1965 (Camp Maria Pratt, Connecticut)
We went to Highland Lake (Taylor Brook) on our bike hike today. (15 miles) we’ll be back Thursday.I rode the whole way. I slept between Debbie and Bubbles. We swam two times and it was great. What a beautiful Lake!
1966 (Mexico)
This is it. I’ve made friends, fallen in love and - Juan proposed to me. And I do love him. We’ll see. We’ll see.
Packed today. Went to the bank with Juan. I - well, I’ve already said it twice. See above.
Ate at Sanborn’s one last time, walked home. A guy in a white VW followed us from Insurgentes almost to Eugenia. Cute guy, but still…
Comment 2023
When we went to the bank, Juan took a savings brochure from the desk and added our names. What I don’t remember is if I ever told my family about Juan’s proposal. (Bob, are you out there?) I did tell Mrs. Doring and she laughed at me, which might have made me more careful about sharing the news.
1978
Suddenly, everything is different. A has resigned - effective immediately - and I will be teaching history of costume this year, not clothing construction. I am surprised by the suddenness of it, though not by the fact of her leaving. That was inevitable. She told me, “Now that I don’t work here anymore, we can be friends.” As if it were on tap, ready to be turned on and off.
But it is sudden, and I have to get various things out of the way very quickly - all the garbage I’ve been doing all summer - so I can think about this course. A course I haven’t thought about in nearly two years. I looked at my old notes, and they are not useful.
Comment 2023
A was hired the same year I was, for the same position. She was finishing her PhD, so they hired me as an instructor to fill the position until she arrive. Long story short, she arrived, we were friends until she decided we weren’t. She h-a-t-e-d the department, the students and the entire living-near-DC-thing. Got a job offer from the Metropolitan Museum, went back to New York. Saw her again in 1982 at a Smithsonian event, then never again. We had some very good times together, until we didn’t. It happens. No hard feelings.
1980
It’s been a very busy couple of weeks. Finishing the dissertation has been a bitch, especially with the heat as miserable as it’s been. Marley came very, very close to dying last week. I really had begun to try and accept her death, once the diagnosis was cancer. But she’s home after surgery and healing, getting better all the time. She’s dragging her hind leg, which bothers her. Mom arrives today, with Carol and family for a picnic, and the weather promises to be relatively decent.
Comment 2023
I do not miss spending hours dissertating on a (very warm) electric typewriter in an un-airconditioned house in DC in August.
1986
Returned yesterday from our trip north. We really had a good time, visiting and touristing. Sights included Dinosaur State Park (brought back a plaster cast of a track), the Empire State Building (long lines but terrific view - - Kiddo loved it.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Indian clothing exhibit; long on pretty and short on information, as usual.) and the Museum of Natural History (great dinosaurs, as always).
It’s taken me almost six months, but I think I’m really into this pregnancy, sore feet, worries and all. I feel a little better, am enjoying the exercise, and Kiddo 2 kicks up a storm once or twice a day to keep me amused. Already, he’s good company. In my fantasies, he’s gangly with a large nose and - - inexplicably - - red hair! I’ve been buying more clothes for him lately, and having them helps me think of him more as an individual, not a rerun of Kiddo 1. (Which is highly unlikely, anyway.) As long as he lets me get my sleep by the end of January.
Comment 2023
Gangly, check. Big nose, check. Red hair - had to wait until Grandkiddo two for that! And letting me sleep? You can guess.
1997
Summer is winding down. I still do not feel the excitement of anticipation over the new year, new students. I suppose it will come. But I also fear the loss of my special time in the morning, when I exercise, read, reflect and prepare myself for the day. I hope I can hang onto it!!
2023
My current productivity hack: COVID quarantine. I am still negative, and BOY am I getting lot done!
2024
I am still basking in the beauty of the house concert that Kiddo 1 and two friends gave Friday night. Until they post the video of the performance, here is the song that took me into the clouds.
Red Molly in concert in Fall 2009 performing May I Suggest by Susan Werner.
His family was from Campeche (Ciudad del Carmen), but he became a professor in Mexico City. Not a bad alternative future!
I don't remember you sharing the news of Juan's proposal back in the day. I guess that trip was a lot more intense for you than the sponsors imagined it would be. Just think, if things had turned out differently, you might be writing your Substack entries from Guadalajara or some other place down Mexico way.