Pasadena Salvation Army provides prom dresses for underprivileged girls
I remember being in high school, not planning on attending prom because the fluffy dreams of teenage girls seemed frivolous and rudimentary and unachievable for the bruised little peach that I was.
But in my poverty-stricken mind, you should never turn down free dresses. I invited my friend Mabel because I felt like everyone would see me as the misfit. And to me Mabel was the coolest misfit I knew. I thought she would enjoy it more than that I could, and I hoped through her I could find the joy of it. Even if the dresses weren’t nice, we could laugh about it together. Because let’s be real, none of us could afford the $100 ticket for prom, nor the ride to get there, and we weren’t the cool kids who had parents with cars -or parents even. Not really anyways. Mabel was a total doll about it, often providing casual offshoot comments that land as fresh and wise observations. She had this coy wisdom about her that I enjoyed. I loved the casual under-her-breath comments that felt like you weren’t suppose to hear that, but you did and now you both know the truth. I felt she and us together there would be the perfect dose of glitter in the event.
Little did I know, I would come out feeling like a shiny new penny. I took quickly to being center stage, prancing around the place feeling myself in the silkiness of the gown. I still didn’t plan on prom, but I had never felt such fine fabric on my skin. And it made me giddy, and child-like and everything suddenly felt refined and and glitzy. In a blink I went from an introverted misfit to an extroverted polly pocket fairy.
This article doesn’t show you the joy. I felt like a piece of glitter in the wind.
The photographer got a lovely photo of me, which I remember made front cover of the Pasadena Star News that weekend. I have copies of the old newspaper, because I was so mesmerized and shocked to see myself front cover.
In the article, you’ll see the name “Brenda” instead of Athena. Brenda is my birth name -one I do not shy away from. She is me, and I am her. One day I will tell the complicated and transformational story that it was to change my name at 18. Until then, see the article below.
