Summary

The speaker launches into an elaborate explanation of the process of getting ready for a performance, from her hair to her makeup to her clothing. "It's arranged just so around my beautiful mask – take a good look! ...You place it deliberately in the spotlight, your death mask, because you know they can't help but seek your soul in the face, it's their instinct to look for it there. You paint the face as protection" (9). The speaker classifies her makeup and dress as that which keeps her separate and safe from her audience, "otherwise, everybody in the place would think they had permission to leap right down your throat and eat your heart out" (9).

Next, the speaker reflects on what it is actually like for her to perform on stage. She compares herself to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan (only referred to by their...