dippin dye in high school

this is probably not the thing
but
i just had to write this first
i've been seeing all this black face news
which, at first i thought, that has to have been like the early 60s
but no
it was like when i was in high school
and i just cannot imagine what would have happened
if someone had shown up for halloween in black face
maybe they would have been expelled
or given detention
but
at the very least they would have been sent home with a good talking to
probably by mr anderson
the vice principal
who was black
and probably could have done a better job of driving home the point

idk
i literally cannot imagine it happening
the fact that it was glorified with a picture in a college year book
(i'm not sure i knew they even had college yearbooks)
blows my mind beyond beyond

but
i did go to school in purple face
actually
i really committed
i bathed in dr martin's dye
for the record, it turned out to be semi-permanent
so it was a pretty big commitment
i used makeup on my face, not dye, thankfully
but i can't remember exactly what i used
maybe cream eye shadow?

anyway
i wanted to dress up
i didn't have a specific thing in mind
dyeing myself seemed like fun
and i thought--
i'll be a venusian--  they're purple, right?!
or something like that
maybe the venusian idea was first
but
i suspect the dye was calling

now
no one was offended by my choices
but also no one understood, at all
i felt i was very much in an old school star trek vibe
but
at best others thought it was stupid
and at worst
the girl who came in a military jacket
with her face painted as a skull with grease paint
now
she absolutely didn't put more work into it
and her skin wasn't stained for three days until the repeated scrubbing
finally finally removed the dye
and
i mean death as war
wow, how original in 1982
but
whatever
she told me that (basically)
since i had not made my costume a statement
of my political (or i think by extension identity political) opinion in some way
i had FAILED in some very intrinsically
in my very being
and
she was embarrassed for me

wow, i said
i just hadn't really taken it all that seriously

she was a fascinating person
i think she started in media
and i was like
NO you seem like a theatre major
you should switch to theatre
[of course, it's possible that i'm getting that backward now
i'm not certain]
she did however switch majors
so
either i was not the only one who told her that
or
she really valued my opinion
which might explain the let down


but
she started going out in the evening
trying to pass for male
trying to pick up girls as a guy
i'm not sure how i know that
i don't remember
i know she said something

that was a great year of english
my theatre friend (and i didn't have many of those)
what was her name
she was from nyc and was always complaining that there was nothing to do here
she was in that class too
and
one day
she was practicing makeup for a domestic abuse character
and she wore it to class and did a whole scene with ms eichhorn
except ms eichhorn didn't know it was a scene
she was really shaken
and sent her to the nurse
i think we had a test that day
and she got to take it later or make it up, or something
what was her name
carla garcia, maybe?!
no!  i remembered SANDRA HERNANDEZ
shit
maybe i'm goin senile

i just looked ms eichhorn up
looks like she's a therapist of some kind
probably doesn't trace back to that day, but
funny if it did
debbie had that class with me too
it was a huge class
ms eichhorn was
not exactly a hippy
she was a playwrite
she wore jeans
and shirts that belled slightly at the wrist
she was slim, but disproportionately hip-y
and her hair was the lankest bob there ever was
she had a style
and it was not appreciated among the student body
but
i liked it
i thought it worked for her

she was jewish, she mentioned
in what context originally i'm not sure
but
it was somehow related to her non-use of soap
which was what earned her debbie's undying hatred

now, she said
everyone is going to think jews are dirty
what the serious fuck is she talking about

that was one of debbie's catch phrases "what the serious fuck"
it was good
i still find myself saying it this much later


well, idk
this has gone on long enough
i might not have time for anything else
this might be the thing for tonight
we'll see
i might start something else
or
i might have to do it tomorrow
like
all sheherazade-y