Your photos kick ass compared to the smiling-grinning-open-mouthed-Cheshire cat-girls-in-dumb-t-shirt photos right underneath your latest entry.

What were the makers of those Snogs thinking when they designed their ad campaign??

Anyhow, happy birthday and I hope you keep on blogging.

Embarrassing?  Oh dear god, child, I’d scoop you up and kiss your cheek and buy you an ice cream cone, and totally listen to whatever it was that young Pamlette had to say, and I’d have told you that you are marvelous and fantastic, and that whenever you might doubt that, you should take my word for it, on account of I’m so much older than you and thus I know about these things, and bless your dear, strong, indefatigable heart, and also: happy birthday, youngster.

*I* think you look cute.

and i went and read that post, and found out that there was a “brown paper bag test” and what it was (a thing i missed, being more Indian and such and having to fight all the time for being an “apple”...)
and so i picked up a bag and held it up to my boyfriend. he died laughing - he’s very dark, and was raised to think its better to be that dark - and he gets shit from his family for his “white” girlfriend…

anyway, the whole point of this is that you have shown me a new area to explore, and i am excited about it! thanx

Hi Pam, I’ve seen you in person around Durham a couple of times and never had the nerve to approach you—but I’m not a stalker, honest! just a longtime reader—and I would have guessed you were a lot younger. I’m 39 and I thought you looked 5-10 years younger than me. Maybe I was just assuming that a blogger had to be young. Which is stupid because I have a blog too, but there you go.

Your childhood photos are adorable. Fashion is cyclical and those outfits have come back around to cute again. Happy birthday!

congratulations, Pam!  I hope you have this much fight in you for the next 45 years.

But don’t push the age thing so hard…at 58 I find my blogs multiplying and I discover burnout will get you a lot sooner than birthdays.

God, you were cute. Still are. Many merry returns.

Don’t look in the stores now - polyester is back.  It looks to me as though this generation has to learn about polyester just the way we did in the ‘70’s.

One more thing that we have in common.

Throwing in another vote for the “cute” camp here.

Admittedly, the second one would be much cuter if you didn’t look like you desperately wanted to escape from the photographers, but the other two are downright adorable.

Hi Pam, I’ve seen you in person around Durham a couple of times and never had the nerve to approach you

No worries, you should have come up and said hi. It’s not as if I’m an <u>actual celebrity</u>. In Durham I’m not recognized much; usually that only happens if I’m at a blog-related conference of some kind, then I sort of stick out like a sore thumb, if you know what I mean.

The one time it was kind of freaky to be recognized was when I was getting on a plane and a young woman getting into her seat a couple of rows in front of me paused and looked like she felt the need to get up courage to say “Aren’t you…?” But she said hi.

Uh, I’m just a regular person, folks. LOLOLOL. And I really looked like hell that day.

It’s not so much celebrity as just the weirdness of interrupting a stranger who’s in the middle of a conversation or whatever, but next time I see you, I will say hi. Happy day-after-your-birthday!

Those pics are too cute. 

Yeah I love mom’s “picture day” outfits.  Whatever horrible banana yellow polyester thing she could get her hands on at JC Penny was what we were wearing.

Oh yeah, happy birthday!

Hey, I was just talking with my mom about how they dressed all of us kids in the 70s in plaid pants.  That half the time the shirts were fine, but then it was a scroll-down horror to the crazy pants.

What was up with THAT?

A very happy birthday to you, Pam.  Thanks for posting and making me laugh and think and rage at the stupidity.

Thankfully, my parents were ignorant of fashion and trends and such and thus almost no embarrassing 80s pictures of me exist. Except for that period when I was spiking my hair…

OT: Denelian, are you by any chance the Denelian who used to post at the Ornery American forums five years ago or so? For the curious, the Ornery American was Orson Scott Card’s political site, home to his mouth-breathing column and a strangely diverse set of posters.

Happy B-day, Pam and TBogg!

Happy Birthday, Pam!

From someone even older, who had both peach and mint-colored dress shirts at that age, but thankfully has no pictures to prove it.

Happy, happy birthday to you—from another survivor of the polyester horrors of the early 70s!

Caren you are SOOO right about the Plaid Pants Horror.

Congratulations and happy birthday. I think those clothes are cute and I’m sure your mother did too. Forgive her her tresspasses, all our ancestors had was polyester.

aimai

I had kids in the 60’s and 70’s.  I dressed them in tasteful outfits that I made myself (when they didn’t wear jeans).  No polyester, no “scarf necklines,” no cute collars.  I used to get notes from the schools telling me that if I didn’t dress my kids “like the other children,” the other children would beat them up (presumably with adult blessings).

You know, thanks for this post.  Times I get really depressed thinking about this trip in the handbasket, and it’s nice to be reminded that some things are better now.

So I was in a mall yesterday.  Saw clothes that Heroes Hayden Panieterre was shilling.

Catholic school-girl plaid miniskirt with thick wide belt.
Vest.
T-shirt embroidered with ‘jewels’.

The 80s are back in such a big way!  I OWNED those clothes!  Cripes, I still have a blue/black plaid jacket from “Limited Express” that would go great with that get-up.

Hey Pam, at least you aren’t wearing cat-eye glasses.  Of course, considering that’s the style of glasses my mom was wearing in the early 70s, I shouldn’t be surprised she bought them for me too.

And, oh yeah, the horror of plaid pants!

I like what you write but I don’t think that influences my thinking on your photos.
Happy Birthday. In acknowledging your chronological age, you are more evolved than I was; at your age, I was still not admitting my years. Now at the advanced age of 55, I’m telling the little kids I work with at a primary school how old I am when they ask. And some always ask. I’ve decided that honesty in the little things is part of being the role model that educators are supposed to be.
And that leads to the actual comment I intended. Little kids are beautiful; it goes without saying to those who like being with kids, and of course to those who love them, but not all of their features fit yet. And that causes anguish to those of us who have learned to subject ourselves to all kinds of rigorous scrutiny and shame for not looking the way we are supposed to look. Leaving aside the marketing and availability that led our families to provide us with stylish, crappy clothes from, in my case, K-Mart imitators.
What I see when I look at your pictures and what I see in the 5, 6, 7, and 8-year-olds that I work with, is the expression and the little smiles and the eyes that are still hopeful. I want to be a kind person who takes time to see and hear those kids, as well as the role model and all that. I hope you had some adults in school who were available to see and hear you.

What you talkin’ about Willis? You are cute in those photos, and the outfits!
Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, Pam!  It is my birthday as well (but I’m…. gasp!... 48), but I bow to you today as the Queen of the Internet.  Have a party!

Happy birthday!! Your photos are adorable, and I really hope I look as great as you when I’m your age!! You’re clearly doing something quite right.

Oh gawd, you were too adorable. The last picture is just too much. 

Embarrassing Picture Day Outfit:
2nd grade, late ‘80s short-sleeved navy blue button-down blouse/skort set with gigantic red and orange flowers on it. It even had baby shoulder pads in it!

Anyway, happy birthday!