A DAY IN HER CHAIR

Ready for a fresh cut and a good story? Here’s one with a snip of hope, an unexpected prize and the serendipitous beginning of a small-town barbershop.

- KANDACE CHAPPEL

"Men chat just as much as women. They just talk about different thing. and some stuff, I'm gonna have to take to the grave!

I arrive in a town that’s coming back to life. The revitalization of Manistee, a portside town known for its fishing and lumber industry, is well underway with 150 businesses in the downtown area alone. From the north, the historic ship, the SS City of Milwaukee, greets visitors first. Farther along, I’m stopped by a Marquette Rail train going through town, long-long-short-long, sounding its crossing with a load from the Morton Salt company. While locals cut up a side street to beat the train, I wait at the crossing, taking in the sight of a living, breathing town hard at work.

I’m early.

I pull open a heavy wooden door. Inside, a black leather couch sits on dark hickory flooring framed by inky black walls. To the right, a caribou mount. Below, a huge vintage globe stands, faded, solid. Browns and tans fill the room. It’s a man’s world.

Welcome to J. Catlett & Co., home of Manistee’s resident female barber.

Jamie Catlett keeps clipping.

“Off the ears, clean it up?” she asks the man in her chair.

I tuck into the far end of the dark couch.

Jamie offers me a quick hello, but keeps her eyes on her work.

“My wife usually cuts my hair, but Jamie’s my back up,” the man, John, tells me.

Long pause.

“Plus, she offers me a beer when I want it!”

In the corner, stands a water cooler and next to it, a mini fridge with Coca-Cola, Goose Island Brewing Company’s 312 ale from Chicago and what looks to be a salad for Jamie’s lunch. The caribou stands watch over it all.