Pam’s Pictorama: I have owned this photo postcard for many years. It is one of my early purchases, on eBay I’m pretty sure. The light appealed to me – these girls in white, daisy chain and crowns of flowers – in this halo of light was irresistible. Observing it further it is a bit curious. It appears to be the twenties or thirties, unless their clothes are just old fashioned. It is interracial which seems somewhat surprising for the time. However, presumably left to their own devices, they have divided themselves into black and white groupings within the group. There is nothing on the back to provide further information and it was never mailed.

I especially love the girl three from the end on the right. She is beautiful, but out of all of them she seems to express the most poise, confidence and charisma. I wonder about the boys, they appear younger and have only a supporting role in this play it seems. These kids appear only semi-posed. If they had been properly posed some of the shorter kids would be in the front.

I couldn’t find much on the history of the daisy chain although it is clearly a long one. At Connecticut College, my alma matar, we called a commencement tradition the daisy chain although it was actually a laurel chain. (It was held by women from the rising junior class at commencement.) The symbol of the laurel a bit easier to figure. Still, the idea of flowered crowns and garlands seem an apt way to honor the passing of a stage out of childhood and onto the dubious road to adulthood.

As a kid you are pushed through various graduations, markers ending one stage and another, virtually starting in kindergarten and then junior high and high school. I remember when I graduated from college and somehow it dawned on me (admittedly very late in the game) that it was all just over – a lifetime of school. Now I was dumped into life, faced with the job of getting on with it and figuring it out. I was stunned and terrified. So, to all you new grads out there, here’s to you and please know, it works out just fine.