Tales

Spring Cuttings


Spring brings in new plantings and new cuttings. Ever since Mama donated her hair with a very short, funky cut, Terren has been talking about wanting a buzz cut, and then additionally a buzz cut with designs in it. Mm has been asking for a Mohawk. Mama did weeks of research to find an African American barbershop that could do this ornate type of cut, and finally made an appointment for Saturday, March 10 at 8 am. We busted our butts like crazy on a Saturday morning down to Emeryville, and we arrived to a Closed Sign and no lights on. The barber didn’t show, and the girls still wanted the cut they had been patiently waiting for for weeks.  In typical DIY, jump-off-the-cliff style, Mama and Baba decided to take on the MM Mohawk themselves. With as many ponytails to cut as Mama could manage, Baba sliced and diced. To our pleasant surprise, the rushed Mohawk went fine enough, and MM loved it. And we busted our butts once again but to the soccer field…just to realize that the empty fields meant Mama had the wrong time. 

We returned home to take on Terren’s buzz cut. After cutting 9 donation ponytails, Baba buzzed all her hair...and only sliced out one triangular chunk on the back of Terren’s head by accident. Terren loved it, and luckily she couldn’t see the missing chunk. Baba added a new job title to his resume: family barber.  We hit the soccer field again, this time at the right time. Koda ran to the field and a random dad walking in the opposite direction did a triple take on Koda. Mama, passing by the dad, said, “Yup, she wanted a Mohawk so we gave her a Mohawk…just this morning.” He smiled. Koda arrived up to her coach and he said, “Koda, I didn’t recognize you, you’re usually wearing your hat.” That was hilarious. Molly, Maya, Anna, and Hazel were our first friends to witness the spring cuts. Baba announced that he had the longest hair in the family. For Mama and Baba, we could not be more proud of our tough, cool, brave girls who buck the idea of vanity and gender stereotypes. You go girls!

Fun was had enduring 5 hours of pouring rain with Martha and Amili watching Terren’s team win their first tournament and sleepover with the whole fam. Dinners with Negean/Aubrey and Duffy/Carlos rocked, and threesome family dinner with Rachel. 


© Lynn Kuo and Justin Davis