Five Minutes explores five minutes of a life in one hundred words. Five minutes is edited by Susanna Baird, with editorial support from managing editor Maria s. picone, newsletter editor kate meen, and founding reader bobbi lerman, plus our rotating team of guest readers, who you can meet in the latest newsletteR. Five Minutes was founded in October 2020, with the Salem (Mass.)-based writing group Carrot Cake Writers supplying the journal’s first pieces. We’d love to read your five. Submit here

Sheerly Polite

The hairdresser asked me to remove my glasses before she began cutting my hair; my mom put them in her purse. A blur of motions reflected back from the mirror. I could hear the click of the scissors and feel wet locks descending to the floor. She turned my chair and we talked about what I was learning in third grade. Then I felt the intense blast of the hair-dryer and tugs of the brush. “What do you think?” she asked, aiming my chair back to the mirror. “I like it,” I nodded politely. I couldn’t see myself at all.

María Ordovás-Montañés enjoys writing true-life stories. Two-time Gotham Writers Stories Everywhere Contest winner, Five Minutes published, and award-winning Out There podcast contributor.

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