My chin and neck

I started shaving when I joined the Army at age 17. I'm not sure when the color of the skin on my chin and neck started changing, but it did. I vaguely recall having more of the symptoms of pseudofolliculitis barbae, specifically the bumps, but that hasn't really been a problem in recent memory, even though I shave daily. But the discoloration remains.

I started making inquiries in the Army about this, since healthcare was free. I got creams in Maryland, but they weren't effective. When I got to Korea, the thought process was to stop the hair from growing, so I wouldn't have to shave, which hopefully would allow the skin to heal. I got laser treatment, and the hair stopped growing, but the skin didn't recover.

During my last conversation with the dermatologist, he said that there were devices that could probably help, but he didn't have one in Tampa. He mentioned picosecond lasers, nanosecond (q switch) lasers , and non-ablative resurfacing lasers. These lasers are used for tattoo removal. He figured those would remove my pigmentation too, but he said the last one was probably questionable on the neck.

They had one of these devices in San Antonio, but I didn't pursue trying to have it done through the Army when I learned that it wasn't super expensive. Less than $1000. I found a place in Tampa called Erasable that did the work. I contacted them via email, but never followed through on it. Now that I'm back in Houston, maybe eventually I'll have the procedure. Maybe not.

Storytelling through media

Human beings used to tell stories. We transmitted our history orally. We shared who we were as a people through storytelling.

We still tell stories, but now we tell them differently. They aren't transmitted orally anymore, at least not directly. We use media to tell stories. Books and magazines. Movies and television shows. And for the last two decades or so, we use social media.

One benefit of social media that I hadn't seen until now is the ability to allow ordinary people to tell stories again. The printing press was revolutionary, but it limited who could tell stories. Not everyone can write a book. The bar is even higher when it comes to movies and television. But telling stories via social media is something that almost anyone can do. There's still the question of access. You have to have a device that can connect to the internet and have access to the internet itself. And you have to know how to use those things in order to share your message. But those barriers are much more easily overcome than to have a movie produced.

There's also the question of who will listen, and how you get people to listen. But that's a separate issue.