TheBanyanTree: Fwd: Cheated

[Julie Anna Teague]

Once again, Tobie, you have said what I wanted to say but couldn't quite wrap my
tongue around it as well as you did.  My first thoughts about that particular
time period was that, while I might've been required to dress for dinner, which
is sometimes nice, as a woman, I wouldn't have been allowed to be a whole lot
more than a lovely sidedish in the real world.  I wouldn't have had the options
I have now, that's for sure.  And even with the women's movement happening in my
lifetime, I find myself wishing I'd grown up even later and had the options
women younger than me have.  Oh, you can find a few striking examples from that
era, for sure.  Some fabulous women writers and activists and artists.  But most
women were struggling through kids and marriage and God forbid they should
threaten the status quo.  

Case in point.  My mother was valedictorian of her highschool class.  They did
not let her in on this little secret because she was pregnant with me and got
married in her senior year.  She was not allowed to know, or get any recognition
or make any speeches because she was a bad girl.  She found out ten years later
when, as the secretary of the high school, she ran across the old records.  Talk
about cheated.   

But yes, we'd all like some beauty in our lives.  Some black and white, some
social scenes.  My friends and I wanted a return of salons where fashionable
people drink wine and talk about books and politics.  So we created one.  We
meet every Spring and Summer Friday on someone's deck or back porch.  In Winter
we are less regular, but have spent many Friday evenings in someone's living
room, discussing things that are important to us and eating canapes.  We aren't
glamorous, but we are glowing in our own golden light of connection.  

Two of my best women friends and I make a date with each other once every month.
 We sometimes go to restaurants where reservations are accepted, but always
where there local flavor and a real chef.  We don't smoke, but we certainly
linger over fine food and conversation.  I find myself so excited when it is our
lunch date day that I dress up a little, comb my hair, put on some lipstick to
meet my lovely friends.  

My partner and I and friends sometimes go out to nightclubs to hear Jazz or
Blues or Rock.  Maybe not the same vibe as Sam's Place or The Ritz or the like
in the old movies.  We don't wear tuxes and ball gowns.  But it's nice and close
and the music is good and the drinks are flowing and there is that undefinable
thing called atmosphere.  For years we belonged to a dance group--Old Time
Contradance and Waltzes.  This is the 30's and 40's of the Smokey Mountains
rather than New York City, but it is a good part of that period that is still
alive.  

So don't fret, friend.  Make your own Golden Era, shaken or stirred.   

Julie
  
 
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