Note: This was my first attempt at RetroFlash. It took a lot of adding a word here and subtracting a word there to get to exactly 100 words, but I did it!
Hula hoops and Twiggy lashes, but not at the same time.
1950s: Gyrating my tiny hips for hours to keep the hula hoop from falling down. Some people spun them on arms or neck, but I preferred the basic move, spinning around my waist. Decades later I tried again, but despite my bigger hips it quickly landed on the ground.
1960s: A row of high school girls standing at the mirror in the girls’ locker room painstakingly painting Twiggy lashes underneath our eyes. Eyeliner and mascara too, eye shadow matching our outfits, but those handpainted lashes made us beautiful. Today, preparing for a Zoom, remembering, I almost painted them on again.
RetroFlash — 100 words
Suzy
Great memories. Good example of exactly 100 words. Sorry I didn’t read the directions entirely to the end to see the “flash – 100 words” part. Good discipline.
Betsy, we didn’t expect everyone to do it for this prompt, since it’s a new idea. Maybe you will be inspired to try it on some future prompt. Our website makes it easy because it tells you, as you type, how many words you have.
This is fantastic, Suzy! Longer than a haiku and far more poetic than a tweet, you have beautifully captured two iconic fads of two different decades. And exactly 100 words!
You have really set the bar incredibly high for composing a RetroFlash. I am truly humbled and will likely stick to far longer and far less lyrical stories. Brava!
Thank you, John. We’ll have to have a private conversation about RetroFlash. I’m sure you would be great at it, with the right topic.
Great job capturing two eras, Suzy. And please paint on those lashes next time we zoom.
Thanks, Laurie. I’ll have to see if I even have the right kind of eyeliner pencil to do it with. 🙂
Wow Suzy, a reminder of the lengths we women go in the name of fashion!
And you mention Zooming – that’s the only time I “dress up” lately, and the only time I wear earrings these days -I’ve lost a few putting on and taking off my mask! And do you also put on lipstick even though your mask will cover it?!?
I’ve actually never worn lipstick in my life! Well, not quite true, when dressed in all black for choral concerts, I would put a little red on my lips (and blush on my cheeks) so I didn’t look dead, but that was with those little Avon lipstick samples. I have never owned a full-size tube of lipstick.
Suzy, you don’t wear lipstick and it’s the only cosmetic I wear!
I never owned blush or mascara, but I still hear my mother’s voice in my head, “Put on your lipstick!”
So relatable, Suzy! Wonder why it’s easier for kids to hula hoop than adults … last time I tried, maybe two revolutions then right to the ground. Good job on the RetroFlash…I found it poignant and amusing at the same time.
Thanks, Barb, and thanks for introducing us to RetroFlash!
Love this, Suzy, really fun RetroFlash. At one point I did pencil on the Twiggy lashes. They would look awfully silly on me now.
They might not look silly. I think we should all try it for our next Administrators’ Zoom!
Great flash offering, Suzy! Love the zen minimalism. Can one be Zen and minimalist over Twiggy? I think so! If you guys do Twiggy eyes, I’ll do Andy Warhol hair. Does that count?
Wasn’t Andy Warhol’s hair just long and straight and white?
Your second verse, in which you invite readers to spy on a row of pretty teen-aged girls decorating themselves in front of the mirror, is quite compelling and slightly transgressive, at least for this cisgender male reader.
There’s something nearly haiku-ish in your very last line! Not necessarily the number of syllables (who’s counting) but the tone and spirit and contrast to the previous thought.
You achieved a lot in a few (100) words.
As a Ray Davies/Kinks fan, and this being the week I wrote about the importance of rock music in my adolescence, I just want to mention that your use of pop song titles for many of your submissions does not go unnoticed! I had the Kinks song in the background the whole time I was reading your retroflash and it’s still there as I respond.
I had to look up transgressive, because I didn’t know what it would mean in this context. “Art that aims to outrage or violate basic morals and sensibilities.” That certainly was not my intent, it all seems pretty harmless and innocent to me.
I like the idea of my last line being haiku-ish. I have never been able to remember how many syllables go where, so have never written actual haikus, but the “ish” part is appealing.
Glad you’re a Kinks fan, I am too. Almost every week I hear that I have given people an earworm with my story title. Of my 195 stories, there might be 10 that do NOT have a song title or lyric as their title.