I recognized the opportunity to lose myself in a different persona for the night and clamped onto it with all the zeal of a passenger grabbing the last lifesaver on the sinking ship HMS Amanda's Masters Degree.
I ALSO recognized the opportunity to resurrect my Sarah Palin costume, which brought me great delight. For the handful of people who aren't already acquainted with my obsession with her that frequently teeters over the line into the land of you-should-really-seek-therapy-for-that: I love and loathe the folksy, gun totin', g-droppin' former governor of Alaska*. I have also found that with practice I can get her accent down pretty well (thanks, Tina Fey) and bear an uncanny resemblance with appropriate hair, glasses and wardrobe (that sadly costs far less than $150,000).
"But", you ask yourself, "did she dress up as a hero or a villain?" Chances are you already have an answer, and that, my friends, is the beauty of the costume. She rarely evokes neutral feelings from folks--it's either "OMGilovesarahpalinsheissofolksyandawesomeanddidyouknowsheshootsmooseandhaskidsjustlikeme?" or "OMGihatesarahpalinsheisdumbasmayonnaiseandlessqualifiedanddidyouknowthatsheburnsbooks?"
but rarely
"meh."
So I embraced the opposing perceptions and went as Sarah Palin: hero/villain. A captioned photo journey through the evening that Sarah and friends and foes had awaits below--
Ellie as Daphne in her best "Scooby Dooby Do, where are you?" pose. All that's missing is the mystery machine.
Liz as Tooth Fairy, hero to most...except those of us who wondered why we got quarters when our friends got dollars, or people who swallowed teeth and never got anything...people had lots of tooth-fairy related stories.
Shirley as Patty Hearst and Julia as Bonnie. Kellogg girls packin' heat.
Sarah Palin makes her first appearance, trying to win supporters for 2012 (seriously, folks, there may be something to that apocalypse prophecy...)
At the bop! Tooth fairy, a nonspecific glittery figure, Zorro and Patty Hearst get ready to get on down.
The tooth fairy turned out to be a villain. Though really, it shouldn't be surprising that someone who creeps around collecting children's teeth would prove to be something of a sinister figure.
Upon learning that the tooth fairy was evil and NOT a socialist as originally suspected (she DOES redistribute the wealth), Palin pulled her into a con-fab about the 2012 ticket. Patty Hearst sat in as potential Chief of Staff.
Pure silliness. Even villains gotta kick back sometime. You betcha.
Tip of the (stolen) zorro hat to a fabulous evening. Note bonnie's wee Clyde holdin' on to her shoulder.
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*Friends, I am increasingly concerned that my once-strong feelings of disdain for Mrs. Palin are every day more complicated. Okay, granted: she's terrifying, she's ignorant (and proud of it), she thinks that living near Russia and Canada give her foreign policy experience, and she has absolutely no problem sacrificing the environment for oil. But she's also kind of badass, no? I mean, she shoots moose. She doesn't take crap from anyone. She's completely different from most figures on the national political stage. She has five kids and a political career (however troubled and misguided). It's probably a result of reading her autobiography (research for my dissertation--if it were pleasure reading I'd have sprung for the book on tape because 6 hours of Palin voice would be horri-mazing) and hours of adopting her persona on varied occasions. I'm not on team Sarah yet but these sympathetic feelings frighten me. Someone snap me out of it, please, before I start winkin' and fancy pageant walkin'.
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