Schmoozing With The Candidate

There was an immediate rapport between Monkette and Bonnie, total and complete! They really seemed to hit it off together.

I decided to circulate a bit. There were people there that I hadn't seen in awhile and people there that I'd just love to see again, but Monkette would never forgive me for dating a thirty year old chick! I decided it best to just stay away from the wine. I don't handle any sort of booze too well. It's bad enough just wandering around town with a toy monkey at my age! I'm not all that sure that I could get away with it being drunk too.

Monkette was intrigued with the diversity of folks we met, for the most part a younger crowd than we usually run into at these functions. In the background is a surgeon still in scrubs, on his way home from the hospital, but for the most part the guys were dressed in jeans and shirts (and a yarmulke or two) with only one guy in suit and tie. The ladies were a bit more formal in their attire, mostly skirts and dresses with heels. Pants on women seems to be a thing of the past.

Bonnie Schwartzbaum, Monkette's Newest Client

Somehow or another Monkette managed to get my password! Next thing she's shouting across the room as she's reading one of my emails "Hey Al, you gotta drive me to another campaign kick-off party Wednesday evening!" "Oh? Who's running and running for what?" I replied.

"Some chick by the name of Bonnie Schwartzbaum is running for city council in district two" she excitedly continued "...and you know how I feel about female candidates! Maybe I can get her to hire me as her political consultant, run her campaign like I did with Mayor Burns two years ago. With me at the helm Kevin was a shoe-in!"

"You only ever ran one political campaign in your life!" "And we won! That gives me a 100% track record." "Monkette, I'm not sure that everybody treats statistics the way you do! You're beginning to sound like a Republican!" "C'mon Al, will you take me? Please? Pretty please?"

Early on I learned that there was a lot of truth in that old adage "Never argue with a woman". That's doubley true when the woman is a toy monkey! "OK Monkette, what time and where?" Then she started in with her wardrobe consultant personna; "DO NOT get a haircut! Don't start growing that silly beard again. Don't go along with that supposedly fashionable ain't shaved in three days look"...and on and on. "Jeans and an open collar white dress shirt, real shoes, and make sure that you wear socks. Your tweed blazer will look fine if it's chilly out." "Yes Dear. Whatever you say Dear."

Miccosukee and Seminole Indian Patchwork Clothes and How They're Made

It's really kind of amazing the way the Indian women make these items. They used to live in thatched roof chikees, which are a thatched roof on cyprus poles, no walls! They used old Singer treadle sewing machines because they didn't need electricity.

Most people today call these a Seminole jacket but the Indians refer to them as shirts. The traditional mens' garb was a "long shirt" down to about the knees, but eventually jeans and T-shirts became popular and the patterned "shirts" became shorter. Women wore ankle length full skirts with the patchwork bands. The skirts were gathered at the waist and had a waistband. Many of the women wore a top that was more like a cape, except that it hung down to the waist in the front as well as the back. There were no seperate sleeves; it went over the shoulders and hung down over the arms. Womens' skirts and mens' jackets had the patchwork bands. The womens' tops usually didn't, and before jeans came along the men didn't wear pants under the long shirt.

The brightly colored cotton fabric was cut into strips and sewn together to make long strips of striped material. This was then cut crosswise, either straight or on the diagonal. They were then sewn back together with the colors offset from one another, or every other piece might be turned upside down before being sewn in place. You'd end up with a long strip of cloth with the pattern. These were then sewn lengthwise with strips of solid color fabric. Various colors of rick-rack would be sewn on the solid color bands.

Usually, if you wanted the shirt to fit correctly, you'd let the woman have one of your ordinary shirts and she'd make your Indian shirt with the same dimensions and sleeve length. With all the money pouring in from casinos, bingo, and tax free cigarette sales, this is a fast dying art. Now it's just so easy to drive the SUV into town and buy a skirt at Saks or shirts at Brooks Bros. This particular shirt was made about 1974.