Every once in awhile a strange funny little story pops into my head that sums it all up. I was folding the napkins and putting them away the other day. Napkins.
It was one of the early years of Christmas class preparations in New York. We were told that there were more people and we needed new napkins. We were each to make one new napkin. We were given very specific instructions about how the napkin was to be made. The fabric was to be durable, not flimsy and should be flowery. Not like a light Liberty of London small patterned fabric but more like a sturdy French Provençal fabric. The example that was given was Pierre Deux, the classic French country fabric and "antique" store on Bleecker Street. I was familiar with the store and their fabric which was very pricey. I found something similar at P and S, the discount fabric store below the old space on Broadway.
The other very specific direction that was given was that the napkin was to be 18"x18" square. I was a good sewer and I made my napkin and brought it in at the required time.
The following class, there was a somber mood and one of the teachers got up (I forget who) and started lashing into us about the napkins. They had measured them and they were not all precisely 18"x18". Some of them were 17-1/2"!!! I knew that my napkin was the required 18"x18" so I was not worried. The teacher was indignant: all the napkins had to be re-done! I thought I would be exempt since mine was correct but there was no distinction being made between those people who had done them correctly and those who had not. I wanted to search through the pile of napkins and pull mine out to show that it was correct. No such luck. I was guilty along with everyone else. We were all made to feel ashamed and inferior and wrong. Over a fucking napkin!!!!
