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Natalie Angier and Jonathan Weiner

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Bad Hair Millennium

By Jonathan Weiner
Posted Monday, Feb. 21, 2000, at 11:49 AM ET

Hi, Natalie!

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Well, my hair's not great this morning. You picked a sore subject, Natalie. I was on my way to get a haircut on Saturday afternoon when my car started filling up with smoke. I pulled over and got out, and the engine burst into flames. I helped the police redirect traffic on East Road, in Doylestown, Penn., where I live, while three ambulance drivers and one fireman ran around in the smoke and put out the fire. The first ambulance driver on the scene was moonlighting from his job at a car dealership. When we got the fire out, he propped open what was left of the hood with a fireman's ax and showed me the problem. Squirrels had built a nest of leaves and twigs on the engine and it was their house that had burst into flames. I could tell you much more, but the bottom line is that my car is a total loss, and I still need a haircut and a beard trim.

The car was an '89 Buick that we inherited from my mother-in-law and I never felt like myself driving in it--just being seen stepping out of that car was a small injury to male pride, the equivalent of a bad-hair day.

In fact, I have to admit that I'm having a bad-hair decade. I didn't mind turning 40 half as much as I minded looking 40, which I began to do several years ago, thanks to the sudden retreat of my hair. At 39, I was still being carded at the liquor store, and those days are now gone with the Buick.

So I'm really glad you brought all this up, Natalie, and it's nice meeting you. I do have some thoughts about the larger Darwinian implications of cars, hair, and millionaires, but right now I have to call the insurance adjuster.

Top of the morning to you,
Jonathan