On Thursday evening, I took the bus to the Fruitvale BART station, and then I took BART to the Mission district in San Francisco. The man in this drawing got on at the West Oakland stop. I was fascinated by his puffy little pom-pom of a beard. That and his sideburns seemed to be the only hair he could grow on his face, and yet he had a quiet confidence that transcended the particulars of his grooming. You know a brother is cool if he makes a pom-pom beard look fly.

Ajuan Mance