Oh, how amazing and beautiful the afternoon is. As I sit working on paperwork, I am listening to TCM in the background. Showing is a look behind the scenes of "West Side Story", and it caught my attention. As the presentation drew my attention from my task, I remembered so vividly the very first time I had ever seen "WSS". I was 16 years old.
Although I knew about the movie, I had never seen it.
It was 1983, and I was at a speech tournament at Brownwood High School. Debate and speech contestants waiting between rounds were waiting in the library. On a television in the corner was "WSS", and as I sat and watched parts of the movie, I was so enthralled. Everything to me that year took my breath away......from music to clothes, from pop culture to classic movies and literature. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
I was already familiar with Natalie Wood having watched "Splendor in the Grass" on basic cable. I loved Natalie. She was my first female movie idol. She looks similar to my mother, and something about her dark, girl next door features spoke to me. I have always been more of a Mary Ann than a Ginger.
And here she was, Natalie Wood, Maria, beautiful, demur and oh so wonderful. I wanted to be her. I wanted desperately to be everything she personified for me about a beautiful and desirable woman who didn't look like Marilyn Monroe.
The choreography and music of the "Love at First Sight" is still so beautiful to me all these years later. Watching the clip today pulled me quickly back 33 years to a library and a whole different world.
Just yesterday, I discussed with my students the nostalgic reflections we make as humans in our life journey. We listened to stories about young men reflecting backward on their lives and then discussed what reflections the students may have later in their own lives.
Irony..................but such a sweet distraction for a busy afternoon.
Although I knew about the movie, I had never seen it.
It was 1983, and I was at a speech tournament at Brownwood High School. Debate and speech contestants waiting between rounds were waiting in the library. On a television in the corner was "WSS", and as I sat and watched parts of the movie, I was so enthralled. Everything to me that year took my breath away......from music to clothes, from pop culture to classic movies and literature. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
I was already familiar with Natalie Wood having watched "Splendor in the Grass" on basic cable. I loved Natalie. She was my first female movie idol. She looks similar to my mother, and something about her dark, girl next door features spoke to me. I have always been more of a Mary Ann than a Ginger.
And here she was, Natalie Wood, Maria, beautiful, demur and oh so wonderful. I wanted to be her. I wanted desperately to be everything she personified for me about a beautiful and desirable woman who didn't look like Marilyn Monroe.
The choreography and music of the "Love at First Sight" is still so beautiful to me all these years later. Watching the clip today pulled me quickly back 33 years to a library and a whole different world.
Just yesterday, I discussed with my students the nostalgic reflections we make as humans in our life journey. We listened to stories about young men reflecting backward on their lives and then discussed what reflections the students may have later in their own lives.
Irony..................but such a sweet distraction for a busy afternoon.
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