My Editorial : The DU Matchmaking Service..

My thoughts on the DU Matchmaking Service..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1189891
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As usual , by the time I arrive at the party, everyones already paired up.
Oh well, I was usually the last to get chosen anyway. Just like in 4th grade dodge ball.

.....So I was small and weak..Only once a year did people know what I looked like..on class picture day. Mostly because I spent my youth looking down at my shoes.
Political activism was my only 'out'. It strengthened me. It moved me to hold my head up and shout about something bigger than dodge ball and mean old Hattie Merkel.
In fifth grade she got glasses and braces. She claimed it was a sign of maturity. She had us all conned on that one. (except for a few girls with over-developed breasts.)
They somehow had discovered , that summer between fourth and fifth grade, the true meaning of 'maturity'. Their skirts were a little shorter now, lips a bit redder, and eyelashes painted each morning with a thick, black batter.

Yes, it may have taken me a couple of years longer to understand the nature of their gym class whispers and giggles, privy only to the most mature eleven and twelve year olds.

But the day me and my friend Laverne figured it all out, well, I knew I had stepped across that sweet fine line of girlhood.
I was a real woman. Age 13.
I too, had glasses, and an F.W.Woolworth bra.

All the secrets and all the answers were lain before me that day. Me and Lavern at the TasteeFreeze. There, we whispered and giggled, hidden in our private booth, way in the back, by the sign that read 'MEN and WOMEN RESTROOMS'.

Political activism was put on hold, a time of innocence, brief but treasured.
I recall somewhere in my sophomore days, a cover photo on a news magazine. 'Flower Child'. I thought she was beautiful, and yes, quite free with her fingers flashing that peace sign, the leather sandals like Jesus wore, I'm sure.
Her long, over-permed, sun bleached hair. And sunglasses like John Lennon wore. Janis Joplin was my first heroine. At that moment, I just knew what I wanted to be. Now that I was even more mature.
I told my mom. "I want to be a flower child."

Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker. "Inagoddadavida", Steppinwolf. "Well you say you want a Revolution", and then...VIETNAM.

Maturity took on a more somber tone. A serious tone. We stood against a force we were only beginning to identify. And how fierce and enormous our own government policies began to appear.
We rebelled. We believed
We continued until we stood as millions.
And the world changed.

No matter what point in life you are chosen , for the dodge ball team or the school dance. You will know you are part of something greater and more 'mature', when your voice needs to be heard and you find there are millions believing as you do.
When your government becomes a force of one, but only one, you'll just have to step up and declare, in some deeply personal way, that it is no longer a part of you.

Carry On..

beautifully written.

Sometimes ya just have to write it all down!

I like your tag line..Political_Junkie

funny, touching, inspiring.

Thanks.