A Case Study of the Blue Hair

Chad Mullens

The slender man in the lavender, one-piece suit waited patiently in the sunken center of the lecture hall for the students to finish shuffling into the circular room. From the look on their faces, most would have preferred to stay home and receive the coursework via implant. However, the professor is ‘old school’ and would rather interact with his students. Additionally, Anthropology is a hands on discipline.

It was the first day of the semester and Professor Uwe was excited to begin his lecture. He eyed the holo-clock, anticipating the chime that would announce the commencement of class. There were only twenty students enrolled, but he hoped that this first lecture would sprout interest in his course, and in the study of the prior century. After all, he had dreams of becoming tenured.

Ding, the soft chime rang.

“Welcome to Anthropology of the Twenty-first Century. My name is Professor Uwe, you may call me Professor Uwe,” he said warmly as he paced and clasped his narrow hands behind his back.

“I know most of you would have preferred to stay in your dorm rooms…in your pajamas, but I feel that to study your history, you need to become immersed in it. I’ve already sent the syllabus, lecture schedules, and homework assignments to your accounts. You may access them through your implants at your convenience. You will see that I am a bit eccentric in regards to assignments. I expect you to hand write all of your observations and reports and deliver them in person each class. We will be meeting twice a week, and classes will take approximately two hours. Any questions?” he asked while looking expectantly at each of the young faces.

The students appeared disinterested and bored. Several had the nerve to talk to one another in murmured tones while a few others had linked to the net and were pursuing other ventures. The professor kept a pleasant smile on his face while walking over to the podium and gently coughed.

A few of the students looked up, but not enough. Uwe coughed more forcefully hoping to get the attention of the remaining youths. They continued to ignore him.

Keeping the pleasant smile on his ebony face, Uwe deftly entered commands into the touch display on the podium. The lights dimmed in the circular room and several of students, the ones linked to the net, looked around in surprise.

“As I said before, I am a bit eccentric. I don’t know how your other professors conduct their classes, but I actually expect you to pay attention. Therefore, each class I will be instituting a net blackout. I think you should be able to handle being in the dark for a couple of hours.”

“You can’t do that!” protested a pale girl with pink hair.

“I believe I can, young lady. You are welcome to leave if you desire, but you will not pass the class if you do,” Uwe replied, the casual smile never leaving his face.

“That’s not fair, you can’t just lock us in a dark room and expect us to just sit here,” a burly boy whined.

“Believe it or not, I do. We’re wasting time, and I’ll warn you now, if we continue to debate what I can do as the professor of this course, the lecture will run over. Now, can anyone tell me what they know about the culture of the early part of the last century, particularly the first decade?”

Several moments passed as the students digested the fact that they would have to actually participate in class instead of downloading condensed versions of information and regurgitating it.

Finally, a young woman of Asian descent offered, “During the last century and the one prior to that, the world was focused on industrialization and the advancement of technology. Politics and wars were prevalent as economies were still separate and nations vied for power. Pollution and disease were rampant before the discovery of cold fusion.”

“A very succinct summation, thank you. But do any of you know how people lived? Do you know what drove the people? Do you know what they did for fun? This is what Cultural Anthropology is about. The study of what drives people. Anyone that has the interest can access the information through the net, but in this class I will allow you to see it firsthand. I primarily focus on the culture of North America, but I’ll try to diversify the curriculum as we progress. All of that information is available in the syllabus, as I told you before,” Uwe hoped that he was getting their attention.

The professor again walked to the podium and took a small sip of water before continuing. “My theory is that before the homogenization of our planet’s population, humanity was on the verge of branching into sub-species. I’ve spent years pouring over old vid footage and reading the available literature. Examples of what I mean are in my book, which I expect you to read.” He paused to gauge their responsiveness.

“Before we waste anymore time, I’d like to begin the lecture with a topic I find fascinating. This sub-species died out early in the twenty-first century for reasons I am still trying to figure out. A recent discovery of video footage allowed me a rare chance to study them in their native environment,” Uwe stammered in excitement.

A few touches on his display, and the room went dark. “This is a valuable opportunity, because the footage is extensive and filmed from an angle that allowed me to convert it into a holo-display. I think you will find this intriguing.”

The gloomy room was suddenly illuminated by a inverted cone of light. The students reclined their chairs so that they could view the display as it played out on the ceiling. There was no sound to the hologram, but the images were colorful and bright.

“Does anyone know what this is?” Uwe queried.

“A casino?” offered a red haired boy in a gray unitard.

“Yes!” the Professor exclaimed. “I was hoping that someone would know.”

He continued with his explanation, “For several hundred years, gambling was a behavioral phenomenon indicative of a degrading society. First established in the United Stated during the western expansion and subsequent en-slavery of Native Americans, gambling houses were established to moderate the economy by taking extra earnings from men. They were cesspools of depravity and corruption. Prostitution and violence were very common. The primary methods of gambling were card games. Hundreds of thousands were killed in the violent gun battles resulting from crazed behavior of withdrawal symptoms.”

Several of the students gasped in horror.

Uwe smiled at their response. “An unforeseen benefit occurred in the mid-twentieth century with the settling of Las Vegas. Originally built as a credit laundering operation, the casinos in Vegas became a playground for the growing, unstable population. Eventually, it became a diversified tourist venue offering legalized prostitution, public displays of abhorrent behavior, and syndicated fights to the death.” Uwe was satisfied with the rapt attention he was getting from the students.

“Toward the latter half of the twentieth century, the Native Americans were able to win their freedom and instituted their own casinos. Many of the tribes used the money they made to improve their Reservations, which were often barren tracks of land given to them as bribes by the government after the near annihilation of their way of life. This footage was recovered from one of those casinos. Here is where the sub-species Humanis Azurhairus, more commonly know as Blue Hairs, thrived.”

“If you turn your attention back to the holo, you will see a fine specimen enter from dock of the mass transit system,” Uwe said excitedly. “See the signature cone of blue-tinged hair, and the palsied quake of her movements? Note the way she seems timid and docile. They often appeared this way. I theorize that it was an evolutionary disguise, as you’ll see evident in a moment.”

Several of the male students snickered at the sight of an elderly woman pushing a walker and the implication that she was dangerous.

The holo followed the Blue Hair down a long, beige hallway. Her movements were slow and feeble, until she rounded a corner and looked over the sea of blinking lights. A look of rapture spread across her countenance as she picked up the aluminum walker and sprinted the last few yards. She already had her currency in hand as she took a seat at a reeled slot machine.

“Look at her body language,” Uwe instructed. “She appears docile and occupied as she plays. Yet look at her hands. They are hitting the buttons quite forcefully. You can also tell a Blue Hair by their garb. Observe the synthetic material. It was called polyester.”

“Why do you imply they are dangerous, Professor Uwe?” asked a student from the darkened perimeter.

“Keep watching…”

For several minutes the images flickered and rotated as the angles changed. The Blue Hair appeared relaxed, almost in a trance, as she methodically pressed the same button.

Professor Uwe waited expectantly with a broad smile and a look of adoration. He was rewarded when the class jumped in their seats at the scene before them. The Blue Hair they were observing had just lashed out at another Blue Hair that tried to take possession of the adjacent machine. It looked like an ancient gladiator battle as they wielded walker and cane.

“See how territorial they were?”

Many of the students nodded their heads. Uwe beamed with pride at the interest they were showing. He let them watch for several more moments before calling their attention. “You have seen how aggressive they were. Now watch how how she marks her territory.”

The elderly woman looked around her nervously, never missing a slap of the button, before the pale blue of her pants blossomed into an azure shade.

“Gross! She just peed herself,” screamed a girl.

“I told you, very territorial. Behavior like that is often displayed in the animal kingdom. The only other sub-species of human that displayed this type of territorial marking were the Drunkards and the Homeless, both of which we will cover in great specificity and detail in the coming weeks. Machines called ATMs were a great source for capturing images.”

Professor Uwe took a seat and watched the holo with his students. He was proud that the spark of interest had been ignited in their young minds. He was fairly certain that attendance would improve once these pupils share the experience with their friends. He would almost certainly gain tenure. The casual smile never left his face.