“Do you remember learning how to braid hair?” asked the naked woman. She was braiding her hair as she spoke, twisting the strands into a lovely French braid, while I snapped photos of her nude body.
I’d met her for the first time that morning. We’d eaten an early lunch, talked about our lives, and then an hour later, she was sitting naked on a table next to my bed. A typical blogger meet-up.
The lack of clothing didn’t seem strange at all. We’ve read each other’s blogs for years. I would, in fact, brag to my readers about which blogger I’d just added to my blogger life list if it weren’t for the fact that I’m posting a naked photo of her. It’s complicated.
For two days, I’d been sucked into the chaotic conference frenzy: the bookfair, where editors were handing writers bits of chocolate to make up for the many rejection letters they’d sent; a party that involved jamming herds of eager MFA students into one hotel suite and letting them weave through the crowd like rats to get to the bathtub of beer; and late nights of storytelling at the bar, where I entertained myself by getting my friends drunk and then asking them stuff like, “What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?”
It was a nice break to sit in my hotel room with a blogger I’ve known for years, and talk about the way that I used to practice braiding the yarn hair of my rag doll. Her quiet question stirred up memories of grade school. Suddenly, I was in my mother’s yellow kitchen, standing by the pencil sharpener while she braided my hair on first one side and then the other. I’m often amazed at how quickly we can achieve intimacy when we begin with the stories about our bodies: Where do you buy your bras? When did you first have sex? Who taught you how to braid hair?
(Readers who want to know the history of the naked photo tradition can check it out here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. )
