Oh no. A chin hair. The quest for an explanation.

The other day while looking in my rear-view window, I noticed a terrifying sight. It was not a fast approaching tornado ready to swallow up my car, nor was it Jason Voorhees from Halloween ready to slash me. It was a chin hair. Even worse, it was long and it was white. Horrible images flashed through my mind. First, I thought of crazy mediterranean gypsy women, the likes of whom might sacrifice a chicken for good luck. Next I thought of The Stygian Witches from the original Clash of the Titans movie who had scared me to death when I saw it for the first time in 1981. I had been seeing a stray grey hair or two pop up on my head for a few years already, but this was a different story. I then realized that the real scare of the discovery was that I was reaching middle age. There are lots of things a person can do to fight social or legal injustice, but what about aging injustice? I take care of myself. I eat my fruits and veggies. I'm fit. I've even cleansed with the lemonade drink. Why the *#@! was this happening? Although I'm half Italian, in other words, "mediterranean", I've never had issues with dark or unwanted hair growth. I never really had to do any facial waxing, and thought of waxing in general as a barbaric ritual. I really had to wrap my mind around this one, and come to a place of acceptance. I had my twentieth high school reunion not long ago, and I get that I'm not twenty-something anymore, and frankly I'm much wiser and happier being in my thirties. But still, I felt I needed to do some research to see why more facial hair sprouts as we age. Apparently, this is usually part of normal skin changes associated with aging, and certainly can be a hereditary trait. Hmmmm, Nana is Sicilian..... On a more serious note, having lots of excess hair growth can be a sign of hormonal imbalance called hirsutism. It can also be a sign of menopause. If you have irregular periods, hair growth can be one side effect, as androgens, (male type hormones) increase. One hair or two doesn't mean that you're necessarily having a medical issue, but it does make you wonder why does Mother Nature have such a messed up sense of humor. So when I got home that day, I prioritized to get the tweezer and pluck that thing to kingdom come. By the way, it is a wives tale that plucking hairs will make them grow back coarser. So, afterwards, I was hit with a strange touch of guilt. It was the same feeling that had come over me after plucking a few greys from my hair in the past. Was I committing an offense to my rightful hard earned maturity by banishing the grey from my head? Perhaps. But I decided that the chin hair fell into another more dastardly category, and I'd not obsess about the aging process, but simply resign myself to the idea of having to pluck a hair or two from the chin location every now and then. Big deal. I'm trying to keep my eye on the bigger picture these days, reinventing my career, volunteering at my local theatre renovation, and have nearly finished my first novel. I decided I have no time to sweat the small stuff, or an occasional chin hair. The pen is mightier than the sword, but I'll carry a tweezer anyway.

Letter written to the Democratic Party- submitted to Wash. Post and NY Times

* originally posted Feb. 2010

Written by Danielle Boiardi

Enough is Enough.

What's going on in this country is a disgrace. I fought hard in my twenties to educate myself, and was able to pay for college by working three jobs. Since ending a twelve year career in fine arts restoration, I am thirty-eight years old, and currently have no health insurance. I paid for it myself as a freelance artisan in New York City, but I had to leave my line of work after developing a repetitive use injury in my right hand. Even while I was at the top of my field, I still had to pay a disproportionate amount of money to be insured. Even then, my coverage was pathetic, waiting a month at one time to get ""insurance company approval"" for an MRI of my knee, while being in so much pain that I couldn't walk up and down stairs. I found myself spending hours on the phone actually begging the service reps to put the approval through. I deserved better. All people do. Our government needs to take control of this inhumane, out of control industry and reform health care so we all have it, and don't have to cry and beg for it, or go without it as I am now. I am in between careers and instead of feeling that I can use my savings that I fought tooth and nail to put together, to re-educate myself, I am scared to death that I could lose everything I have. I need basic diagnostic work that I am not getting because I have to make the choice between having money to live, while I develop a new line of work, and seeing a hand specialist. Even the hardest working people in this country have no one to turn to anymore. I'd love to see some of that bailout money put in a re-education bank account for myself, and others who are in my shoes, but its currently lining the pockets of the wealthiest people in America, by way of tax cuts they don't need, and bonuses they don't deserve. If I wanted to live in a mafia state, I could move to Mexico or head to southern Italy. Even my ninety-eight year old grandmother isn't safe. The State of New York just cut her drug care because they said she made too much money. She worked as a seamstress until she was seventy-two years old which is WHY she makes a decent pension, and now she's being penalized for working those extra years of labor. She needs to have an aid in her home to help her, but she can't afford it, and the state could care less. She deserves better. The Medicaid office just informed me that New York State feels that everyone can live on $676.00 a month. WHAT????? I stood on line in the freezing cold for hours to watch President Obama walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, and was proud that my vote, and my grassroots involvement helped put him in office. But he can't make the changes that this country needs all by himself. Organize Democrats. Stop being so blind and selfish republicans. Yes you deserve the lower case r. Present a united, unstoppable front for health care reform and stimulus money for people in the ""ever sinking middle"" like myself. We have officially become the ‘tired, huddled masses’."