Pop

When I was between the threshold of childhood and adulthood, experiencing my first zits and, maybe, occasionally washing my face (not often, but — you must remember, Instagram and TikTok did not yet exist, nor did the word 'influencer,' to which half of my journalistic career is now devoted), I remember a few frenzied trips to drug stores poring over spot treatments, wondering which might miraculously eradicate the one pimple I had before the next school day.