nice..I was on the buying side of the fence for a major in the fashion industry. this brought back a lot of memories in that 'dog eat dog'...'don't sh*t where you eat" world. good for you...and great descripts re: those few darkish to dark female bosses. I had a few too...
And sandwiches on the window sill at the Algonquin in a room I could almost turn around in with no AC...the trick was to have vendors offer you tickets to the best broadway shows back then.
I forgot about that great piano bar at the Algonquin…those days are so far behind us: save those fab ‘hole in the wall’ bars down a flight of stairs … was such an exhilarating city that has lost so much of it’s glow today .
I love that you have a great daughter! Lovely that she created this moment to share!
Mine (certainly more perfect than yours :) ), was an unpaid summer intern at Self while at Jschool and the goodies were fabulous as well as the events, personally, I enjoyed every second of it making it happen for her while chained to my desk :)
Thank you for sharing your article Jenny. I lol’d so many times my hubby asked what was I reading?🙂. It was a nice break for me, sitting outside on a beautiful,warm , clear pacific NW Sunday and cursing at a all the Geoengineering chemcrap being spewed overhead. Man, it’s been on steroids lately. As if we don’t have enough natural cloud cover. We can thank local genius BG & his foundation who’re trying to fight the global warming boogeyman. He’s such a a-hole. But on a high note I hear Klaus Schwab is ailing...
“As is often the case, the worst thing that had ever happened to me turned out to be one of the best.”
I got fired from a job for taking some postage stamps. My 20 year old self was too dumb to realize that was frowned upon - we all used the postage meter at my previous job to send our personal mail. I got ratted out by the mean girls in the office who knew I made more money than they did and had it in for me. (Funny/not funny how 45 years later I’m still dealing with mean girls.). That firing brought me to an almost 20 year career with AT&T where I made more money than the majority of my friends who had college degrees.
All things work together for good……🙏🙏
Thank you for sharing that glimpse into your younger self. Those pics of you and your daughter - precious. 🥰🥰🥰
If you were "smart," you wouldn't have reached for that OTT job, and had that exciting (and often overwhelming) experience. An experience during which you learned and grew, and became who you are today. Caution can often block us from the best opportunities.
I was a product of a huge FL public high school…a few years before you. Neither of my divorced parents had a college degree.
A few years later (1985) I also found myself in NYC, as a trainee at the world’s largest investment bank. I would silently sing the Shirley Temple Codfish Song (to assuage my jangled nerves) as I walked with false confidence each day, on my morning commute from the bowels of the WTC to the southern tip of Manhattan, terrified of how my interactions that day would reveal the true depth of my inadequacies. It was a rare “good” day when someone didn’t remind me (publicly) that I didn’t have a f*cking clue.
The movie WHIPLASH reminds us that daring to be great comes with a myriad of risks. I’m glad we survived.
PS For years I also had an inappropriate white and pastel clothing fetish. It’s a Florida thing.
PPS I read my sister’s Seventeen mags all the time in the 70s. With 3 daughters and 3 grand daughters, those articles probably help me better understand what adolescent girls go through.
Likewise, thank YOU for sharing. I bet more than a few of our boarding schooled colleagues had "imposter syndrome," too. In my case, we were BABIES! How could any of us (them) have know what they were doing?
PS Thanks for the image of you as Don Johnson! ;)
PPS When I went back and read the issues I HAD WRITTEN when my own daughters were old enough to read them, I was shocked!
I love this. You took me back to the first day of every job I've ever had. It was not a pleasant stroll down memory lane.
I actually quit my first full-time, permanent job because the boss went through my trash at night, took out all the empty ballpoint refills I'd tossed when I cleaned out the desk of whatever person had wisely left the job before me. I asked him why he'd retrieved them.
"The ink might come back," he explained. I waited for him to laugh, but he was dead serious. "And don't throw away the center of the bathroom tissue rolls," he admonished.
My late wife would often tell her students and clients, "What other people think of you is none of your business." So she agreed with you on that one, Jenna. I do, too. How you managed to thrive in the Big Apple is beyond my ken. I can manage a day or two there and then just have to leave. Too many people living far too close to each other. Wide open spaces, please!
I loved living there so much. It was impossibly hard (case in point: the day I bought a TV and stood on the sidewalk with my receipt and the giant box at my feet--the carts couldn't leave the store, of course--and had to figure that shit out) but also made me strong and resourceful and really honed my (already fairly solid) take-no-shit attitude. :)
🤣🤣🤣 Then there was the year I wore the white ruffled off the shoulder cake topper dress with a hoop skirt… I had a special peach colored sash belt made to match my boyfriends peach cummerbund and bow tie. 🙈The next year I wore a black strapless Stevie Nicks skin tight lace contraption with an asymmetrical, jagged hem. The 80s were wild!🤣
I had a Jessica McClintock dress (same designer) which made me look like I actually had curves. (I had always looked more straight and athletic) My boyfriend (at the time) wanted to do professional photos with me, so we had them done, and I wore that dress. We were married about a year later. That photo with me in the Jessica McClintock dress, hung on a wall near the entryway of his parents' home for 34 years, until just recently.
You are incredible, Jenna. A true inspiration for many of us. Please tell us that you're considering the idea of starting a modern day fashion magazine to make print cool again. Seventeen (Seventy Six) perhaps?
I don’t know what I love more, this comment or that song! (Fine, the comment 🤣, but the song is amazing too! Adding it to my playlist!) Thank you for sharing. Maybe I WILL start that magazine one of these days… 1776 is brilliant.😊💯🎯❤️
Thank you for bringing back memories of losing my job on a Wednesday at 10:00 am many years ago. It was like " right now" ? Im done, and trying to figure out where to go until seven because I didnt want my wife to know. Your writing is amazing and is always a pleasure to partake in.
Nice trip down your memory lane…thanks! Our neighbor owned newsstands and he used to bring me all the fashion magazines at the end of the month that didn’t sell. I’d peruse them for hours and then rip out my favorite pages. I plastered an entire room in our basement with them using a generous swirl of Elmer’s glue. The room was eventually used to house a giant oil tank but you can still see some of the dried up pages peeling off the walls from 40+ years ago.
Loved this! Regardless of topic, your pieces always a joy to read - a bright spot in an increasingly dark and weird world. Cannot wait to buy your new book! 💕
I LOVE that you left with the stapler!!! lol
I still have it!!! 🤣🤣🤣
I’m dying
🤷♀️🤣
You rock!😂
nice..I was on the buying side of the fence for a major in the fashion industry. this brought back a lot of memories in that 'dog eat dog'...'don't sh*t where you eat" world. good for you...and great descripts re: those few darkish to dark female bosses. I had a few too...
And sandwiches on the window sill at the Algonquin in a room I could almost turn around in with no AC...the trick was to have vendors offer you tickets to the best broadway shows back then.
I forgot about that great piano bar at the Algonquin…those days are so far behind us: save those fab ‘hole in the wall’ bars down a flight of stairs … was such an exhilarating city that has lost so much of it’s glow today .
I love that you have a great daughter! Lovely that she created this moment to share!
Mine (certainly more perfect than yours :) ), was an unpaid summer intern at Self while at Jschool and the goodies were fabulous as well as the events, personally, I enjoyed every second of it making it happen for her while chained to my desk :)
Thank you for sharing your article Jenny. I lol’d so many times my hubby asked what was I reading?🙂. It was a nice break for me, sitting outside on a beautiful,warm , clear pacific NW Sunday and cursing at a all the Geoengineering chemcrap being spewed overhead. Man, it’s been on steroids lately. As if we don’t have enough natural cloud cover. We can thank local genius BG & his foundation who’re trying to fight the global warming boogeyman. He’s such a a-hole. But on a high note I hear Klaus Schwab is ailing...
As fine a wordsmith as I have known. Cheers for sharing!
Appreciate you taking the time to comment, Patrick! :)
“As is often the case, the worst thing that had ever happened to me turned out to be one of the best.”
I got fired from a job for taking some postage stamps. My 20 year old self was too dumb to realize that was frowned upon - we all used the postage meter at my previous job to send our personal mail. I got ratted out by the mean girls in the office who knew I made more money than they did and had it in for me. (Funny/not funny how 45 years later I’m still dealing with mean girls.). That firing brought me to an almost 20 year career with AT&T where I made more money than the majority of my friends who had college degrees.
All things work together for good……🙏🙏
Thank you for sharing that glimpse into your younger self. Those pics of you and your daughter - precious. 🥰🥰🥰
I was so dumb!!! 🤣🤷♀️
If you were "smart," you wouldn't have reached for that OTT job, and had that exciting (and often overwhelming) experience. An experience during which you learned and grew, and became who you are today. Caution can often block us from the best opportunities.
Agree 10000%! Maybe that's why they call it dumb luck? ;)
Weren’t we all.
😊😊😊
Thanks for sharing this, I could really relate.
I was a product of a huge FL public high school…a few years before you. Neither of my divorced parents had a college degree.
A few years later (1985) I also found myself in NYC, as a trainee at the world’s largest investment bank. I would silently sing the Shirley Temple Codfish Song (to assuage my jangled nerves) as I walked with false confidence each day, on my morning commute from the bowels of the WTC to the southern tip of Manhattan, terrified of how my interactions that day would reveal the true depth of my inadequacies. It was a rare “good” day when someone didn’t remind me (publicly) that I didn’t have a f*cking clue.
The movie WHIPLASH reminds us that daring to be great comes with a myriad of risks. I’m glad we survived.
PS For years I also had an inappropriate white and pastel clothing fetish. It’s a Florida thing.
PPS I read my sister’s Seventeen mags all the time in the 70s. With 3 daughters and 3 grand daughters, those articles probably help me better understand what adolescent girls go through.
Likewise, thank YOU for sharing. I bet more than a few of our boarding schooled colleagues had "imposter syndrome," too. In my case, we were BABIES! How could any of us (them) have know what they were doing?
PS Thanks for the image of you as Don Johnson! ;)
PPS When I went back and read the issues I HAD WRITTEN when my own daughters were old enough to read them, I was shocked!
As usual I enjoyed this tremendously.
I went off the Substack rails due to
illness & lack of tech skills. I promise to "climb back on the horse- soon!"
So glad for your motivation.
I love this. You took me back to the first day of every job I've ever had. It was not a pleasant stroll down memory lane.
I actually quit my first full-time, permanent job because the boss went through my trash at night, took out all the empty ballpoint refills I'd tossed when I cleaned out the desk of whatever person had wisely left the job before me. I asked him why he'd retrieved them.
"The ink might come back," he explained. I waited for him to laugh, but he was dead serious. "And don't throw away the center of the bathroom tissue rolls," he admonished.
"What do you use them for?" I asked.
"I don't know yet," he replied tersely.
I went to lunch and didn't come back.
STOP IT OMG. That guy was mental! Think of the hilarious book you could have written if you'd stayed though. ;)
I was too scared.
That guy and his twin brother invented copper wire. They were fighting over a penny! He would be up a creek now trying to invent zinc wire!
You are really good at what you do.
😊
My late wife would often tell her students and clients, "What other people think of you is none of your business." So she agreed with you on that one, Jenna. I do, too. How you managed to thrive in the Big Apple is beyond my ken. I can manage a day or two there and then just have to leave. Too many people living far too close to each other. Wide open spaces, please!
I loved living there so much. It was impossibly hard (case in point: the day I bought a TV and stood on the sidewalk with my receipt and the giant box at my feet--the carts couldn't leave the store, of course--and had to figure that shit out) but also made me strong and resourceful and really honed my (already fairly solid) take-no-shit attitude. :)
The Dance
Fancy knew instinctively what she’d have to do.
She would think of tonight as a challenge - an adventure.
Tonight she was going to her first campus formal.
And tonight she would show her new world just how she got her name, Fancy.
In ice blue off the shoulder ruffles.
——
Haven’t thought about Gunne Sax since 1985. 🤩
🤣🤣🤣 Then there was the year I wore the white ruffled off the shoulder cake topper dress with a hoop skirt… I had a special peach colored sash belt made to match my boyfriends peach cummerbund and bow tie. 🙈The next year I wore a black strapless Stevie Nicks skin tight lace contraption with an asymmetrical, jagged hem. The 80s were wild!🤣
I had a Jessica McClintock dress (same designer) which made me look like I actually had curves. (I had always looked more straight and athletic) My boyfriend (at the time) wanted to do professional photos with me, so we had them done, and I wore that dress. We were married about a year later. That photo with me in the Jessica McClintock dress, hung on a wall near the entryway of his parents' home for 34 years, until just recently.
I love this! Thank you for sharing.😊
Don’t Dream It’s Over.
HEY NOW!!!
You are incredible, Jenna. A true inspiration for many of us. Please tell us that you're considering the idea of starting a modern day fashion magazine to make print cool again. Seventeen (Seventy Six) perhaps?
And since I know you're crazy about this handsome man's teeth! https://youtu.be/OSWCG0rbJU0
I don’t know what I love more, this comment or that song! (Fine, the comment 🤣, but the song is amazing too! Adding it to my playlist!) Thank you for sharing. Maybe I WILL start that magazine one of these days… 1776 is brilliant.😊💯🎯❤️
Thank you for bringing back memories of losing my job on a Wednesday at 10:00 am many years ago. It was like " right now" ? Im done, and trying to figure out where to go until seven because I didnt want my wife to know. Your writing is amazing and is always a pleasure to partake in.
Awe, you poor thing. Hope yours was ultimately for the best too! 🙏❤️
It was the BEST thing that could have ever happened, I just didnt know it.
Nice trip down your memory lane…thanks! Our neighbor owned newsstands and he used to bring me all the fashion magazines at the end of the month that didn’t sell. I’d peruse them for hours and then rip out my favorite pages. I plastered an entire room in our basement with them using a generous swirl of Elmer’s glue. The room was eventually used to house a giant oil tank but you can still see some of the dried up pages peeling off the walls from 40+ years ago.
I’d love to see that!!
Loved this! Regardless of topic, your pieces always a joy to read - a bright spot in an increasingly dark and weird world. Cannot wait to buy your new book! 💕
What a lovely thing to say! Appreciate you taking the time to comment.😊❤️