38 Comments
Jan 18, 2023Liked by Mike Sowden

I'll note that pink occurs in nature pretty often, in iridescence! I see pink in clouds quite often in Colorado. :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/badastronomy/11941223576

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Fascinating! My husband is slightly colorblind, so we often have discussions about color perception. I’ve wondered for much of my life: How do I know that what I perceive as blue isn’t green for you--and we’re all calling it yellow?

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I've no desire to wear pink as reds make me look like a tomato, but I've always been annoyed by how rigid culture norms push men to wear boring colors while women get to have all of the fun.

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I was born with red (closer to orange) hair, and my mother insisted I could not wear red or pink. You would think I would have rebelled when given the option to buy my own clothes, but by that time the whole world, or at least my world, was wearing blue jeans, which suited me just fine when paired with neutrals, not pink. I still feel repulsed when confronted with the pink aisles in toy stores or even that picture of the pink bank. The power of color!

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founding

I think my brain just broke reading this but in the best possible way. Mad at the Costa Rica bank, LOL at your perfect use of the Mad Men still, and then ... what does it mean that our brains just make colors up??? Is everything about perception? (I read such an interesting book about that last year.) Top notch fantastic read!

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Jan 19, 2023Liked by Mike Sowden

And don't forget the collars of the pups in 101 Dalmations. Boys in pink/red, and girls in blue!

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The essay you shared by Henry Wismayer was medicine. Truly. I have sat here for the last several minutes savouring the words. It wrapped units of language around what/how I feel when I go to the woods or the beach. Thank you. 🤎

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Another comment, sorry Mike, but I’m very excited for impossible colours!

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Loved the Gatsby mention here! It’s my favourite book! Currently reading the Secret Lives of Colour...sort of for work sort of not

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Jan 19, 2023Liked by Mike Sowden

What a great piece. Thank you!

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What a fascinating reminder of the power of socialization and cultural narratives. Thank you for this deep dive!

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Decades ago when I was about to send out birth announcements for my first child, I recall that my brother mentioned blue used to be the girls for girls and pink for boys. I had forgotten about that until your piece. Then as I love rabbit holes, I spent a bit of time going on a pink-blue journey today and found quite a few links that corroborated what my brother said. You've probably seen a few as well. Yes?

“The generally accepted rule is pink for the boys, and blue for the girls. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/

In any case, I say dress your little ones and yourself in what you darn well please. They'll develop their own preferences no matter what you do or don't do.

Thanks for a wonderful piece, Mike.

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Fascinating article, (is it called an article?) on Pink! I just finished creating a lovely pink Ameniko Cat stuffie for our new little granddaughter. I like pink. Maybe I’m old-fashioned. My late 87 year old mother was crazy about pink! It suited her beautiful grey-white hair colour. When my now young adult granddaughter was small, she was crazy for pink, as well! Her bedroom looked like someone spilled a giant bottle of Pepto-Bismal onto everything in her room. Everything. It was awesome.

Lately I’ve become somewhat obsessed with the colour pink. Love DeCaprio’s suit colour! Btw, this is my first comment here in substack. Now I’m off to read some of the links you created in this article.

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I never thought I could learn so much about pink in one sitting! Also, before today I'd never heard of extra-spectral colors. I'll never look at color quite the same way again!

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Very interesting website Everything Is Amazing and Set Travel Tufrismo

www.settravel.com.br I recommend go here !

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