My daughter’s 7th grade just finished reading The Outsiders. Because my girls are a year apart, her older sister read it last year. After hearing so many moms talk about how much they loved this book, I sat down one Saturday morning and read the whole thing cover to cover. I had never read it or seen the movie, and honestly I hadn’t heard of it until the first time I toured the English class they read it in.
After they finish reading the book, the unit culminates in 60′s Day at school. This is an award-winning curriculum program our 7th grade teaching team developed. The kids can dress as a greaser or a soc. (If they don’t dress up they get a lunch detention.) Instead of going to their regular classes, the rotate activities with their advisor / homeroom teacher. They learn some dances from the 60′s and ogle a teacher’s yearbook from the 60′s and make up music videos to songs from the 60′s. During their morning break parent volunteers served root beer floats. I came in costume with the best 60′s homemaker look I could muster, including a very sprayed updo – which I never wear.
My daughter had a tougher time. She was afraid that even though she has Converse sneakers and they “wore those back then” she couldn’t wear her because they have cupcakes on them. She was also told she was not allowed to wear skinny jeans, which are the only jeans she owns. And when she tried on Daddy’s white undershirt it was to her knees. In the end we were able to piece together a look she was happy with, topped by a pleather jacket borrow from a friend. (Thanks Anne!) She also didn’t brush her hair and wore too much eyeliner.
Before school, though, we had to stop at the orthodontist for an appointment, and after root beer floats were served I had a meeting at my office. So I felt myself explaining my outfit a lot. People thought it was hysterical. Even when I ran to the post office the employee there asked a lot of questions about how I attached my fake eyelashes. It was the first time I had worn them, and apparently I did a good job of not having a tale-tell thick black line.
Have you read The Outsiders? Now that my daughters have both finished the book I can finally watch the movie. Did you know the author was a girl – not woman, but a 16 year old girl?! Maybe that’s why the perspective seems to be so clear!
I thought the book was wonderful. I don’t think it would have made a huge impact on me at 16 like so many people said. Maybe because with my private school and stable home life I was so sheltered that the whole notion of these kids would just seem to far-fetched. Like when my daughter says we live in a bad neighborhood because her bike got stolen. I’d kind of like to drive her by a bad neighborhood so she can see we live in peaceful suburbia and how lucky she is!
Alice in Wonderland had a big impact on me. That’s why I named my first born Alice. So did the Judy Blume book Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself. In college it was A Prayer for Owen Meany, and later City of Ember, Jitterbug Perfume – and most recently Born to Run. Right now I’m reading Why Marry A Millionaire? Just Be One! and it made an immediate impact on me. I’d love to go to a remote cabin with this book and my husband and a pen and really drill down some meaningful stuff for our futures. Just starting this book helped me melt some personal ice and hug my father again after many years. I am forever grateful for that!
And since this blog is supposed to be about working out, I’d like to mention that over the weekend I tried Body Pump class at the gym for the first time. I LOVED it! The teacher was great – a very happy, motivating guy who called everyone by name. He did a great job of offering corrections while being an example of correct form at the front of the room. I think if I had discovered this class 4 years ago when I first joined the gym my whole body would look different. I hope my schedule will allow me some more Sunday morning classes in the near future! I went running Monday morning with some moms and did yardwork with Wendy on Tues. She’s grounded and I told her she could only be part of Daddy’s birthday celebration if she helped me clean the yard for an hour. And she did!
We exchange Thanksgiving presents in my house. For us it is a holiday to talk about what we are thankful for, be together in PJs with whatever food we want, and play games. Brian got the girls Wii Party, so we played about 7 hours of that. I got the girls custom necklaces from 
Alice baked for Thanksgiving. She wanted to make a cake that looked like a roasted turkey. She baked 2 marble cake mixes in a large Pyrex bowl for a LONG time. She covered that with a layer of store bought buttercream frosting, and then a layer of homemade fondant. The turkey legs she crafted from rice krispie treats also covered in buttercream frosting and fondant. She used toothpicks to hold them on to the cake. LOTS of toothpicks.