11 January 1956/2010 "Our Own Time Machines"

I was thinking of late, how I have begun to ‘return to the present’ while still holding very firmly to my past victories of 1955. And, in the last two posts, I touched on how that really one can use the modern world rather than be used by it. So, this has brought me to consider how we all, those who care to at least, have a sort of ‘time machine’ power in us. That is to say, we ‘vintage gals’, rather it be the love of old fashion, housework, the general feeling of community, have it in us to ‘time travel’ ourselves and our family to whatever decade and to whatever depth we choose.

The past, luckily for us, is right there for the taking. Unlike the present and the future, there is a certainty about it. It has gone by and been recorded. Surely, there are varying degrees of opinion on the accuracy of that record, but we can touch it, in a way, if you will. Old magazines, though hardly a true example of the average family (any more than our own modern magazines are!) at least show the level to which a homemaker or family aspired. It can be a sort of physical compass to give us something to shoot for.

We also have history books, fiction and non-fiction books and of course movies and early TV. With these sources at our disposal, add to that the growing information on the internet (to which I hope in time the Website will be a contributing factor, for I really want to get my ‘view’ in to counter all the ‘poodle skirt, Elvis, James Dean nonsense’). So, we have such a plethora of ‘fuel’ to run our Time Machines. We, then, have only to decide how far, how much, and to what extant will Vintage play in my life and that of my family?

As the end of 1955 approached I actually felt a little apprehension, as if when it was over I was somehow to be re-transformed into my uggs/shopping/take out modern girl I had once been. That is ridiculous, of course, because that person was no more the absolute me than was the 1955 me, yet what I admired about the 1955 me (if I may toot my own horn) was all I had learned and my desire, nay NEED to learn and do more. Did that stop when the Ball dropped and 2010 sprang forth? No! Here I am, writing this on my computer but sitting in my dress made by my hand, girdles and hosed, hair short, curled my every outward appearance more 1956 than 2010. This is the very reason I AM excited about this year.

Last year I wanted to get away from a present I began to loathe, to return to a time of manners and fashion and overall beauty that I longed for. Now, I realize, I haven’t any need to physically leave, for I can my my 2010 whatever I choose it to be. Perhaps, even in time, my wardrobe will begin to have more 1940 or 30’s outfits mixed in, it really is up to me (though I like the frugality and solidity of sticking with a decade in that realm, but more of that later on the website.)

I recently watched this film made in 1960. It was one of the first ‘modern’ films I have watched in awhile. Rather than it seeming silly in its special affects, it looked rather good coming form 1955. What I found particularly pertinent, is in this production of the film, at one point the main character, after having traveled to see WWI and WWII and the in 1966 (which had not happened at the making of this film) WWIII that ended the earth in nuclear destruction, he finds himself 10,000 years into the future. As he discovers the humans of that time (which luckily for him speak perfect English) are mindless children who eat and laze about all day. They have no concern for the future or one another only to eat, play and lounge about. He is disgusted by them and shouts that he would rather “die among the real men of his own time” who had the passions and proof of their convictions. I felt such a kindred spirit with him at that moment, for the young blond lazy future humans cared for little and had forgot about books and civilization. But, as we learn they are merely a part of the human race that stayed ‘up top’ after the destruction of the earth and were now being breed like cattle for the monstrous other version of humanity that had formed below the earth. He soon leads these humans to revolt and later returns to help them rebuild civilization.

These two worlds in this film were made up of the Eloi up top (or those closest to we modern humans) and the Morlocks, down below who controlled the Eloi. I saw a definite similarity in these two worlds to ours. We, the eloi, being groomed and prepared so when the siren calls us, as it does in the movie,(you should really rent it and watch it) the eloi (humans) stand and mindless walk towards the building run by the Morlocks. I thought, “Wow, the morlocks are the corporate run world of mass consumption and there we all are, we Eloi, wandering to our own demise smiling and empty headed to the mall”

I can’t tell you how akin I felt to the character in this movie. How, at first my growing disgust with our modern world turned to the hope and joy that we can REBUILD and remake a new way of living. To care again for individuals minds and intellect to choose to care for one another before ourselves and then with ourselves care enough to be mindful of our economy and to make our daily life special and wonderful not just endless tv watching, struggling at hateful jobs to lose ourselves in sloppy comfort clothes as we cram tasteless frozen food into our mouths waiting for our lives to end. To be finally driven, like cattle, from our peace and tranquility of our own homes to the consumerist world of the Morlock. Let’s stand up and not allow ourselves to be lead by the ‘siren of the instant gratification and the mall and consumer easy world’. Let’s take time to work harder but in the end be prettily dressed, smiling in clean organized homes eating fine meals with our happy families talking, reading, and being a part of our world. Don’t settle for a reality made up by the Morlocks where we wander aimless waiting for the siren to call us.

I am planning, on the website, to go more into depth about how we CAN begin to learn Vintage Lessons that we can apply to our daily life. So, check out the site periodically, as I am really attempting to upload more content as fast and best as I can. Thank you for bearing with me in that. The website has become, as I said before, a second home with its own to-do lists and allotted time in my day.

ADDENDUM to post: I don't want anyone to misunderstand my intent. I am really, for all intents and purposes, still very much in 1956, only I like and think it important to the 'revolution' that I take little sojurns into 2010 to help and make a new vintage possible for all of us. I hope that makes sense to any of you and fear not, I am not going to stop dressing vintage, nor stop cooking and cleaning and in fact am probably going to have even more skills in that realm by the end of this year. So, for those of you who like me to stay in the 1950's believe you me I am, only I want to peek out now and again so those of you who cannot travel back with me, might be able to introduce bits and bobs of 1950s into your own life.