CASE STUDY: Market for hair color in a large rural community

Initial observations:

- Hair color is subject entirely to the will of the owner, barring inter-
ference from social forces. Many such forces impose conditions on the so-
called "shine meets" of Golla, Nebraska. The exchange of colors outside a
meet is governed by a second, rarely-acknowledged system of constraints.
- Calling a shine meet becomes the responsibility of any person who should
acquire excess hair colors. The illicit source of a surplus color is not
referred to explicitly, but the social contagion is cast out by auctioning
off the excess item(s) to start the meet. This is the only case where var-
iable pricing is permitted at the meet.
- Blue hair is considered worthless and will not be worn ordinarily, but as
a temporary medium of exchange during a meet, it is permitted. This creates
an underclass: those who cannot rid themselves of blue hair and must leave
the meet early to avoid police surveillance. In both meet and extra-meet
contexts, the taboo against unilateral color alteration obtains. It is, in
fact, stronger for those who are suspected of planning such a thing due to
the low value of their hair.
- In meets, two of more brunet(te)s may form a single unit for the length
of time needed to arrange a transaction. They are expected to pursue diff-
erent colors from one another, for which reason brunet groups of more than
5 are uncommon outside the largest meets.
- Discussion of the color of internal organs is never undertaken by resi-
dents of Golla.
- An expressive role for green hair has arisen within the youth subculture;
it is not yet clear whether it will over time become unusual for adults to
wear (or traffic in?) 'uninflected' green hair. My younger respondents say
that very similar shades of green can have wildly different eating habits
associated with them. Green is never used to indicate a desire for the sort
of food common to shine cafeterias: cottage cheese, fruit cups and coffee.
My respondents were unwilling to clarify whether corresponding shades of
green exist but are taboo, or whether such a thing is merely impossible.
- Outside of meets, two philosophies contend for prominence. Those embroil-
ed perpetually in the black market profess a communal ethic, citing their
lasting estrangement from ordinary shine society as a necessity in order to
establish options for large groups of those who will not gather publicly.
Those who exchange colors unsanctioned by the mainstream but exclusively
among peers, on the other hand, chivvy and deal in service of a free-trade
orthodoxy to which all profess strict adherence. Dissenters find them-
selves simply beyond the reach of the "boundless agora" (see Hanson's much
narrower work on the use of barrettes) until they repent or, as in most
cases, become bald. My own distaste for their ideas was met warmly, though,
and I do not feel my respondents in this area censored themselves in our
discussions. I was not an apostate, just an outsider.
- Preliminary study suggests the following areas as potentially most fruit-
ful: the role of mirrors at shine meets; the social role of those who call
meets more often than necessary; the fiction written by blue-hairs lion-
izing respected shiners; statistical analysis of housing patterns by MFSH
(Most Frequent Static Hue); seasonal changes in travel to Lincoln.

REFERENCES: 1. B. Hanson, "Restrictive devices and the fear of failure"
(published as "In The Red"; J. Midwestern Studies, Autumn 1999)

2. forthcoming paper on MFSH, co-authored with L.B. Paskin

written for Mark Staloff at ABP #1 10/12/01

Ha! This crackpot fantasy was a blast to write. My friend July had just brought me chocolate mousse and I commented that it was really best to write these things in a hummingbird state of mind. Thinking that you can focus on one idea for too long will only bring clumsy transitions. Then I came up with this, proving my point, I guess.

I felt like I had gotten the concept "free-trade orthodoxy" across pretty well, but then I went and used the phrase explicitly, which sounded slightly wrong. Not a terrible misstep, but I think this piece is damn good for what it is, so it's not painful to linger over the problems.

Other problem: citation style. I like little bits of verisimilitude like that, which is why I wish I made them more verisimilitudinous. Glad I remembered that "J." is sometimes used for "Journal", though; I think it's a cute touch.

I was born in Lincoln. Golla doesn't exist, or if it does, you should write me and ask me to pick lottery numbers for you.

- everything is by Aaron Mandel; please ask first if you're about to steal something -

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