for three weeks they play nothing but blues, but the fourth week they play ragtime

Yesterday my eyes were terrible again. Red, itchy. Stress? Allergies? I don't know but I am sick of kids telling me about the time they had pinkeye, because gross. When the Czech noticed, she put her arm around my shoulders and drew me close, then whispered in my ear, Are you sure, you no smoke some joint? Then she giggled and giggled and had to sit down. I took an allergy pill last night, I love the word "loratidine," the once-a-day stuff that you have to take for at least a few days before it takes effect. This morning I woke up with clear, non-disgusting eyes, no sore throat, no general crumminess. How much of the way I feel is simply the belief that something is wrong with me, versus the belief that I'm getting better? I'm so frigging simple. I need a medicine cabinet full of sugar pills. Or m&ms. --- Because I read Bust and Venus and all that other dyke-it-yourself stuff, I see references to the Museum of Menstruation every so often, but I'd never checked it out until lately. Seemed gory and grim. But dude, it's amazing. Page after page of well-researched, incredibly detailed information about different cultural attitudes and approaches toward female development, scans of old ads for related products (horrifying suspenders from the 1870s), and passages from goofy "growing up and liking it" pamphlets through the ages. It's fascinating, funny and direct. --- I never thought about this, but at some point, a model was the first real woman whose photo appeared in a magazine ad for menstrual hygeine. At the time (1929), it was a huge social milestone, and a huge event in her career, though not completely well-received - Lee Miller ran off to France to hang with Man Ray soon after the ad appeared. --- >In the 19th century, cumbersome and sometimes huge dresses and complex underclothing made it practical for women to wear underpants with a permanent opening between the legs, so they wouldn't have to reach under and pull them down when urinating or defecating. >(This raises another question: did the can-can dancers in late 19th century Paris expose their vulvas when kicking their legs up, since open underpants were apparently the fashion? If so, no wonder it was scandalous! And I thought it was just because they were showing their undies.) >http://www.mum.org/drawnocr.htm --- The first commercially produced tampon was called Fax. That was in the 1930s, so I imagine there are still some grandmas out there who must think of that, every time someone mentions a fax machine. --- The second boy said, "Why should we buy tampons?" The third boy replied, "Because I saw on television that with tampons you can go swimming and horseback riding and..."