His and Hers

Liz's Palace of Beauty was a neighbourhood salon since the 1950's. The regulars who scheduled weekly sets, shampoos and perms had been coming for decades, along lifelines marked by birth, marriage, divorce and death. Gloria, Faye, Dot and Virginia in their 80's & 90's, the eldest 103. In this small room hair holds less meaning than the secrets shared, a community collective where the business is Women. A few blocks away on an all American Main Street is Lennys Barber Shop. After 47 years his devoted customers span generations, it's a brotherhood, a meeting place, where the game is always on, the ancient leather chairs are comfy and the discussion is lively. Lenny is a master of diplomacy with quiet wisdom he invites each to interact as they choose. Sports, politics, history, religion, philosophy and tall tales. Some come to speak, others to listen, many just want to be still and enjoy the connection. The mail man, the archeologist, the look-out, the artist, the football star, the world war 2 soldier. They come for conversation, for human contact, they come for Lenny. Both these places honour a declining "village connectedness " the heart of local community, all the more sacred in our era of globalisation and isolation, where everyone is talking but no-one is saying much.