So I was in Ashland last week.
And there was a hat store.
And the rule of Havi states that there is no such thing as passing a hat store and not going inside to try on all the hats. And then to acquire hats! Or a hat. Because HATS!
If Wile E. Coyote needed to trick me for whatever nefarious purposes, he would totally use an Acme hat shop.
With a crooked wooden sign: Ye Olde Acme Hat Shoppe. Meep, meep!
Anyway, there it was.
And there I was.
The hat was of the floppy sunhat variety. In the most outrageous, preposterous, crazed print possible. Somehow extra floppy. And fabulous. I had to have it.
But I didn’t know why.
Edit! Just realized: not last week! And now I have to pause (paws!) to have a fit, because that was two weeks ago and how did that even happen and why is time moving so quickly right now?
Until Toozday.
Two days ago I wrote this post asking for suggestions on how to turn up the visibility/volume on the Toy Shop at the Playground. How to remind people that they can buy stuff at the end of class.
And you guys gave me a ton of thoughtful suggestions, and I was feeling appreciative (yay for support!) and also increasingly unsettled about how complicated/ineffective my attempts to describe something can be.
So I was going to just take a break from thinking about it and let the perfect, simple solution emerge when Gaye (@itsapractice on Twitter) suggested a shopkeeper hat.
A hat! A shopkeeper hat.
Which is perfect because OHMYGOD LOOK I HAVE THIS HAT!
Well, I have many hats.
And I don’t mean that in a blippety-blah “I wear many hats” metaphorical sort of way. Real hats.
Between a) my inability to avoid hat stores, and b) having a Costumery full of hat goodness at the Playground, there are hats. They’re around.
But this hat. It’s so….
Hmm. BOLD was the word Rebecca used. Which I love because it’s so much more diplomatic than say, hideous. Or shocking. I think Cairene called it “dashing”.
This hat is pretty unapologetic about being a hat, if you know what I mean.
Really, its personality is so much bigger than mine that I may also be slightly afraid of it. But I appreciate the way it shouts to the world — in a very unusual accent — Hallllooooooooo! I am a Hat!
Which makes it perfect for my purposes. Shopkeeper! Hat!
So I tested it that very night.
But first I have to tell you more things about why this is so perfect.
- Wearing the shopkeeper’s hat means using costumes to solve problems. Which is already my favorite thing ever and something I do all the time.
- And once you’re wearing a costume, it’s all about playing. Playing is my thing! Did I mention that I run a Playground?
- In fact, play — along with groundedness, sovereignty, safety, freedom, delight and possibility — is one of the humming magical qualities at the core of Playground culture.
- So putting on a silly hat and making an announcement about when I’ll be wearing the silly hat is totally congruent with how I already work. Not an interruption. A flowing continuation.
- I already have a metaphor mouse thing about hats! Not a metaphor. It’s an acronym. But metaphor mouse gave it to me.
- A HAT is what I call a “sales page”. Because saying “sales page” makes me want to throw up. HAT stands for Havi’s Announcing a Thing.
- And then I write a HAT and decorate (instead of edit) the HAT, and that’s how I write sales pages even though I hate sales pages. Because they’re HATs!
- So this is just a physical version. I announce that the Toy Shop is open by putting on the silly hat. It’s like a real-life-performance version of the online thing.
- When I’m in costume, I can do anything. Like record a video of Flip-Its.
- But it’s not weird to get into costume, because we end each day at Rally (Rally!) with the evening Chicken. And a lot of us are already in costume for Chickening. So then I just tell people that I’m adding the hat.
- One of my superpowers is that I look good in any hat. Any. Hat. At. All. It’s probably my best superpower.
- I tend to thank my paternal grandmother for this one. She was born in Hungary, a good place for getting those dangerous “no, seriously watch out so you don’t slice yourself” cheekbones, which definitely help with extravagant hat-wearing.
- But my father also pulls off looking good in all hats, and he didn’t get the cheekbones, so who knows. It’s magic.
Also, as mentioned, I have the perfect hat for this!
So I tested the shopkeeper’s hat.
At the beginning of our Shiva Nata class on Toozday, I introduced everyone to the fabulous hat. They were really sweet and hardly laughed at all.
I asked them to remind me to put it on at the end of class, because wearing it means the Toy Shop is open for business. Wink!
Then we sang a sea shantey and did Shiva Nata to sea shanties while flailing about like madmen.
We also learned about epiphanies and discovered some absolutely fascinating patterns.
There was giggling. There were snacks. There were butt monsters. There were bubbles. It was awesome.
And at the end, I put on my Shopkeepers Hat and people took pictures (guys — send me the pictures!) and there was much rejoicing.
Also lots of people happily bought wonderful sparkly things from the Toy Shop. Like stone skipping card decks and Possibility Spray. So it totally worked. Yay.
Here’s what I’ve learned.
No matter what the question, the answer (for me) is always TRY A HAT.
And no matter how challenging it is for me to explain what I want or how I want it, if I remember to approach things with silliness, lightheartedness and play, the solution is there.
Basically, hats.
Or whatever your version of hats happens to be.
It’s always going to be better if I access the superpowers I already have instead of trying to Figure Out A System.
And the thing I need is probably already there. I’m probably tripping over it as we speak. And this is good.
Play! And comment zen for the communal comment blanket fort room.
What I would like: HATS!
Describe a hat, name a hat, wear a hat, invent a hat, pretend to give me a hat, pile hats on top of other hats. It’s a hat party!
Also, yays for Perfect Simple Solutions showing up.
What I would rather not have today: advice, analysis.
Thank you! And so much appreciation for all of your help this week. xox
Follow
Wheeeeeeee!
Hat! HAT! OMG so absolutely perfectly fabulous! I love it when
a plan comes togetherall the reasons why a given thing fits so beautifully all start popping into consciousness one after the other, like Russian nesting epiphanies.(barely coherent happiness for your Perfect Simple Solution!)
I have a blue velvet Renaissance hat that I can wear whenever I feel like being a Renaissance Woman. Would love to bring it to the Playground someday, along with my tiny teddy bear and my ice-blue velvet-and-satin cloak! (And my guitar. Maybe. I’ve been meaning to ask, how do musical instruments fit into the Playground culture? Are there ways to play them and play with them that don’t cause problems for other Rallions who may be craving quiet?)
JUHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Brilliant! And this might help me solve my problem with walking… if I have a HAT that I wear just to walk, maybe I will be less afraid of starting. The Strolling HAT!!!
Even I would not be afraid to approach someone in a remarkably dashing hat!
Yay! for hats! Especially extravagantly floppy hats which help us Solve Problems in fantastically fun ways 😀
Also, how perfect was that?!
I recently found a hat that I absolutely adore, which was extra fabulous because I was not (alas) born with the magic hat-wearing gene! It’s a herringbone fedora with a little band around the brim, and it has a tiny little emblem with an H on it, in very fancy print. I bought it in Leavenworth, WA when it was crazy bright and hot outside, and I’d forgotten my glasses. My favorite part was that I found it in a Subway/gas station!
Oh! And I found another hat, in a Hat Store; an adorable little (and I do mean little) witches hat that stays on with a little clear elastic band! It’s burgundy and has a silly plastic gem on the front, and I adore it 😀
Wow- thanks for this post. About to go into a phone call win a difficult client. Going to use your metaphor and put on my “stop pushing me around” hat. I envision it as a Greek fishermans hat. When I wear it, I have a beard and a pipe. And I’m very gruff.
I love so much about this I can’t even explain it.
So instead I just uploaded a picture of my in my favourite hat to my flickr page. Enjoy:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marvelousandrea/6103263159/
Havi, when I read that you didn’t know why you had to have the hat, I thought, “Well, obviously because you’re going to Hawaii. I mean, you already have the bikini and the dress, yes? So now you have the hat, and once you get the perfect shoes (probably sandals), you’ll be on your way!”
But this is even better because it solves a problem, is playful and fun, and you can use it all the time, not just in Hawaii.
I’m envious of your superpower.
Now I’m thinking of having different hats and headcoverings for different activities. A leave-me-alone hat for when I don’t want to be interrupted or when I’m sulking. A writer hat. A housekeeper headwrap because my mom used to tie a scarf over her head when she was sweeping the ceiling. A walking hat. A driving hat and driving gloves for running errands. Gardening hat and gardening gloves.
And a headscarf with long ends to wear with sunglasses like 60’s movie stars for travel. Because, dahling, I am incognito.
Oh, how easy it is to forget about the existence of Perfect Simple Solutions. Yay!
As a maker of unapologetic hats, I approve. Hats for everyone!
In a moment of serendipity, I just came across this: A dizzifying “Hats Through History” http://history.icanhascheezburger.com/2011/09/01/funny-pictures-history-hats-through-history
You looked so amazingly beautiful in that hat. Which is an accomplishment, as the hat is (as you mentioned) rather… bold. But on you? Lovely.
I have the hat gene too, and a favorite gene it is! But between having an unnaturally large head (size XXXL in ski helmets), and moving so often recently, at the moment I own not a single hat. Clearly this has to change.
(Especially since the boy has an entire wall of our apartment covered with *his* hats, which I try to believe is for some reason other than making me jealous.)
I want a hat for when I need to send e-mails or make phone calls. Actually, I want a first mate for that but in the meantime something hat-like would be nice. Or ninja-like.
Also for networking events. Also for sunny days.
Three hats.
OMG! This is the perfect solution to the Toy Store dilemma 🙂 Very creative and very funny…..
At the Philly Folk Festival many moons ago, I bought a crown/tiara made out of crinkly stars of silver and purple. It has long locks/ribbons made of purple and silver ribbons. When I needed it to be different, I used scissors to make curls and gave the tiara a perm.
I am almost 40 and I. Love. This. Tiara.
Hats make life good!
Yipperoooo for hats!
Nobody’s yet mentioned Sondheim’s “ode to making things” song called, in fact, Finishing The Hat?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ducG55pfCMQ
Blue – indeed!! and that show is a brilliant take on creativity and all that can go with this stuff we call art….
And this post reminds me that someday I want a real silk top hat. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it’s a gwish for now.
🙂
One of my superpowers is that I look good in any hat. Any. Hat. At. All.
Hang on… I look bad in any hat. Have you got my share of hat mojo?!
YAY for your awesome solution!
So there’s a stage version of ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ on at the moment in which Cosmo (the cute, funny, probably gay best friend) is always joking around with hats. Trying them on, stealing them off other people, swapping them around, piling three hats on one head. It’s a perfect expression of his puckish, fool-ish (in the medieval sense) character and it’s reminding me right now of you and what you do and how you shake things up through play and silliness. Different combinations! It’s shivanautical! Havi + Shopkeeper Hat = Shopkeeper Havi. Etc!
Fedora! Bowler! Beret! Top Hat! Baseball Cap! …
I played a haberdasher once so I’m down. 😉
I have never read, anywhere or anytime, about a concept so completely useful, right, creative, helpful, fun, on-point, yadda-all-good things! I’ve been trying on hats all day, some literal, some figurative, and I can tell that hats are going to be a very valuable long term strategy for me in a such a wide variety of ways. Gaye@itsapractive: you are genius. Havi: same genius accolades to you for sharing this amazing concept. Ranks right up there with sovereignty in my book! Thanks and thanks!
WOOOOOO the answer is ALWAYS hats…or should I say chapeaux? /.-)