Gone East

My connection to Sadie Hawkins day is high school. We all remember the good ol' Sadie Hawkins Dance, right? The idea was that the girls would ask the guys to the dance! And it was all western-style. Somewhere, I have a school photo of me sitting on a haystack with a guy on my lap! (It's all reversed.)

My senior year, my girlfriends and I went together with one guy (maybe we kidnapped him, who can remember these things), and then at the dance, we also found these cute freshman guys without dates and made them our dates for the night! Not the typical way to approach the Sadie Hawkins Dance, but we were in control, so why not! And believe me, those freshman guys loved us for the rest of the year. I think one is still stalking one of my girlfriends, but whatever. :-)

Let's not skip on by this line, "...it was all western-style."

This instantly brings to mind the image of Jo Ann dressed up like the cowgirl character in Toy Story.

The cowboy hat with the string under the chin, red-checkered shirt, miniskirt that sorta flares out at a 45 degree angle, decorative cowboy boots.

Garsh Missy!

ooops! Isn't there something terribly Non-PC about this? I mean what
happens if she wants to marry a her? Can she still ask her? Or does she
have to wait since it's the day that the other her is supposed to ask? And
what if a guy asks a guy? Is it wrong because guys aren't supposed to be
asking today? But a guy will have to take yes for a question so, what if a
guy wants to ask a guy?

This is Massachusetts. Come on people. We are supposed to have answers
to this type of thing.

I'm amazed Sherm hasn't been looking into this. It seems the type of
question he would have brought up or could at least have an opinion on...

I just ignore things that have to do with girls.

I don't want any cooties.

Ya know, about the non-PC aspect of the Sadie Hawkins Dance... yeah, I know! I remember thinking that back then. I think high schools all handle the dance differently. My high school back then was soooo laid back that honestly, anything could go and no one would bat an eyelash (unless they were flirting)!

Jack, regarding the western-style aspect of the dance... isn't that always the style of the Sadie Hawkins Dance? I said western, but I think she was really more of a hillbilly kind of character.

Your Toy Story character is pretty funny... I haven't worn the red cowboy hat with the string since I was really little, but I definitely got into the western shirt, flared miniskirt and cowboy boots! That and my Parochial school skirts were some of my staples of my college wardrobe! (Hey, it was the 80's.)

In college, I was wearing a Parochial school skirt and walked by a Catholic high school near campus and a few students stopped me to ask which school I went to--I was near their campus so I think they were wondering what I was doing there. I said that I was in college and they looked at my skirt and were totally confused! (Not too many outside of Parochial school were wearing those back then, so it just threw them.) I remember them drilling me a bit, and I was like "Look, I'm 21. I can get into bars and drink whisky, you want to mess with me?" Thank goodness I was an older college kid or they might have wanted to beat me up for being near their turf! Those Catholic girls are tough; it was like "Grease" all over again!

Okay, slight embellishment, but most of that is true! :-)

Sadie Hawkins Day, an American folk event, made its debut in Al Capp's Li'l Abner strip November 15, 1937. Sadie Hawkins was "the homeliest gal in the hills" who grew tired of waiting for the fellows to come a courtin'. Her father, Hekzebiah Hawkins, a prominent resident of Dogpatch, was even more worried about Sadie living at home for the rest of his life, so he decreed the first annual Sadie Hawkins Day, a foot race in which the unmarried gals pursued the town's bachelors, with matrimony the consequence. By the late 1930's the event had swept the nation and had a life of its own. Life magazine reported over 200 colleges holding Sadie Hawkins Day events in 1939, only two years after its inception. It became a woman empowering rite at high schools and college campuses, long before the modern feminist movement gained prominence. The basis of Sadie Hawkins Day is that women and girls take the initiative in inviting the man or boy of their choice out on a date, typically to a dance attended by other bachelors and their aggressive dates. When Al Capp created the event, it was not his intention to have the event occur annually on a specific date because it inhibited his freewheeling plotting. However, due to its enormous popularity and the numerous fan letters Capp received, the event became an annual event in the strip during the month of November, lasting four decades.

http://www.lil-abner.com/sadiehawk.html

Jo Ann in cowgirl miniskirts, and now "Parochial school skirts"... it just get better and better!

By the way, when you were telling the story about walking past the parochial (is that how it's spelled?) school in the skirt, I thought you were gonna say that a nun came out and busted you for playing hooky. I saw her dragging you back inside by the earlobe, whacking you with a ruler all the way.

Jack - that is too funny! I love that story!

Wearing a Catholic school skirt in college, walking by a Catholic high school and getting busted by a nun who thinks you're a student there, and thrown back in some parochial (yes, that's how it's spelled) school! It's like a Catholic School version of Cheech & Chong's "Born in East LA"!!

Do you have any screenwriters reading your blog? If this ends up a Hollywood movie next year, you better get your money, Jack!

Sister Mary Elephant!!!!

Class.

Claaaaaaas.

Claaaaaaaaaas.

CLLLLLAAAAAAAASSSSSSSS!

Thank you.