#books #memory | Divine intervention : a memoir

Divine intervention : a memoir / Janet Freedman.
[S.l.] : Independently, 2021 [01-12].
195 p.
/ EN / Libros / Baltimore / Divine / Drags / Estados Unidos / Testimonios
📘 Ed. impresa: ISBN 9798592818783

[.en] Growing up in blue collar Baltimore in the socially rigid 1950’s groomed me for a life I did not want. My parents, conservative and religious, saw no academic future for me but felt that secretarial work, marriage and children were proper goals for a decently raised young woman. I longed to escape the impending doom of an office job where I would struggle with shorthand and my dress size for the rest of my life. A one-year scholarship to art school opened the door to new possibilities, and though timid and insecure, I left my parent’s home, moving to a shabby downtown apartment building where I met a group of eccentric new friends - including not-yet-famous drag queen Divine –who helped me move past my fears and insecurities, ditch my plain-Jane looks, and create a new future.

This memoir occurs against the backdrop of funky pre-revival Baltimore and the social upheaval of 1960’s America and includes some interesting Baltimore history. An example: our Marlborough apartments were on the same floor as the old Cone sister’s apartments, once home to the massive art collection now in the Baltimore Museum of Art and where Etta Cone was visited by Henri Matisse in 1930. I've also included photos and memorabilia from that time.