On a previous post, Bud made the observation that Hillary Clinton “seemed much more presentable 4-5 years ago.” (In Bud’s defense, it was one of our distaff contributors who brought up the subject of the secretary of state’s appearance.)
I responded, “All of us were more presentable 4-5 years ago.”
In support of that proposition, I share these photos of myself that I ran across recently, and which made me smile in remembrance.
They are a tad older than four or five years. They were taken in June 1985. I’m not sure why they are Polaroids. Maybe one of our photographers was experimenting with that as a way of checking the image before capturing it on 35mm film. Remember, in the days before digital, you didn’t know know exactly how the image would turn out until you developed it later.
In any case, the occasion for these images being taken was that it had just been announced that I would be leaving The Jackson Sun to become news editor of the much-larger Wichita Eagle-Beacon.
Something about my manic grin caused Judith, one of my best friends at the paper, to assert that I looked like I was telling my new publisher at The Sun what he could do with my old job. (Alas, my relationship with him was not nearly as positive as the one with his predecessor, Reid Ashe, whom I mentioned in my last post.)
I don’t know what I said to that. I think I just smiled — a particularly cocky, self-assured smile.
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Yes, they took Polaroids at photo shoots back then as a way of checking what they shot.
What’s freaking me out is that you look like a mash-up of my mom and my dad at that age.
Holy cow… the lost pre-bowtie years.
That’s funny, I was just thinking today that Hillary Clinton was looking more impressive these days now that she’s embraced her senior-citizen status.
Me, on the other hand … I broke a couple footbones last week and now I’m hobbling around with a cane, exactly like Grandpa McCoy.
You don’t look the same without the glasses. And where’s the bow tie?
Nowadays, you usually see me in Clark Kent mode. Back then, I was more often seen in my other identity.
As for the bow tie — that has become something of a trademark, but the truth is that today is the first day of the week I’ve worn one. Earlier this month, I took prednisone for a few days to deal with allergy problems. I put on so much weight as a result that there are only a couple of shirts in my closet big enough for me to button the collar. Hence long ties all week. Today, though, I wore this old Brooks Brothers blue shirt — I bought it for $3 at a thrift store about a decade ago — that’s just a little looser than the others…
I’m picturing Burl now:
“Little Luke! Hassie! Pepinuh! Dagnabit!”
Hey, wait a minute; something just occurred to me… did Luke, or Grandpaw, or anybody, ever check Pepino’s papers?
Ah film. Those were the days. Actually, I’m still shooting film.