The control of words, language, and thoughts is very important to evil governments. Or even small
amounts of evil in governments.
For to erase our memory
as a people or a culture is to erase our history, and if it done slowly and discreetly, new ideas and pictures canbe installed.
My strongest memory og Going Downtown is this:
I
never saw any men! How could this be true?
It is easily
understood. Most of the men if not all of them had jobs. Most of our mothers stayed at home in the post war decades,
the Fifties and the Sixties, and maybe a little longer than that. Most people got married, and to marry, a man had to have
a job. These rules were not iron clad, but they were still rules for the vast majority of us.
At our lunch counters in variety stores, we saw secretaries and department store girls. and the streets of
Montreal were even more feminized gy the types of clothing I noticed there.
There were Roman Catholic nuns at times, wearing long black robes, and white lined head dresses, swooping through
Phillips Square with dignity and grace. My mom was soon to explain the backwards nature of the Catholic Church in a way that
did not damage me too much, as I approved of their stained glass windows and greater number of female saints. I especially
admred Ste. Theresa of Spain, with her ability to levitate.
A
greater number of Montreal women took an interest in the latest fashions, and wore hats and belts and gloves and shoes and
even belts that were color co-ordinated. The check out counters of our pharmacies sold kits of leather dye to facilitate changing
the colors of your accessories so that anyone could achieve this high fashion look.
The hats sometimes were eighteen inches or even two feet wide, with brims that held black net veils, red plastic
cherries, of mauve gauze orchids. Faces so overshadowed struggled back, with bright red lipsticks. Blue and green eye shadows
also in vogue were avoided at our household. Mom believed absolutely in the feminine charm of red lipstick, decorating a winning
smile.
Belts were in vogue too, and tightly cinched waists
already nipped in with a hideous array of rubbery undergarments. Bras, girdles, garter belts, nylon stockings.
Mom wores dresses too, though less accessorized. Her style was the most seen,
the mom with a young child accompanying her, and high heels on her shoes, except in the humid heat of summer. Purses matched
our shoes in the same color, black or brown. Which were made of real leather.
Later in the day, men poured out of offices and factories onto the streets, often stopping for a cold beer or a cocktail
with their fellow workers.
As I myself took over Rue
Lapalme with a group of girls to play skipping rope in the middle of the street, forcing cars to either drive around us, or
choose a parallel street.
We were happy.
