breathe deeply, count to ten inwardly, and plaster on a smile...."We'll see what we can do." Then run across the room to address some purely fictional but utterly time-critical technical issues just to remove myself from the immediate vicinity. * 😂
Good life lessons though. Very helpful as I continued on in my life journey, and helpful to this day. A number of folks from the crew are friends on FB and periodically we will issue a random "HC" alert which is used not specifically to reference Cobberland, but more the vibe or to express frustration and the "HC" is used as explanation for the cause. Inevitably those not "in the know" who see the post will ask what it means and those who do will immediately sympathize in one form or another. The first time I tried to explain, the second word caused more questioning (often with confusion, laughter, and disbelief - "corn?") than the situation that was causing the irritation, which further compounded said frustrating situation. So I stopped explaining and started to leave it at "If you get it, you understand. If you don't get it, I can't explain it to you well enough that you will."
It was through one of those interactions that I learned that my favorite philo prof passed from COVID. One of my last memories (and favorites, now) of him was when he sat next to me on the flight back from a May Sem and knowing that I had graduated before we left but was waiting on his grade to determine which honors would be added to the diploma, he kept grinning at me and would sing, "I know what your grade is, I know what your grade is," until I punched him lightly on the arm and told him politely to shut up or just tell me. LOL. He didn’t tell me outright, but his wink and grin told me anyway. He could explain complicated philo concepts like no other I have ever met. RIP Gregg. A genuine, non-HC mask-wearing gentleman if ever there was one. 💔
