Female Athelete of the Year 2007: a segregated looks back on segregation circa 1957

There were still "colored only" signs here in Houston; the rigid delimiters of our designated place of entry and sitting. I was in elementary school. This was segregation remember. So, 1957 I was what first grade? Just learning to read, but priming for the next two years' . . . current events. Current events was where you went home, clipped newspaper articles, pasted them to mostly Big Chief tablets back then, and brought them to school. Lots of fun, so much so that I know of a certainty that by fourth grade there was no more current events (yes it ends in an "s", but it is singular in this use.)

Anyway, you soon got to current events (and even then this was like once a month or so, too much fun.) Now if we were lucky- and keep in mind this was segregation- if we were lucky, she would tell us the topic of the articles to clip. Okay, so we would clip the articles, (note the gramatical comma) and bring them to school. Fine and good. Swell. But then (and the devil made them do this) the teacher would ask: "But what does it mean?" And of course our first response (silently, oh so silently) was "You don't know?"

"But what does it mean?" "This is second grade, third grade, how am I supposed . . .?" Or, "What did it say?" Of course, if he had announced the topic of the articles, there you go.

Unacceptable, and, though Fifth Ward was tough, I went to school, especially elementary school, with good people, so the anguish was shared. But there was always the eager girls (two of them) whose parents had always evidently taken the time to discuss the articles with them, and they were ready.

Of a truth I can say nothing contrary to news articles about Lorena Ochoa, never heard of her, we're talking totally blank slate. This is the sentence that strikes in the article: "It was the fifth straight year a golfer has captured the Female Athlete award, the longest streak of any sport."

"But what does it mean?" Women have been making marked gains everywhere in everything. But the one place the good ol' boy could retreat was to "'da course", "'da links". (I don't play golf, I grew up in segregation remember. "Golf: you and what national army?") Still, despite the fact that 95% of network evening TV is geared to women, that there's a female announcer on Monday night football irritatingly describing . . . I'll leave that alone. Anyway, the good ol' boy could retreat to the bonding on the course 'cuz if they were also on the course somewhere they were over there in their place (and I have to leave that alone because we are talking out-of-experience for this body.) Anyway, these are the kind of girls "we" like: in their place.

"But what does it mean?" A female golfer has been female athlete of the year for the past five years. What does that mean? It means that the male athlete of the year for at least the past six years quiet's-its-been-kept has been in truth . . . Tiger Woods. Now that's too much for WASPing oinkism! Too much reality! Time to retreat into Rambo-boy fantasy.

That's what it means. Heck, next time . . . announce the topic, and we'll repeat what you tell us.