Movember Meets Sherweezy for the First Time

I'm working on a project called "They Call Me Sherweezy", or something similar, about working in South Central and the harbor area and trying to figure this whole thing out. Sherweezy is the hip-hop inspired nickname I picked up in the 'hood last year.

Anyway, Halloween was on a Friday this year, and I stopped shaving around that time. It wasn't so much for the "No Shave November" or "Movember" movement to raise awareness for prostate cancer, it was more because I was tired of the constant need to shave. That Movember was also happening was pleasantly coincidental.

That and my nearly 150 young wards all figured that was the reason behind the facial hair.

We had the entire week of Thanksgiving off, which meant that we wouldn't meet again until December. After three weeks I had a pretty well established beard, and thought I'd have some fun with it.

I was interested in trying out some new technological shenanigans, and used Poll Everywhere, a website that allows you to set up polls that people can use their phones and texting to vote on. I grabbed a series of pictures from the internet of various facial hair designs and left my look on the Friday before Thanksgiving break up to my kids' vote.

The choices were: "the Abe Lincoln"--sideburns and chin but no mustache (AKA "the Amish"); "the Chester A. Arthur"--sideburns to mustache with clean shaven chin; "the Wolverine"--big bushy sideburns only; "the Dude"--a goatee only; and finally, "the 'Stache", just a simple mustache and the one I wanted the least.

Throughout the day as each session got to vote, the results fluctuated. I was going with whatever won out over the course of the entire day. This was a Monday and I planned on shaving that Thursday night to have the hair on Friday. The Wolverine held an early lead, and while there was a late push for the 'Stache, the Chester A. Arthur finally came out on top.

Oh my...

When I cam in on Friday looking like this, nearly all my kids said "Oh my god, you actually did it!" My favorite response came from one of my older kids who didn't now what was going on. She took one look and starting nervously shaking her head, saying, "Oh, no no no, no, Mr. Sherwood, no..."

I learned that had I been from a different time period I could easily rock a shaggy Chester A. Arthur facial hair design. Maybe I'll try bringing it back...

A mentor and colleague said that my street cred skyrocketed as a result of the move. That wasn't exactly what I was going for, but I'll take it.

My face was confused. Normally my chin wouldn't be cold, but on that Friday it was. It was like wearing a parka but walking around bare-assed.

I shaved minutes after I got home that same Friday. When I met with my wards this past Monday, before sickness has me chilling at home today, many voiced their opinion that I should have let it keep growing, like they wanted to live vicariously or something through an interactive chia-pet-face.