The Body Love Construct

Hoodies in the Heat Episode 56

• Lisa Branscomb

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Speaker:

Hi, Tina. Hi, Lisa. So how are you on this hot, hot, hot day?

Speaker 2:

Well, actually I'm having a cool day. Oh. Only because I was out early. Today, you know, we've had a RIE the last few days in the morning. Mm-hmm. Surprisingly, the humidity's been down. We haven't had any afternoon thunderstorms, so it's been kinda cool out. So I was out early this morning because today I actually started a training that I'm doing for a program that I'm going to be participating in. So. I have really been on Zoom most of the day. Oh wow. Nice. Cool. In a nice, cool home. So I am having a very cool day

Speaker:

on this hot day. Okay, that's cool. It's hot out there now. It was really nice this morning. I was out gardening. Oh. Now I just had a deck built. So you did. My yard is in complete disarray because the contractors just shoved everything over and I'm just like, oh God. They put everything where it shouldn't be. Hmm. So just try to, today was the first day that I actually got out there to do more than just the, the basic watering and stuff. Uhhuh. But but it was nice this morning I didn't have to. Suffer too much. But right now it is kind of blazing hot'cause the sun is out in force. It's one of them days that I would just like to be at somebody's beach. Well, yeah, with very few clothes on,

Speaker 2:

we But sunscreen, I do love. I do again, love these these days when we get the humidity down and you can get out in the morning and enjoy the coolness. And even though. You know, I know you live up on the hill, but I live down near the wharf. Mm-hmm. So I don't have a beach to go to, but I, I hadn't been down to walk the wharf in the morning in like a month because of the weather. Oh, wow. So it was a'cause that it was just too humid. Yeah. And so, so to get out there and get down near the water when you, once you get down there, there's a nice little breeze that comes off the wa the water and mm-hmm. It's nice to be there. So I've enjoyed that the last couple days. So I'm, I'm just happy that I've had that because I hadn't been down to walk the wharf or swing on the swings at the wharf, which is one of my favorite things to do as I'm ending a walk when I'm down there. So, oh, yeah. Yeah, those

Speaker:

are pretty cool. So this is something that, that's interesting in light of all this, you know, hot weather we've been having mm-hmm. The whole East coast has been under like a heat dome. I've, I've noticed. Mm-hmm. But have you seen like teenagers in particularly boys walking around when it's way above 90 degrees wearing a hoodie?

Speaker 2:

It is interesting you two would bring that up because I actually saw that. In, in the back, back of my apartment building one day where some young men were all dressed in black hoodies. It was 90 degrees outside. Mm-hmm. So I have seen that. Now, I can't say that I've seen it all around because I have to tell you, I take shelter in the middle of the day when it's all that heat out there and you know, will tend to drive somewhere rather than walk. I mean, if it's local, I'll walk. But so I have seen it. I have seen it. Why? What's, what's, what's

Speaker:

happening? Well, I just was, I was wondering about that because I see it a lot. Mm. And I see it's, it's almost always young people. I don't see any people like our age. Walking around with hoodies when it's 99 degrees out and it's, it's mostly boys. Sometimes girls, but mostly boys. And I know here in DC I've seen the whole black hoodie, which I'm not sure what, what the significance of the color is, but you know, black absorbs the sun heat. Mm-hmm. I sometimes I'm just walking around or I'm driving around, of course I'm sweating and I'm wearing a tank top and some little shorts or something, and I'm thinking, oh God, I'm gonna die. And I see these kids and they're wearing long pants, long sleeves, and a hoodie, and the hoodie is up. And I sometimes, I really look at them and I'm thinking, you know what, you gonna have a, you gonna have a heat stroke with that on? I don't even know how you are even surviving. How you even moving with, with all this gear on? Especially when you got plenty of time to wear that when it's fall and winter. You could wear that, but whatcha wearing that in the middle of the summer? So. I just happened to be reading some, some articles earlier, and I ran across this article that came up with a possible reason why they're seeing these kids walking around with these hoods on. Okay. This person is a teacher, I think, and so works in a school with teenagers and was commenting on how sometimes the. The teen boys would come in with their hoodies on and in the class with the hood up, and the teachers would give'em a hard time. You like, take that thing off. I, I mean, I can understand it. You, you kind of look like a. A hermit or something like a hermit crab mm-hmm. With that hood on, like you're hiding and nobody can see you. And so and so they, this person did some research and was looking for some scientific reason. So I, yeah, I would be looking for a scientific reason for ag, for why they're not bursting into flames with this stuff on. But while she didn't find, or he, I, I don't know if it's a she, he, they didn't find a, a scientific reason, but there was another idea that came up that was really, really interesting and that was that the hoodie was acting similarly to a weighted blanket. Hmm. Works for people who have insomnia or anxiety or some people who are neurodivergent. Hmm. And I had never really thought about that. And then they go on to say that they think that it has something to do, especially when it comes to black boys that it might be some. Some connection to the fact that they're often expected to be so masculine in this patriarchal environment and not really allowed to freely show their feelings. Mm-hmm. And emotions. Mm-hmm. And so this is kind of like, they're almost like a blanky, lanky. And that made me really start thinking about that. I'm wondering like, Hmm.

Speaker 2:

So in other words, it's like something that's nurturing to them? Yes. Is that what, so that you, because when you talk about the weighted blanket, people have talked about the weighted blankets, and I don't have one, but I noticed. That there are sometimes when I wake up in the morning, especially now with the air conditioner on mm-hmm. I, I'm feeling cooler when I wake up and I always have something else on the bed and I, you know, pull it on. And then recently it's like, I need more than that, so I'll get something else and put it around my neck. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 3:

And,

Speaker 2:

and just that it's not even that heavy, but just having the additional weight. Does something that, you know, allows me to fall back to sleep and may, you know, I I sort of, when you start talking about blankets, I think about minus in, in the peanuts cartoon with mm-hmm. His blankie that he always had. Yeah. It's this nurturing, comforting thing. I, I would, would never have thought. That, that would be an explanation.'cause I was getting ready to talk about some other stuff. But yeah, no, there is some, some nefarious that goes because it's, I, I didn't, when you started the conversation, it didn't come to me. But then as you started to talk about this research, I'm like, well, wait a second. There's some other stuff about this black hoodie thing that I've seen. That's not in the neighborhood, but go ahead con Yeah, continue.

Speaker:

Yeah. So the person who wrote this, the t, the teacher who wrote this is black. Mm-hmm. And so they also struggled with social anxiety and could identify with the kids using this hoodie as a, as a buffer. And even in the there's a photograph for the. Article that I was reading, and it showed like a tunnel, like overlooking a beach and it something that sort of encompasses like you would be inside of a cave, nice and safe. Mm-hmm. And, and he's, this person's looking back at, you know, how they. Would've felt, and even though they're criticized and people say, you know, take off that hoodie, or, you know, a lot of people like me would be like, you crazy, take that thing off. If I had a teenager, I'd be like, you are not gonna burst into flames on my clock. So take it off. Right. But, but he does talk a lot about anxiety and the feeling, also a feeling of invisibility in a, in a society where visibility isn't always safe.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker:

And so I was thinking about like, Hmm, how, how could we help some help? That's what, that's where my mind went. Like, how could we help? Because poor kids walking around blazing hot in the hoodie.

Speaker 2:

Right. Well, well, I think it's probably a matter of identifying whether that's the reason why they're wearing it, number one.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. Because

Speaker 2:

that's, while that's an interesting concept, and certainly I, you know, who's doing the research, I, I would respect whatever that is. You know, it, there's so many other factors that go into how people, not just kids dress.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. You know,

Speaker 2:

and, and to be, you know, affiliating with other people, they will all wear the same thing. But this what you, you just, just were talking about with this invisibility kind of thing. To me, when I see someone, not just black kids, what I see anyone dressed in winter clothing in the heat, I've seen some people out with, oh, I can't even think of what they are, but the puffy jackets. Mm-hmm. On in hot weather. Mm-hmm. And a few things will come to my mind. One is, are these people displaced from a home?

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. So they're

Speaker 2:

wearing what they have.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Or are they, you know, putting on well, once you put on black. Hoodies and black, you know, anything that would make you sweat in the, in the summertime, you wonder if there's something being hidden. And for black men and I, I wouldn't be feeling safe walking around mm-hmm. In a black hoodie or black clothing. So, you know, whether this is giving some sort of. Invisibility kind of feeling. It's not really. Mm-hmm. Because it make, to me, it makes you more visible and more susceptible to being stopped. Mm-hmm. And harassed. Mm-hmm. And harassed.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I thought about that too because I, I mean, if I just wanted to blend in. Wearing, I wouldn't be with a black hoodie

Speaker 2:

in the middle of the summer when it's 90 degrees outside.

Speaker:

Yeah. That's how I, I would feel about it too. But but I just, it was just something that made me start thinking, and then I was, and then I thought to myself like, okay, well what would I do? Just go ask, you know. Excuse me, are you hot

Speaker 2:

that you could, you know, just make that decision whether you wanna ask that question or not? I, you know, I mean, I think it's just one of those things that, you know, I don't have kids as you know, and certainly at this stage, if, if I had'em, there wouldn't be a teenager, they'd be grown. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So, you know, to even try to initiate that kind of conversation. I don't even know how, how to, how. I would even do that.

Speaker:

Yeah, I guess I probably wouldn't be the person either, because of course, I. I don't have well I have teenage boys in my extended family, but they're not around me. Yeah. They don't live anywhere nearby. So I'm thinking of for people who do have either their own children or some children near in close proximity to them, if this is every ever crossed their mind. And, and I was just, you know, questioning like how, you know, how could this be? But it's an interesting way to think about it and I'm open to it because if this is true then, you know, I would feel like we should, I don't know, help some kind of way.

Speaker 2:

Yeah,

Speaker:

I

Speaker 2:

see what you're getting at. It is like, if, if, if this research I is is true and, and there is something that about. Wearing this kind of garment in hot weather that feels protective and secure.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. You know,

Speaker 2:

what are they, what are they feeling? Are they not feeling that they're getting the nur, the nurturing that they need in a home environment? Do they even have a home environment where that's possible? You know, so I, I, there is something about that. I mean, now that we're talking about it, that is interesting to, to wonder, you know, why, why would you be wearing this and, and are you feeling something emotionally?

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

Because you are wearing this. And you know what? They prob it. I, I think that would take a good psychiatrist or psychologist to even get to that or social worker, because they probably don't, wouldn't even know that that was the reason they were doing it.

Speaker:

You're right. You're right. They're just doing it and they're, they're just. You know, feeling a certain way, but not really even considering it in the front of their mind.

Speaker 2:

Well, when you saw this, were, were they individual kids or a group of kids?

Speaker:

I've seen it both ways. I've seen a group of kids, which that, that automatically brings up suspicions. Like what they all up to, what y'all about to do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker:

But if it's just a, a one person, which I've seen often just walking along or sitting down or doing something like that in and not among other kids mm-hmm. Or anybody really just, you know, outside. And with this hoodie on, with it also pulled up so you know that the heat comes outta your head. So if you put the hoodie on, you're holding the heat that's trying to come outta your head in. So I, I just really, I, I feel concerned for them because, you know, you could faint or something is what I, is where I go with it,

Speaker 2:

you know? But you have to think about when we were kids, the, the things that we did. That never bothered us, you know? So you would put on something, you wouldn't even think about it if you sweated in the summer, you didn't think about it. Mm-hmm. If you had on a sweater in, you didn't think about it, it just. When you're younger, your body doesn't do this act the same way as it does when you get older. Mm-hmm. If it was us and we went out there, if it, first of all, if it was me, I'd just be dead in the street because I walk and I have walked in this humidity recently with a linen shirt on or a cotton shirt on. Mm-hmm. Come in the house and I am like dripping

Speaker:

with sweat. Yeah, yeah, me too. I would be drenched and the, the, it's fleece, so it would be filled with liquid. So, so I would be wet and hot and, oh gosh, I, I can only imagine. Well,

Speaker 2:

again, you know, they may not feel it the same way. We're, we're sort of feeling it'cause we're feeling it in age and, and understanding of, God this is hot. They, mm-hmm. Maybe, maybe they're not feeling that way. Sort of in a, sort of aside to this conversation. You know what I. Have traveled. I remember when I was in Egypt was the first time, you know, you would see people in all these robes and the, you know, something on their head and, and we were like, God, it must be hot. Mm-hmm. And then we found out that they actually were cooler. The garb that they were wearing and that this was what they're wearing is designed to keep them cool.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And in our estimation, it's like, my God, you don't way too many clothes. You got something down to your feet and gotta be hot and all that, all this draping, and essentially

Speaker:

that's not the case. Right now I did realize that because I think, oh, I haven't actually gone to these destinations, but I plan to, but I have seen where they have described the clothing as loose fitting. Mm-hmm. Like weight. Mm-hmm. It didn't really say anything. Some, sometimes you see light colored and I can imagine that that would be helpful, but I actually prefer. Skin out unless the sun is just blazing down immediately on me. I just like I like to feel air on my skin, but I do understand people in who live in the desert have these lightweight. Their loose fitting mm-hmm. Clothing on to keep them and also probably to protect them from the sun.'cause you know, this Washington DC sun is not the same as the sun in the Sahara Desert.

Speaker 2:

Right. Well, we have wet heat and it's dry heat there. And it's a very, very diff I remember the first time I went to California and I had never been around dry heat.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And of course I'm thinking, oh, this is fabulous.'cause of course, I. I'm from the East coast and it was always, and I, and this is when I lived in Jersey and I was going to Howard, so I went to my roommate's wedding. Mm-hmm. And you know, from being on this coast and jersey is nothing but you know, swampy, so it's always wet and moist in the summertime. Very hum. Essence dc

Speaker 3:

mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And one, the first time I went to California, it was dry heat. So I'm thinking, this is great. I got a third degree sunburn because it, it just didn't feel the same. I was out on the beach, first of all, I hadn't been to the Pacific Ocean, so that was a big deal and mm-hmm. You know, all of that. And fortunately my roommate's father was a physician. Mm-hmm. Oh wow. We had, we had to pat me down on the little third degree spots, and then I had second, but I had a really bad sun sunburn. Yeah. Because the, the heat is very different. Mm-hmm. But the other thing as far as wearing clothing is concerned, so, you know, sort of swinging this out to a broader. Audience about clothing and, and protecting yourself? I have on my face, I have rosacea. We've talked about this before.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2:

And, but I also have a problem as I got older with getting too much exposure to sun. I'm very fair. Mm-hmm. And. That is not a blessing. It's, you know, people that say they don't like being dark skinned. Let me tell you, being light is, can be very difficult because I do have to protect myself, so I mm-hmm. Don't leave my house without usually I have a lot of white linen. I, I, I mm-hmm. Live in white linen and all of my white linen, most of it, lemme say most of it, and even the other linen pieces I have, have the. Have long sleeves so I can roll them up as needed. Mm-hmm. Because I have to protect my skin and I'm starting to notice a lot of sun spots and a lot of freckling on my arms. Mm-hmm. And I protect it. But, you know, you still, or linen does not protect you from the sun. It just keeps it from being a hundred percent beating down on you. But I cannot be out in, in, in this intense sun.

Speaker 3:

My,

Speaker 2:

with my skin exposed it it, it only takes 10 minutes for me if I'm, if I don't have on sunscreen for me to start to see something in my skin.

Speaker:

Yeah. I have a similar problem, although I'm not, I'm not really fair skinned at all. I'm, I'm, you know, like medium brown, but Right. It's funny that I burn faster than. People around me. It might be just the rosacea that mm-hmm. That causes that. Mm-hmm. Because they're, you know, my daughter and husband are way lighter than me, but I'm the one with the sunburn. I'm like, how did this happen? But the only thing I can think of is that it's the rosacea.'cause otherwise, I'm like, well, what about my melanin? Is it not protecting? No. Just, what did I go wrong?

Speaker 2:

The, the, yeah. And I think that's been the myth with black people for many, many years, that we don't need sunscreen and we don't what we think it and other people think it about us that we don't need that. And if you're really, really darker skinned, you don't need any. But that's not true.

Speaker:

Mm-hmm. Not at all. Not at all. I've been

Speaker 2:

sunburned before and that's not a fun thing at all. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, I just said I had third degree, so, you know, that was like, I might as well have been in intensive care. Yeah. You could've gone to the hospital. Well, again, my, my roommate's father was a physician, so he knew how to treat me immediately so that it didn't become infected or anything happened to the places that really were burned badly. Mm-hmm. And then the rest of it, you know. I, I healed because he was, he had everything in his house, so we didn't have to worry. And he had everything, all the kinds of medications and all the stuff and the things to put on it so that I was okay. Mm-hmm. And again, he was checking on me to ensure that I was okay. And of course, this is when I was way younger, if that had happened to me now. I, I have a problem with the, the body temperature and my body temperature gets really high.

Speaker 3:

Mm-hmm. It

Speaker 2:

was like that when I was in Egypt and it took, you know, 48 hours for my temperature to body temperature to go down. And That's dangerous.

Speaker 3:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

Very. When you can't get it down. And that was something. So, you know, sort of back to something earlier when we were younger, certain things didn't happen. And as you get older, other things start to happen and then you feel like, wait a second, what's going on here? Mm-hmm. It's very different. But I think that you know, we have to be careful, when we're out in the sun. And to, to your point about this, the hoodie thing, I, I, again, I don't know whether or not these kids are really affected heat wise or if they just don't even feel it.

Speaker:

Yeah. Well, one thing, my, my daughter went to Montessori school. Mm-hmm. And one thing that her teacher said to us early on was, let these kids wear what they wanna wear to school. So even if you think it is inappropriate, like if it's cold outside and they wanna wear a short, so whatever the situation is, let'em do it because that's how they're gonna learn. I, I had a hard time with, we all had a hard time with it. But generally my daughter was more comfort. More about comfort than some kids, but but it, it, it's something that, it's, it's about bodily autonomy for one thing. Mm-hmm. And it's also about learning without just being. Bossed around all the time. Right. And so that was one thing that sometimes they did. They do. I mean, I know that when I was younger I wasn't always cold. My, even now, actually, I've been walking down the street after working out with just my, you know, my workout top on and people yelling out their car window, put your jacket on. I'm like, oh my God, man. I'm like over 40 years old. Wow. He's telling me to put on my jacket so I know that it, it is different. And it's possible, but it seems so extreme that it could be over 90 degrees and you have on this thick fleece. But the main idea that I got from this story is to stop and question instead of jump to conclusions, right? Like they, they're up to no good or something's wrong. Something's wrong in one kind of way when it could be something else different. And we, we have to look out for each other, especially our young people. Right. And this is just another idea, and I'm, I'm hoping that some of our listeners might have some insight on this and, or maybe it will help them, you know, try to strike up a conversation. Right. But that's just, it was just very interesting to me.

Speaker 2:

Well, I, you know what? That's a good way to sort of wrap this up, because you're right. Don't judge a book by its cover. We, you know, that's an old cliche, but we, we do jump to conclusions because when you first brought this up, the first thing I thought about was something I saw. On TV the other day where all this, you know, where they're having these robberies and it's like these gangs of people jump out of their cars. It was a jewelry store in California actually. Mm-hmm. And there were like 18 people they pull up in front of this jewelry store. They all jump out of their cars. They all have on black hoodies.

Speaker 3:

Hmm.

Speaker 2:

And, you know, and you couldn't tell whether it was male or females. And of course this has nothing to do. Well if it's California, it's hot out there. So, you know, it's hot. But they were doing, trying to do some hot other stuff, meaning, you know, filter some jewelry. Mm-hmm. So they could make that, you know, sell that. But what ended up happening Unfort? Well, fortunately the, the jewelry store owner was prepared. He had a gun. And as they were bashing the doors and the into the store to get in, he fired the gun once over their heads. Mm-hmm. And this also goes, you know, not the same subject, but how things can be handled. Shot it over. Their heads, not at them. Mm-hmm. They all jumped back in their cars and left.

Speaker 3:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

You know, so again, just only to say that is that when you first mentioned the hoods, my head, my head went to that. But again, you're right. We need to stop and ask questions before we make assumptions.

Speaker 3:

Right?

Speaker 2:

Hey, yep. Wow. I guess, you know, as we get older, we have to start thinking about things very differently, especially now as well, so,

Speaker:

mm-hmm. Very important. Very important.

Speaker 2:

I'm not sure how that ties into our tagline, but our tagline still will be. Generational body love is like generational wealth.

Speaker:

We must pass it on.

Speaker 2:

Take care. All right.

Speaker:

Bye-bye.

Speaker 4:

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Body Love Construct, where we have intelligent opinion-based conversations around reconstructing the generational conditioning that has influenced black women's narratives about themselves. Our main purpose with the body love construct and this podcast is to engage our audience by having more non-traditional conversations. Present day and historical issues, situations, behaviors, events and beliefs that affect how we see ourselves and how others perceive, make assumptions about copy, treat, see or unsee us as black women. Through our discussions, we hope you will find something that gets you to thinking about the stories you formed about yourself. Self and determine if perhaps it's time to rethink a few things. We invite you to stop by our website, the body love construct.com, and sign up to receive limited mailings that update you on the things we wanna share. You can also follow us on Instagram at the Body Love Construct for the current episode offerings, and tips for being more connected to and appreciative of your total body, physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social.