Cowgirl and Alien

Growing up in the 1960’s in Oklahoma, we played in a world of jumbled imagery. Super heroes, police, robbers, Native Americans, cowboys, astronauts, and aliens might all appear in our make-believe playtime.

In a time when kids didn’t have many toys, we used what motley props we could assemble: homemade wooden swords and slingshots, secret decoder rings, ray guns, cork guns, and x-ray eyeglasses. Our costumes were whatever old clothing our parents would let us use: hats and aprons and old work gloves. A kitchen pot might become a helmet, a witch’s cauldron or a drum. An old towel might become a flying carpet or used to wrap up imaginary wounds. In our minds, these were transformed into the real thing and we were transformed into smart capable adults, too!

Collaborator: Kay Hendricks (my mom)