It's Prom Season

High schools all over the country are festooning gyms, banquet halls and the local Holdiay Inn with crepe paper to celebrate that eternal rite of spring: junior prom. Many mothers look at this as a chance to relive their high school days, just as fathers do each Friday night as "rope coaches" at football games. This, of course, explains why mothers take over the decorating, often arguing about details and claiming that their prom was the greatest ever until those boys from a rival school showed up...and the night was a fabulous success. "Footloose" is wasn't, but memories being what they are...
I love the Duct Tape company's take on prom. Each year, the corporate world sponsors a contest to see which male and female can come up with the most unique formal wear MADE ENTIRELY OF DUCT TAPE! This challenge to the creative spirit has always fascinated me, and each year the winners seem to get better and better. With the myriad of colors now offered, the imagination is the only limit. No more hundreds of dollars for a tuxedo or a dress that will be worn once. Save that money for the menu at Taco Bell!
Our school has prom this coming week, and I am one of the class advisors which means I will have to attend, for no other real reason except to limit the amount of "booty dancing" that goes on to the suggestive lyrics pumped out by the DJ. It promises to be a real tricky affair...especially if I have to judge what's a suggestive lyric. Does "Super Freak" count? I mean Rick James is widely known as something of a deviant himself. What if someone requests "Baby Got Back"? Students will line up just to test the old people then snicker when we miss hearing something we would find distasteful. The whole thing is ridiculous. The Ashburn, Goergia, prom...now THAT was something to write about!
This past weekend, Turner County High School in the aforementioned Ashburn, Georgia, held prom. This one, however, was historical. (mind you, the year is 2007) For the first time in the school's history, both black and white students were allowed to attend THE SAME PROM! Previously, each race held its own, separate but equal (Brown vs. Board of Education ring a bell?) proms. It is notable that the decision to hold one prom was made by the students, not the school administrators. HUH? The administrator was quoted as saying that the change needed to come from the students...HUH? What the hell passes for education in Georgia anyway? To have students lead the way on such an important issue simply amazes me...mind you, this is 2007.
By the way, at least some white students held their own prom last week anyway, calling it a "tradition." And I'll bet nobody objected to the "tradition," either, especially the educational community (or what passes for one in Ashburn, Georgia.)