The Fabulously Naked Noggin of Margaret Baker

If you happened to pass by a newsstand last week, you saw this attention grabbing cover art. The pristine and plugged in head of the immortal "man" belongs to Margaret H. Baker, whose head also appears on the cool cover done by Chip Kidd for my memoir, Bald in the Land of Big Hair: A True Story (HarperCollins 2001).

And there's a lot going on inside that head.

Her career has included all sorts of freaky-deaky modeling jobs - with and without wigs - movies, TV, opera, theatre, writing, and a whole lot of unique Margfabness. Her stage musical, My Life As a Bald Soprano, explores the desperate quest of a little girl who just wanted to fit in but comes to realize her shiny head is part of what makes her...shine. She's currently developing a one-woman show with HBO's Peter Bunche.

As an international spokesperson for CAP (Children's Alopecia Project), Marg reaches out to kids facing the daunting prospect of being different in a world that loves same.

Margaret doesn't suffer from alopecia totalis; she features it. Instead of trying to cover or cure the fact that she has nary a hair, she's embraced her total baldness as part (but only a small part) of what makes her unique. A lesson that takes many artists a lifetime to learn. (I can't wait to see what her head does next!)