I was a big John Steinbeck fan during high school. I devoured everything the Nobel Prize-winning author turned out, including “Travels with Charley,” his 1962 travelogue about a 1960 roadtrip with Charley, his standard poodle.

“Someday, I’ll get a dog and do the same thing,” I promised myself.

Well, I didn’t get a dog, I got an 85-pound couch potato—a greyhound. Ozzy is happiest on Saturday mornings with hour-long (that’s not a typo) belly rubs. While I’m placating Ozzy, I’m perusing the internet and weekend newspapers in search for news about the household and personal products industry; call us armchair travelers. Last month, a few articles caught my eye.

Two of them were about bigger-than-life beauty personalities whose paths diverged spectacularly. The first centered on LVMH Chairman Bernard Arnault’s “Empire of Desirability” and his plans to turn over the keys to his kingdom to one of his five children. In contrast, another article noted how disgraced businessman Ronald Perelman defaulted on his commitment to fund the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City. The Center still bears his name, but former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg shouldered the financial burden of making the PAC a reality.

“I can afford it,” Bloomberg said. “And they need the money.”

Perelman could use a few bucks, too. The long-time Revlon chairman left after 40 years at the helm when the company’s creditors took over. Now, Perelman is busy selling assets—“sic semper tyrannis.”

Another tale of tyranny was detailed in The New York Times’ Book Review, and it’s not pretty, either. Mona Awad’s “Rouge” is a fantastical story about the role beauty plays in defining and confining self-image based on one’s reflection in the mirror. As the critic, Megan O’Grady, writes: “The story of Snow White is an unsettling motif in the novel, and Belle’s self-loathing is critically connected to the fact that she has inherited her Egyptian father’s darker skin and hair. Awad nails the beauty industry lingo that insidiously affirms this hierarchy of skin tone, in which ‘glow’ and ‘brightening’ are purely euphemisms.”

From the front page to the business page to the book review, getting through The Times takes time, and that leaves more time with Ozzy.

We hope you enjoy this edition of Happi. We welcome your comments and suggestions!

Tom Branna
Chief Content Officer
[email protected]