The Ultimate Girl Experience and Why I love NYC!

As an undergraduate in New York City I was part of a group of women which were called the “Returning Women.” We were for the most part older, parents, and survivors of past lives. Many of us were serious as a heart-attack students. So much so that many of us were dubbed the 4.0 Bitches. I was a proud member of that group!

We would often get together, with our spouses and significant others, at my apartment and just eat, drink, and be merry. These evenings often included heated debates about politics, theology, and of course music, etc.

But there were times when all of the diverse voices came together and one of those times was when I put particular sounds on the record player (or sometimes the tape player, back in the day dontcha know).

One of those times was when I put on Gloria Gaynor’s tune “I Will Survive.” It is the ultimate woman’s song and all the women and girls in the crowd responded as if it were a genetic reaction. Much to my neighbor’s dismay we all sang, danced, and carried on with high-five exuberance that was shocking at first and then expected every other time I put the record on the player. And every woman and girl in the place knew all the words to the song!

Now her tune was from the 70’s and we were in the eighties and it resonated with all of us. So here is a video of her from back in the day:

So, that tune was from the 70’s and back in day, but fast forward to the 90’s. Now here is a video of her with Vicki Sue Robinson and Thelma Houston in 1994. Note that the young women in the audience are exuberantly singing, dancing and high-fiving to the same song because it is still the ultimate woman’s song.

And that is how the “Returning Women” felt in college. We were so mind-boggled. We couldn’t believe that we could be learning and be as smart as we were. It was a shock to most of us. For those of us who were members of the 4.0 Bitches Club we were most amazed as we were for the most part carrying a full academic load, plus work, and the family load and still insisting on our own excellence and we were doing it.

We were surviving!

And then it became all about possibilities. And for most of us possibilities hadn’t been possible until we ventured into this experience and spied a future.

WOW!

We supported each other in the possibility of a future that our past histories had denied us as possible.

So, that leads me to our future generation. And that leads me to the School of the Performing Arts, and why I love NYC and FAME!

I didn’t come to New York City looking for Fame. I came to New York City because it was the only place that I felt safe and comfortable. I knew that there was a future for me here. I didn’t know what it was but I was confident that there was one here.

Now many folks come to NYC because they have a specific future in mind for themselves. They come here because of the possibilities that are unavailable in the rest of America. Many of them who come here are able to go to some of the greatest schools in the world along with many of New York City’s most talented children. The School of the Performing Arts is one such school. This is the school made famous by the TV program FAME. This video is exhibit A as to why I love NYC.

Watch it:

Ah, quintessential NYC.

It is all about possibilities folks and that is what NYC is about. The exuberance of Bruno’s father when he pulls his taxi up in front of the School of the Performing Arts and the kids from the school pour onto the street are exhibit A. They all hear the music. Bruno’s father and the kids feel the possibilities. This is New York City folks. Now many folks find this exuberance scary, but many of us find it exuberantly positive and the very thing that makes us drawn to New York because it screams possibilities.

Now Performing Arts has since been combined with Fine Arts into LaGuardia, and I have to divulge that my son went there, but that said, it is still all about possibilities and that is what NYC is about.

That is what NYC has taught me and many of the “Returning Women”: We will survive and there are so many possibilities. I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to support and offer my child the chance to have the possibilities that New York City and a life of opportunities that most folks don’t have.

When I came to the City I had no idea what was ahead of me. I left Massachusetts as a big fish in a small pond and came to be a fish in the most wonderful pond who surpassed her wildest dreams.

Yes, I did survive and I might even live forever in someone’s mind just like those exuberant kids from the Performing Arts and LaGuardia!

Yes, possibilities and that is what New York City stands for!

Go Gloria, and those with a dream will survive!

Ah, the melee of life!

We need to make sure that we use our nano-seconds to the fullest because they are all possibilities!