the mini march

marchin'-mini

as soon as mini's daddy made it through the front door tonight he yelled up to my creative perch askin'... "did you tell mini she could put red streaks in her hair?"

i quickly responded no then had time to think a bit before receiving her father's next batch o' words. those thoughts included me thinking...now that mini had abandoned me - her devoted mother - in an effort to gain more education and with this effort takin' place in a locale far far away from me, she could and probably would do a few things without asking me first and a few of those things might not be to my liking.

mini's daddy interrupted my thinkin' with, "well she did."

i then asked, "how do you know she put red streaks in her hair?"

he answered, gettin' a bit clearer as he climbed the stairs, "she sent me a picture."

i then repeated what he said as a question - "a picture?" - to which he responded "yeah - a picture... that was published."

i asked "published? where?" wonderin' why in the world would a picture of her with red streaks would be published.

"in the paper...maybe on a website."

"what was she doing to get her picture taken?"

yikes - maybe the red streaks were of a really bizarre nature.

"she was protesting.....in a march."

"what was she wearing?"

i wouldn't normally ask about her clothing before other more important queries but mini has always wanted to participate in a march protesting a cause she felt strongly about and has often expressed disappointment that her generation didn't seem much interested in marchin' for things they were for or against. knowing this was a big day for her and it was happening right after i had sent her two boxes of new clothes, i wanted to know if anything i sent had been deemed special enough to wear to her first ever protest.

"a gay pride rainbow sweater."

i knew the exact one - i bought a rainbow striped cropped sweater for her and one for me from the garnet hill catalog when she was in kindergarten, back when she liked for us to match. we wore them over our overalls.

"what was she wearin' under it?"

"nothing....i think she was wearing it with jeans." he had now made it to my studio door and was shufflin' through the day's mail without a care in the world as usual as i pummeled him with quesions.

"nothin'? was her stomach showin?"

"yes....her stomach was indeed showing and she had something painted on it." he was now headin' back downstairs. i may have even heard the beginnin' of a bit o' tune whistling - as if we were done with the topic and he was free to find our herd o' dogs who, unlike me, would welcome him home properly regardless o' the news he carried with him.

"painted on what?"

"painted on her stomach."

"WHAT was painted on her stomach?", i yelled down.

"i think it was the word 'slut' but i couldn't really see all the letters.", he yelled back up.

"SLUT! why would she wear a cropped gay pride lookin' sweater with her stomach showin' and on her showin' stomach paint the word slut ?." i think i may have been screechin' a bit by this point.

"well....i don't know but she looked happy and really pretty...except for those red streaks." and then he disappeared.

with my heart poundin' and havin' held my breath so long i feared i might pass out, i finally located the picture of my only child, my dear daughter, in her first official march - wearing my cropped garnet hill rainbow sweater (she outgrew hers long ago and it's arms are now two lil dog sweaters worn by coco and tink) with the word slut painted on her bare stomach.

the march mini was snapped participatin' in was somethin' called SlutWalk. i looked it up on the worldwide web and discovered it began in canada april of last year and soon became a cause 'round the world to protest anyone explaining or excusing rape by referring to the way a woman was dressed at the time the crime took place. the protests began when a toronto police officer suggested that to remain safe, "women should avoid dressing like sluts." the marchers are typically young women dressed in whatever their version of slutty is.

though i was quite relieved to discover mini's attire, bared body portion and the word it displayed were all quite appropriate for the march she participated in - and glad to see that cropped sweater gettin' a bit more use - i'm not sure i agree with the need to dress slutty for the march. but, even dressed and labeled slutty, mini's daddy was right about her lookin' happy.

but...red streaks? maybe he saw 'em but for the life o' me i can't. which is good 'cause i didnt give her permission to have 'em, slutty or not.