Prom
Prom Should Have Been…
Prom was a “big deal” in Huron High School in the 60s, perhaps it still is. Boys dressed up in something with a tie, girls had shiny, long dresses with straps and things you never saw in daily life. Boys bought corsages for their dates, girls a boutonniere for theirs. I don’t remember that wrist corsages existed, at least in Huron. The boy was required to pin the corsage on the girl’s dress, a parent would take a picture at this memorable moment. This seemingly easy, innocuous thing to do was fret with worry because the boy might poke the girl with the long pin, or, God forbid, touch her breast when doing the pinning. Now that’s a strange thing for parents to worry about since most of us were having sex anyway but, you know, this was the 60s. Ah…proms.
Huron had a rule that only juniors and seniors could attend prom. That was kind of a bummer for me because when I was a junior, I was dating a sophomore! All of my friends were going to the prom and it sounded like it might be fun. I thought, “Well, I could go on a friend date.” I asked my girlfriend if I could take Becky N to the event who sat next to me in one of my classes … we were JUST friends. Holy crap, you’d a thought that everyone in town had just stopped dead in their tracks. So, no…I did not go to the prom when I was a junior.
Proms back then were a gala event held in the Huron HS Arena. Dinner was served and then a band played for dancing. Since sophomores could not attend, the more popular among them were asked to help with the decorations, advertisement, and the dinner. They would be the servers and take the dishes to the tables and then retrieve them after dinner. I think the theme of the prom I missed was something like “Southern Magnolias” and the decorations were supposed to be from a pre-Civil War plantation. The sophomore students all wore clothes as if they were enslaved. They all had black face. I wince when I look at the yearbook.
I’m not sure we’ve learned anything in all the decades since that prom. I think I have opened myself more since then, but I’ve been ridiculed for being more aware of American history and that makes me sad.