In Local Playground, a Child's Hair Is Cut

Saturday was a big day on the playground. Fountains on, balloons everywhere, Kina’s favorite hairstylist on surreptitious rounds with scissors in a holster like an old-timey sheriff. As regular readers will recall, we’ve been learning a lot about curly hair in recent weeks, and the tangles of her ever-lengthening tresses were threatening to overwhelm even the most patient of gentle brushes. In the wake of yesterday’s masked-up playground cut, however, Kina’s hair no longer rests on her shoulders, her curls are tight and bouncy, and her considerable mane is more manageable for the stickiest months of the summer. Plus we got some A+ tips for dealing with tangles. She spent the rest of the morning—and much of the afternoon—running through the Rodney sprinklers, chasing a pink balloon, and eating pizza. Don’t know that there’s a whole lot to add; it was a do-little day in the tradition of a typical summer, which feels like a luxury in this particularly atypical one.

Today’s Parade, as with many of our recent inserts, is a collaborative cover effort involving both Kina and Laurea. Kina’s entry is a gorgeous abstraction in pastels. Laurea’s illustration of poppies is a reflection of her most recent pandemic obsession (flower arrangements, not opiates) and is, I would say, pretty spot-on. Laurea also pasted on Giovanni Boldini’s Gossip here, which is the kind of scene we all wish we could reproduce on a Sunday at brunch this year. We hope this newsletter passes for a sort of gossip, and that you’re sufficiently scandalized by the idea of a child’s hairstylist roaming the parks of Williamsburg in a mask. But don’t tell! We’re respecting you to be quiet!

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