Though I grew up in a mid-sized house in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you would have thought at times that it was a battlefield.
2. The reason I say this is because my father and my brother, who was 18 months younger than I, constantly fought over my brother’s decision to wear his hair long. “Why,” might you ask, “would a young man wish to wear his hair down to his shoulders?”
3. First of all, you have to examine the times. When my brother and I entered our teenage years, rock ’n roll had just appeared on the music scene. The Beatles’ popularity was flourishing on the upswing and every teenage boy wanted to look and act like this British boy band.
4. For my brother Todd, this was an understatement for he not only wanted to look and act like the Beatles, but he also idolized them as musicians.
5. Yes, Todd wanted to be a musician when he grew up and even at age 15, he was working mightily to achieve his goal. Todd already devoted hours upon hours to playing the guitar he had purchased with his own money earned from days upon days of mowing lawns during the warm Minnesota summers.
6. What was to be a long-simmering feud began one snowy January night when Dad arrived in town after a stint as a geologist on an oil well in North Dakota, a state even colder than Minnesota.
7. “Hey, Todd, I’m glad to hear from your mother that you are receiving good grades but could you cut it?” inquired my father between hastily consumed bites of Mom’s delicious spaghetti.
8. “Cut what?” answered a confused Todd.
9. “Your hair, of course. Can you please cut your hair?”
10. “Why? I keep it clean.”
11. “It’s just too long, that’s all.”
12. “Too long for what?”
13. My mother and I glanced nervously at each other. Neither of us liked the direction the conversation was heading.
14. “Too long to be seen in public.”
15. "For me?” and following a pregnant pause, “Or for you?”
16. "All right, son — for me, if you must know. No self-respecting geologist would be seen in public like that.”
17. "Dad, I am not a geologist nor do I want to be one,” Todd shot back.
18. My father’s response to Todd’s reply was an incredulous stare. My grandfather had been a geologist, as were my father, an uncle, and an aunt—the profession was a family tradition. My father probably wondered in disbelief, How could Todd not want to be a geologist?
19. "Just because you are a geologist and wear your hair short doesn’t mean I have to do the same,” said Todd, pointing out Dad’s propensity for wearing his hair in a crew cut that could be described as abbreviated as newly mowed grass.
20. "No, no, it doesn’t but that’s not the point!” and my father slammed his glass of milk on our yellow laminate table to emphasize his point. “The point is that it looks like the hair those darn hippies wear who protest against working and the war!”
21. Of course, “the war” Dad was referring to was the Vietnam War, which had already been raging for three years. I didn’t know what Todd’s feelings were about the war, but I could probably wager a close guess.
22. That evening turned out to be Dad’s opening volley in his all-out campaign to get Todd to cut his flowing, blond hair. (Personally, I was jealous of Todd’s long hair — I would have traded his golden-blond locks for my mousy-brown ones in a New York second.)
23. At first, I resented Todd’s reluctance to part with his long hair as the relentless argument disturbed every family dinner Dad was able to attend. However, my brother’s perspective began infiltrating my mind.
24. One night, Dad said for the thousandth time, ”Todd, you need to cut your hair.” Without any premeditation, I piped up: “Dad, the fact that Todd’s hair is long doesn’t mean anything.”
25. Stunned by my defense of Todd, Dad ordered, “Young lady, go to your room!”
26. Dad's anger at Todd’s unwillingness to cut his hair wore on the entire family. Then, a month to the day after Todd’s 18th birthday, Todd received a draft notice in the mail.
27. That night at dinner, Dad, who was initially as quiet as a mouse, unexpectedly announced, “Todd, I will go to the draft board with you and tell them how you can’t be drafted into the army with that long hair.” Then, turning his face to Todd, he winked, smiled, and grasped my brother’s hand in an obvious show of support.
The dialogue in paragraphs 19 and 20 suggests that the narrator's father considers Todd's long hair very—

rebellious
impressive
practical
normal