“The Prom”

Excerpt from “Remembering Eternity”: “On the days leading up to the dance, members of the class worked long hours transforming the cafeteria into a sort of psychedelic Motown. On one end they erected a stage where the Soul Survivors would perform. At the near side of the room, in the middle, they placed tables laden with refreshments: punch, soft drinks, potato chips, pretzels, Fritos, nuts, pizza, fruit salad, hors d’oeuvres, and tea sandwiches. The entire perimeter of the room was hung, floor to ceiling, with black satiny fabric on which had been painted the names of famous soul bands: The Temptations, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, James Brown, and others, and slogans appropriate to the theme of the dance: “Get Funky! Don’t Be Chicken,” “Strut Your Bad Self,” “Slip Me Five—Hold the Jive,” and “Kings of Soul!” True-scale cutout images of James and Smokey had been mounted on particle board and stood, in frozen gyration, in their full stage regalia, in the far corners of the cafeteria. An extensive assortment of stage lights hung from the rafters in front of the stage. Some were turned backward to allow the lighting controllers to spotlight dancing couples and create phantasmagoric illumination effects. Ban-Lon shirts and baggy trousers had been pinned to the black sheathing in various places. In the center of the back wall of the room a large rectangular display had been created comprising album covers from popular soul groups arranged like squares on a chessboard.”