WEBVTT

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Jane mentioned
the dancing, and I

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think an explanation
here kind of is in order.

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You never know what life
is going to throw at you,

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and then this particular
year, it's 1998,

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the first rain of the
season after a long drought

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in the fall, fate threw a
lightning bolt into our house,

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so it burned down.

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We built it up again, but
the one incredible miracle

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that happened, that
came out of that,

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was that I had no thoughts
of writing poems, obviously.

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You don't have a house,
what are you going to do?

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So I was only thinking
of-- we were only thinking

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of building it back up.

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Our neighbors wanted
to cheer us up

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and took us to a dinner dance.

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And when I saw the other
couples dancing, some of them

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were really waltzing and I said,
I've always wanted to do that.

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And the same group of
incredible neighbors

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signed the entire neighborhood
up for dance lessons.

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And we learned ballroom,
and we are still doing it.

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And also Argentine
tango, a little bit.

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One of the things that happens
when you dance, do ballroom,

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first of all, it's
incredibly strenuous

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and I've become friends
with every ace bandage

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and liniment out there.

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But you also learn
that as a woman,

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you get a chance to wear
something you would never

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dare wear on the street.

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And it's perfectly OK.

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As one of my friends said,
"I never thought I'd be 50

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and could dress like a
hooker and get away it."

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And she was just-- you get
to wear the teeniest outfits,

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and also the most voluminous.

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So at every single
event where there's

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a dance, or some kind of
competition, or a showcase,

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there's the dance
lady is usually there

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to sell her wares.

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"Brown."

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"Why, you look good
in every color,

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the dress lady gurgled
just before I stepped

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onto the parquet for a waltz.

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I demurred, we were in
a country club after all

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and she fresh from
Fort Lauderdale,

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Do people actually live there?

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With five duffel bags' worth
of ball gowns, enough tulle,

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and fringe, and pearls to
float a small cotillion,

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was only trying
to earn a living.

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For once I was not
the only Black person

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in the room, two
others both male.

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I thought of Sambo.

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I thought a few other things
too, unmentionable here.

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Don't get me wrong.

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I've always loved
my skin, the way

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it glows against citron and
fuchsia, the difficult hues.

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But the difference
I cause whenever

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I walk into a polite space, is
why I prefer grand entrances,

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especially with a waltz, that
European constipated swoon.

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The dress in question was red."

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