On Being Very, Very Noticeable

I am an introvert, and growing up I was a shy kid. I didn’t like attention; didn’t even like being called on in class. Public speaking is one of my greatest fears. And so it’s rather ironic that my bright hair makes me so very noticeable.

I have been a “volunteer from the audience” more times than I like to remember. And you can’t decline when they call on you, because then the stupid magician or whoever decides you need “a little encouragement,” and that just makes things so much worse.

A drawing of a magician giving a show at a library. There are bookshelves in the background, and a group of children facing away from us in the foreground. The magician wears a cape and a top hat, and holds a wand. He says, "I'm going to need a volunteer from the audience!" One of the children in the foreground, who has bright red hair, thinks to herself, "Oh here we go..."

I’ve had random strangers come up to me in college, just to tell me they noticed me all over campus. And I wasn’t even trying, like that guy who wore a spatula on his belt.

A drawing of a college campus quad. In the foreground are two figures, a boy and a red-haired girl. The boy says, "Hi! You don't know me, but I just wanted to tell you that I see you all over campus." The girl responds, "Oh. Um, okay?"

I think I’ve made peace with it now, after all my youth spent trying and failing to be invisible. I’m really noticeable; that’s just how it is.

And on the plus side, at least I never got lost as a kid.

stick figure drawing of a large crowd. A figure labeled "my mom" is to the left of the crowd. A figure labeled "me" is to the right of the crowd. The drawing is black and white, except for the figure labeled "me"'s red hair. The "mom" figure look through the large crowd, sees the red-haired "me" figure, and says, "Oh, there you are."

On Being Very, Very Noticeable

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