November 23, 1993

A much overdue haircut. Since I was about 4 years old, I had been getting my hair cut at Lou's Barber Shop in my hometown. Lou was an Italian immigrant about my father's age, and the other barbers in his shop were older men, also from Italy, some speaking better English than others. When one of the older guys retired or died, Lou went back to Italy to get another. Even back in the 1980's when I was going to school in Virginia, I always waited until I was back home on break to get a haircut. But while going to school in Illinios my trips home were less frequent, only twice a year, and that was too long to wait between trimmings, so I usually got at least one somewhere between my visits home. This was one such occasion. Not exactly the same experience as an Italian barber shop, but I can't complain about the haircuts. (back in NJ after grad school I still continued to go to Lou's for haircuts, driving up from the Shore area, until he retired and sold off the shop a few years ago)