Now that this year’s art fair is over, my work schedule is getting back to normal. Normal means joining the army of telecommuters that packs East Bay cafes at the beginning of every day. Today I tried somewhere new, the Urban Blend cafe in Jack London Square. At the time that I arrived, there were only a handful of people inside, all with laptops. The man in this drawing was seated a couple tables away from me. I was into his vintage vest and skinny tie look, but it’s his hair that really caught my attention. His long and lush ‘fro took me back to the early 2000s when I was sporting a similar style. This guy’s hairdo, however, was as stylish and well-coiffed as mine was disheveled. My ‘fro was not unlike the hairstyle Erykah Badu was referring to when she sang, “Pick your afro Daddy, because it’s flat on one side.” Whenver I see a brother with a cool natural ‘do, I think back to the days when I sported an afro, and I feel a pang of longing for the style that might have been.

8-Rock