Posted on 05/17/2006 7:40:27 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
My son was on the phone for hours last week, negotiating, sometimes even arguing, with his friends. The prom was coming up and his gang was trying to figure out where to go post-party, whether they should rent a limo, or buy corsages for their girlfriends. (My son's girlfriend does not want a corsage: The pin will leave marks on her dress, she says. Good for her. Less money for me.)
The whole thing has become ridiculously expensive; when my daughter graduated from high school four years ago, we went from store to store gown shopping and it was a dreary experience looking at these flimsy frou frou pastel creations made especially for prom night by banal designers who order pink polyester by the yard. We bought her an Audrey Hepburn-style designer gown, black and plunging in the back, which she has only worn once in four years. Good investment that was. Glad I didn't buy the cigarette holder and the tiara, too.
With the prom tickets, tuxedo rental, dinner, etc., my son's prom evening cost more than $200, the end result being that I didn't see the little darling until late Sunday afternoon because he had to sleep off the effects.
When I was graduating from high school, I vetoed the prom. No one who thought they were cool in those days went to the prom, only the nerds and jocks. The prom queen, if I remember correctly, was the captain of the girls' basketball team, a clean-cut teacher's dream. Only a hundred or so classmates of mine went to the prom in the streamer-decorated school cafeteria -- our high school had 3,000 students, so the turnout was negligible. (My son's prom, in contrast, was held in a swank downtown hotel.)
I likely spent prom night goofing around with my friends, smoking many cigarettes, eating french fries and gravy at the local diner, then going to a movie. Maybe "MASH" or "Woodstock" or "Gimme Shelter" or "Catch-22." There were a lot of anti-war movies in those days, the height of the Vietnam War.
That was in 1970 and those who thought of themselves as anti-establishment hippies just didn't do proms. Anything that seemed to thwart the school administration's efforts to make us behave was cool.
The night of the prom I was probably wearing my blue jean skirt with the flower patches on it, a scarf tied around my waist and a droopy hat, and I likely gave little thought to what my conformist confreres were doing in the school cafeteria that evening.
In the decade after I left high school, proms became de rigueur, and now everyone goes, jocks and nerds and everyone in between. It is part of the spring high school ritual, and while these are more formal than the proms held in my day -- even though there is a lot of teenage drinking on the sly -- I think the kids enjoy themselves more than we did. They are less anguished about their futures and their relationships with adults, and all in all, that's a very good thing.
mailto:jhunter@suntimes.com
"That was in 1970 and those who thought of themselves as anti-establishment hippies just didn't do proms. Anything that seemed to thwart the school administration's efforts to make us behave was cool. The night of the prom I was probably wearing my blue jean skirt with the flower patches on it, a scarf tied around my waist and a droopy hat, and I likely gave little thought to what my conformist confreres were doing in the school cafeteria that evening."
I'm about the same age as this washed-up old babe and didn't make the prom either but you can bet that her and her "anti-establishment hippie" friends were the real conformists back in 1970.
Sounds like she's longing for the old days of blue jean skirts with flower patches. Yuck. And, you're right: they WERE the conformists then, whether they realized it or not.
When I cover the sixties in class, I always show a couple of brief clips from "Woodstock." Everybody looks the same, talks the same, and acts the same in it.
A lot of my colleagues are still reliving "the days." Still marching against THE WAR. Still living for the freedom summmer and the summer of love. And then they teach their classes all the stuff they only have digested.
A lot of older Freepers may remember: it was just one hell of a mess.
CHICAGOLAND PING (on a lighter note ...)
It was just this kind of insanity from the lefties that caused so many of us to embark on the long march toward to the right back in the late 60s and 70s.
At least it's comforting to see her daughter did not seem to get indoctrinated by her mom's hippie ways.
Right...the 2,900 who didn't go to the prom were the conformists, as opposed to the 100 non-conforming prom-goers who had a good time. And the funny thing is, this washed up old liberal still doesn't get it. This group of liberal Boomers have had the least fun and satisfaction in life of any generation. They should be called the "Left Out Generation."
"My son's girlfriend does not want a corsage:... Good for her. Less money for me."
Why doesn't your son get J-O-B and pick up some of the cost for HIS night out?
Wonder if she'll buy him name brand or generic condoms for the night. "It costs a little more, but consider it an investment in his future against further expenses..."
DUDE ! Next thing you'll tell me is jerry garcia's dead.
Non-conformist, or is it just that nobody wanted to be her date?
Gimme Shelter was anti-war? I must've missed that part. I thought it was a message from the gun grabbers "You CAN with a gun fight with a knife".
I thought Woodstock was about 3 days of stinky hippies engaging in theft (the live event version of downloading music), drugs ("if the acid is brown, run the dealer outta town...") and anarchy (burnign down the burger vendor's booth). 10% of the crowd actually stuck around to watch Jimi Hendrix.
Maybe they went to an "adults only" (18+) movie and watched some sex. You could see porn in theaters in those pre-vcr days.
If this guy/lady hasn't married off a kid yet, he/she is in for some REAL sticker shock! Prom, schwom, the wedding industry is where the BIG $$$$$$ are!!!
My parents never even knew the sixties existed. ;) Seriously, they never saw a hippy except on television. Too busy with school, too busy with life. Guess that's what happens when you go to a Baptist school.
Dad worked in a pool hall, mom played volleyball, and a night on the town was splitting a burger and a shake on an occasion.
Hundreds of dollars on prom? Yeah, right. I think I like their way of doing things better.
Only a hundred or so classmates of mine went to the prom in the streamer-decorated school cafeteria -- our high school had 3,000 students, so the turnout was negligible. (My son's prom, in contrast, was held in a swank downtown hotel.)[snip]
That was in 1970 and those who thought of themselves as anti-establishment hippies just didn't do proms. Anything that seemed to thwart the school administration's efforts to make us behave was cool.
So 100 out of 3,000 went (okay, make that out of less than 1,000 seniors). So that's 10%. And she considers her action "independent"? She was part of the 90% majority. She was different like everybody else.
I wonder if she realizes that VOTING is the establishment's game, man. It's all part of the MAN's efforts to make us behave. Ya even gotta REGISTER to vote, man.
A couple of years ago the senior girls in the Viet Kieu community here were all in a wgurk figuring out what to wear to the prom. It was the first year that the families decided to let their daughters go to the dance. Everyone wanted dresses that their families were unwilling to pay for. One of the girls asked Ong My (that's me) what I thought. I urged her to simply wear her best ao dai as it is the most beautiful outfit that a young Viet lady can wear and can be as formal as needed. Several of the girls did wear their ao dai and made the socially prominent girls angry with them because their boyfriends only wanted to look at the girls in ao dai and only talked about those girls. Ao dai and long long hair is the pinnacle on slender almond eyed lasses.
I likely spent prom night goofing around with my friends, smoking many cigarettes, eating french fries and gravy at the local diner, then going to a movie. Maybe "MASH" or "Woodstock" or "Gimme Shelter" or "Catch-22." There were a lot of anti-war movies in those days, the height of the Vietnam War.That was in 1970 and those who thought of themselves as anti-establishment hippies just didn't do proms. Anything that seemed to thwart the school administration's efforts to make us behave was cool.
The night of the prom I was probably wearing my blue jean skirt with the flower patches on it, a scarf tied around my waist and a droopy hat, and I likely gave little thought to what my conformist confreres were doing in the school cafeteria that evening.
She remembers the anti-social attitudes and stereotypes of her generation but other than that, she has no memories of her OWN experiences.
She was so busy raging against the machine that she forgot to live for herself.
At least her son is trying to do something that will be memorable.
Maybe her husband should've taken her out for fries and an anti-war movie after their hippie marriage ceremony. "Honeymoons are soooooo establishment and all that...".
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