"Purple Rain? - Good for Girl Scouts, or a...

The year was 1984. The location, a small town in southeastern Kansas. An adventurous group of teenage girl scouts piled into their leader's van for an expedition featuring the bright lights, big city of Tulsa, Oklahoma. A fabulous time was had by all, sampling city life -- enjoying ice skating in August at a mall rink, being culturally uplifted at an outdoor production of "Oklahoma!" (notable mainly for using live horses as part of the cast), and expanding fashion horizons by having their ears "double-pierced" (and thus guaranteeing that their mothers would NEVER AGAIN allow them to go on a Girl Scout trip). On the last night in the big town, the group trouped off to see a new movie -- Purple Rain.

Fast forward a couple of months later. Several of the Girl Scouts are on the planning board for the decorations for the big Homecoming Dance. This year, they vow, will be better than ever before. The theme? Easy choice! Purple Rain. Ah, visions of purple balloons, purple streamers, a fog machine with purple lights playing off it -- the high school cafeteria will be transformed into a magical purple fairyland. And the theme song will be SO DIVINE for slow dancing.

All went well until the School Board reviewed the plans for the homecoming dance. Purple Rain? They shouted, turning a bit purple in the face themselves. What kind of theme is that? The next thing you know, you'll have students shouting Let's Go Crazy When Doves Cry and getting Delirious in their Little Red Corvettes. It may end up in a Revolution, what with all that I Would Die For You going around! We can't have that happening, not in our fair city.

So, Purple Rain was wholesome enough for our newly double-pierced Girl Scouts, but a bad influence on the high school as a whole. Those purple balloons did not go to waste, though. They worked perfectly as decorations for the Board-approved "You Can Do Magic" theme.

I wonder what sort of fit the School Board would have had if "Darling Nikki" had been chosen instead.