Friday, February 09, 2007

This one's for the band-o's

Ok, I just had lunch at Jimmy John's in the Hagadorn Plaza. While I was there, I believe I saw Mrs. Houston....WITHOUT TORNADO CURLS! I'm about 90% sure it was her. Honestly, it was kind of hard to tell WITHOUT said hairstyle.

Can anyone confirm?

6 comments:

Tess said...

Whoa. If things are as you say (without tornado curls), then I'm not sure what that says about the state of the world. For those of you who have no idea of whom we are speaking, here's the scoop.

Mrs. Houston (Eileen) was the band director at Hayes Middle School where Kirsten, Angela, I think Stephene, and myself went. She was/is the world's most amazing human being. But that's for another blog. Our purpose here is her hair.

She had the same hair-do for about 40 years. Yes. 4.0. Her hair was/is long, dark, parted in the middle, and on each side of her head runs a long tornado curl, the likes of which Dorothy and Toto had never seen. She put up with SO much flack for her hair style choice and would every so often make mention of her Native American lineage, of which she was very proud. We considered her curls to be an "update" made in the 70s to the stereotypical long braids that Native American women are often portrayed as wearing. No matter how cruel the non-band students could be to her, the curls, adament in their turns, proudly persisted.

As a middle school student, you think she's a bit crazy. However, if you were in her class, you couldn't help but have every ounce of respect for her. She wasn't a sargeant-major, but she was tough. And nurturing. And fun. Her hair has become a legend among generations of band geeks to go through her program. She helped to set the foundations for what was to become one of the best public music programs in the state, if not in the country.

Anyway, my first statement remains. If the tornado curls are gone, what could that possibly mean? Perhaps if the curls are truly gone, this is only but a symbol that, to put it in the words of George Harrison, "all things must pass." Let's hope their not gone just yet!!!

Tess said...

Me again. I thought of one more thing to illustrate how much Mrs. Houston means to us. We have never, ever played the "classy, tacky, stupid" game with her hair. Need I say more.

kat said...

Aww, you're right Tess! I would be perhaps blasphemy to subject Mrs. Houston's hair to C,T, or S.

sdb said...

I was a student of Mrs. H. Probably the reason I went so far with music. With another teacher, I would have quit after middle school.

Strangela said...

Native American heritage? I don't remember that part. So was her hair now long and straight, short, curly? I can't even begin to imagine!

kat said...

Well, IF it was her, it was long and straight. Still salt-n-peppery.