At True Colors Conference

After I arrived at UCONN, parked my car and began walking three blocks to the Student Union, I realized that I should have worn a heavier coat. The temperature was in the mid-40s, but the wind was blowing hard, so it felt a lot colder. As soon as I arrived at the Student Union, I repaired to a restroom to attend to my mussed-up hairdo and soon I was gorgeous again, although a little worn out from fighting the wind while walking in heels.

I said hello to my friends, Angie and Robin, who were staffing the information table and then I checked in at the presenter’s table to pick up my presenter’s package.

With a half hour to go before my presentation began, I decided to find the room where my presentation was to be, get settled in and fine-tune the outline of my presentation.

Every time I make a presentation at True Colors, the room assignment is different and this year, my room was a conference room with a huge marble table surrounded by 20 comfy chairs. Plus there was a stack of about 15 portable chairs in case we ran out of the comfy chairs surrounding the table.

I took a couple of selfies and then a volunteer came in to offer any assistance I needed. I was all set, but I asked her to take a few photos, which she was happy to do.

No one showed up at the appointed time! Ten minutes later, still no one showed up, so I went into the hall to see what was happening. Except for a couple of volunteers, the hall was deserted, so I asked the volunteers why. Turns out “my” appointed time was incorrect; my presentation was scheduled for 10:30, not 10 AM! (Old age plays mean tricks like that!)

So I went back in the room to cool my heels. Another old friend, Lee Ann, came by. She was a volunteer and we chatted until the real appointed time when the throng showed up. They filled every seat and it was standing room only (there were 40 attendees by my count).

Most of the attendees were middle school, high school and college aged. Also, there were two middle-aged women, who I found out later were from the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) and there was a grammar school aged trans-girl, dropped off by her mother who was attending a workshop a few rooms away. When the mother asked if her daughter could attend my workshop, she asked if it was PG-rated. When I assured her it was, the mother was happy because her daughter “loved makeup!”

After everyone settled in, I distributed my handout, which was an outline of my own makeup routine, and we went through it from beginning to end.

There was a lot of give and take, which I encouraged and from the reactions of the attendees, it seemed that most were having a good time. This was confirmed when I read the written comments that the attendees left after my presentation. (There was some criticism in the comments, too, and I will use that to improve my presentation.)

After the workshop, the two women from DCF hung back to wait for the mother of  the grammar school trans-girl. The girl said she enjoyed my workshop and she even volunteered to take a few more snapshots of me, one of which you can see above.

While we waited, one of the woman remarked how much she liked how I did my eyebrows. I always thought that I could do a lot better with my eyebrows, so I was surprised by the compliment.

Then both women complimented my hairdo. I confessed that I was wearing a wig and they were very surprised ― they thought my hair was real! So that confirms what I say about wigs ― don't go cheap because a cheap wig looks like a wig. Invest in a good wig and your hair will look authentic.

Wearing Gucci.

Michael Hurst  in  televisions Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1998).