Daily Prompt

Red Tie Formal

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

“Tails.” I spoke the word out loud with my indoors voice. I ordered white tails to wear at my high school prom.

For many American high school students, senior year means at least two things: Graduation and Senior Prom Night (and the morning after). With no research, I can tell you that “prom” is short for “promenade,” which is long for “prom.” For naive bookworm me, the prom, far more than graduation or even thecontinuousthinkingofthoughtsabouttheentirerestofmylife, was the source of many anxieties.

(There is an ancient cliché about how native peoples who live in the Arctic have 1000 words for snow because they know snow so intimately that they have 1000 words to describe 1000 unique realities. Replace the word “snow” with “anxiety,” and you have me. A thousand different anxieties.)
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He Knew a Guy

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

He knew people. Had connections. A Brushes-With-Hollywood™ Tale.

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There is a big difference between living a life story about which people say, “That ought to be a movie,” and possessing a life story about which those same people will pay real money to buy the book or sit in a theater to view that movie.
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Playful till the End

Posted on by Mark Aldrich

He may have been one of the top five most frequently photographed human beings. He certainly was that when he was active in his career.

The answer to the potential trivia question, “Who took the final formal photographs of Muhammad Ali?” is Zenon Texeira, a young British photographer who was sent by The Daily Mail to Ali’s home in Scottsdale, Arizona, in March. Ali and his family welcomed him into their home, and Ali sat for a 45-minute photo shoot.
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