...reminds me of a childhood memory. My ears have been pierced at least four times in my life. My ears could not understand the concept of earrings and each time I took my studs out, inevitably my ears would heal the holes. And not just over weeks, it was more like days. When I was a young girl, my ears were very stubborn and they hurt painfully from infections and repiercings.

My mother grew up in a culture where the girls are pierced at birth or within the first few months of babyhood. But she didn't carry on the tradition with me. I was much older when she introduced me to this rite of passage for womanhood. I think maybe I was 6 or 7. It hurt. We cleaned my ears with rubbing alcohol everynite and twisted the studs so that my ears would not continue to heal around the metal. We were diligent and consistent, but still my ears would not take to these foreign objects.