FOURTH OF JULY

Happy Fourth of July!  This is the THIRD anniversary of "Gumbo Girl".  My original plan was to add collages for one year, but somehow or another, three years have passed, with 195 posts and 27, 263 page views.  I plan to continue adding collages a little while longer, and would like to thank everyone who has shown an interest.

DRAG RACING or HERE COME THE COPS!

One Sunday afternoon, a friend and I drove to the Old Lemonville Road just outside of Orange, Texas, to watch our high school boyfriends race their "souped-up" vehicles.  The year was 1958, and my family recently moved back to Orange from Beaumont, where there were official drag strips; however, that was not the case in Orange.  Soon after we arrived, someone yelled "Here come the Cops!" and everyone scattered, except my friend and myself.  We weren't aware drag racing was illegal.  The policemen were nice, but still wrote down our names and phone numbers to call our parents.  Mine were surprisingly understanding.

POPPED ART

Most parents thought their children could make art as well or better than popular examples of the new art movements - especially Pop Art and Abstract Expressionism.

AMERICAN BANDSTAND

Teenagers did the jitterbug to "top 40 music" on American Bandstand beginning in 1952, four years before Dick Clark was hired.  A television station in Lake Charles, LA, later hosted their own version of the popular show and invited area high school students to appear.  I was very happy to be included - not only to be on the show, but also because of our excused absence from school. 

TOOTH FAIRY?

Questions pertaining to the tooth fairy - Who was the tooth fairy?  What did it look like?  Was it male or female?  What did it do with the tooth collection?  How did it obtain unlimited financial resources?  Why did my next door neighbor get a silver dollar for her tooth when I only got a quarter?

SUMMER SHOW-OFFS

We spent hours perfecting suntans at the swimming pool while boys did their utmost to capture our attention.

BIG CHIEF

Most children learned to read and write fairly easily, and those who did not were thought to lack effort or ability , sometimes "failing" a grade or two.  Success came on the playground though since we all wanted to be on their softball or kickball team.