for the March 30, 2006 "The Granville Sentinel"
Letters to the Editor

To the Editor --
"Prom," it should be observed, is short for promenade.In the recent debate over the wheres and hows of the Granville, or many other schools' prom, I'd like to add a few reflections on where this tradition comes from, and possibilities for where it is going, in future years if not this spring.(I'm going to leave the Stepford comments alone; having never seen either movie, from the book my impressions are perhaps skewed, but of the numerous Granville women I know, many of whom are indeed attractive, I can think of none who are robotic and compliant.)The promenade was once a rite of spring where the entire senior class, and later lower grades, put on their best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes and "stepped out." Think Fred Astaire and Judy Garland in "Easter Parade" and you get the idea.Instead of a linear parade on the avenue (Fifth Avenue), a room and some music, with a general movement in possibly a counterclockwise motion, was the scene of those young adults' promenade.I use the term "entire" quite literally. As my parents both have retold, the point of "The Prom" was a) for everyone to participate, and b) for adults to view their own and others' offspring with pride and approval.Over time, couples became more the norm ("will you be my girl at the prom?"), but not the rule. Packs of young men and gatherings of young women filled in the vast interstellar deeps between dancing couples, perhaps jealously watching them out the corner of their eyes, or maybe not caring. You were as likely to be there with buddies and friends as you were to have "a date."And one was promenading so that, from the gym balcony or behind the cafeteria railing, parents and even grandparents could see you, see that your friends in fact can clean up, and maybe even see that you have a sweet date.
Let's not even discuss cost.
Of course, one can reply that the train has left the station, the station has been closed and converted to a tourist mall, and anyone waiting for the train to return is mildly delusional.
Perhaps.
But what does one make of the idea that parents seeing the prom is an affront and offense? Why should the school officially affirm an event where if you have no date, you have no place, in Granville or Columbus? And could the community actually conceive of this possibility: that a festival of excess is not something that is absolutely mandatory?
What would an event look like that involved all the students, and was available to all regardless of wallet . . . and that didn't regard parental pride as an abomination to be suppressed? Other than assemblies and awards nights, could a social activity full of joy and excitement not require the hint or promise of inebriation, reckless behavior and abandon?
And isn't it interesting that it is, indeed, very hard to imagine what such an event would look like.
But it's worth our while to consider that, within living memory, we had such an evening in the spring, called "The Prom."

Historically yours,
Jeff Gill