Dopamine Dressing

Summer in southeast Michigan is moving right along, judging by the fruits that are ripening near us. Michigan.  The Dexter Blueberry Farm reports its berries ready for picking.  White mulberries are already getting hard to spot on the tree by the Argo Cascades.  They’re been edible for over a month now, and my friend Sue and I have been eating them—faster now that it’s late in the season and the fruit is fleshy and sweet.  White mulberries look like ghostly versions of regular mulberries.  My guess is that not many folks know about the white ones. 

     Wild raspberries are starting to mature.  If raspberries grow along a path near you, chances are excellent that everyone who walks there knows about them.  Raspberries grow at a height that could be described as pickable.  Even tots can reach them.  Both red raspberries and black raspberries are nearing their peak, in all their seedy goodness.

     Signs with cryptic messages are popping up all over town.  They say things like OZYPUP, OHACFUN, GRAYLADY, BRUISEBROS, BOOKSARECOOL, and SMILEYFACE.  What do these messages mean?  They mean that the Ann Arbor District Library’s Summer Game is underway.  Every child or adult or combination thereof has the opportunity to choose words for a sign.  Sightings of these signs are good for points in the game, as are clues posted at all the library branches and on city buses and in various other locations.  I saw one at a trailhead this morning.  According to the library website, over two thousand people playing the game have logged over two million points today.  Reading, listening to, or watching ten of anything in the library catalog is all you have to do to complete the Summer Game and earn a prize.  The points are extra, and can be exchanged for additional prizes.  The game is exceedingly popular.  We love our library.

     We also love our parks, and Parks & Rec has a contest, too.  Its code in the library Summer Game is ONESIXTYTWO.  The object of the game is to go to all one hundred sixty-two city parks.  Prizes start at the twenty-five-park level, but I suspect most participants are in it for the glory.

     A University of Michigan email communication yesterday made reference to “dopamine dressing,” a term coined by fashion psychologist Dawnn Karen.  The point of dopamine dressing seems to be that people’s choices of colors and styles and textures in their clothing can optimize their mood.  Having spent a few hours at the Ann Arbor Art Fair today, I have to believe that most of the half million or so folks who attend each year—not to mention the thousand artists—are in excellent moods.  Dopamine was definitely flowing this afternoon.

     Cormorants living in the swamp across US23 from Whitmore Lake do not know about dopamine dressing.  They wear the same dull, black feathers day in and day out.  Furthermore, their nests are a mess, high in dead trees in the swamp.  Whether natural progression or the cormorants’ acidic excretions killed the trees isn’t clear.  The birds are not only invasives, they’re destructive to their habitat.  All the same, we stare at them every time we drive by the swamp on our way to or from the Zukey Lake Tavern, one of our dinner destinations.

     When we did that Tuesday, we got quite a surprise.  One of the trees was festooned with egrets.  There must have been ten of the stately white birds.  I’ve only seen egrets roosting like that once before, in the woods by Thurston Pond.  Both times, I’ve wanted to ask the birds, “You know we can still see you, right?”  And both times, their attitude has seemed to be, “Ah, but you can’t reach us.”  The egrets seemed to be showing off their dopamine dressing, like peacocks or art fair attendees. 

     Perhaps the high point of the fair today was an overheard snippet of conversation between an artist and a child of maybe six or seven.  A visual barrier kept me from seeing any part of the child except the top of his or her head, or the artist’s medium.  The child’s tone was earnest.  “When I do this, I do it this way,” the child said, comparing technique with the artist.  “So, you’re an artist, too?” the artist responded.  And, although it pains me to say it, that was all I heard of the discussion.  I hope the child had the confidence to say yes, and that the adult artist responded seriously.  Words of encouragement from an admired role model can influence a person’s life and may well be remembered for a lifetime.

21 July 2023

1 comment

  1. There be WHITE Mulberries?!? Cool. Glad the summer reading game is still fun and has gone digital.

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