The Fall of Tights

(This is one for the ladeez, or the gentlemen who would like the secrets of womanhood revealed.)

When I was in high school, we had to wear a uniform that consisted of a tartan kilt, a red bow tie on a plastic noose, a radiant blue jersey, a white polyester shirt and beige wool tights. My kilt would lose its crisp pleats days out of the dry cleaner’s and become festooned with patches of dried food, and my tights would work their way down, leaving me to walk around school hoisting them up as I went. All the girls did the same – we had a special cowboy reach-for-the-shotguns walk. I never wore my tie at my collar – when I remembered it, I wore it pinned behind the V of my jersey, flipping it out whenever a uniform-crazed teacher came by. My German teacher used to joke that we looked like breastfeeding mothers, pulling out our boobs for our babies. I was so relieved when my uniform days ended, but I continued to wear tights. The problem with tights is that you never remember that they are the ones to fall down until you’re halfway down the street and you find yourself waddling.

This reminded me of a comic I wrote about Katherine Mansfield’s tights (not that hers were falling down but she dyed them herself):

I start my residency next week, and that’s when I start my Katherine Mansfield graphic novel in earnest! I will be spending most of my time in Devonport, and a bit of my time at Auckland University.

Other news – next week I will be at Zine fest, launching issue 3 and 4 of my Let Me Be Frank comics. I will blog about it soon! And again, if you can’t make it to the zine fest and you want some copies, please email me: sarahelizabethlaing at gmail.com

And, in The Fall of Light news, here’s a review on bFM and here’s a tantalising first paragraph of the Listener review.