Doris Colmes: The Iron Butterfly, A trip through the 20th Century

DORIS COLMES
The Iron Butterfly
a trip through the twentieth century
Either inadvertently, or by choice, there I was in the middle of it all: Personally involved in most of the social and political upheavals of the twentieth century. When I finally sat down to make sense of it all, out came a memoir.

Life goose-stepped me past the Holocaust, jitterbugged me into Harlem -- where, as a kid, I learned all about American racism towards African Americans -- and bounced me into all the tribal dances we performed in subsequent eras: The off-key screech of parental abuse, the delicate fox-trot of marriage, the in-law minuet, the blues of love affairs, the sinuous belly-dance with which the cheating wife manipulated the klutzy husband.

I was in the choir when we lifted every voice and sang the impassioned Civil Rights anthems that united us, and marched to the dissonant howls of Viet Nam protest. Then -- WOW, FAR OUT -- rolled like a stone through the smokey doors of sex-drugs-rock'n'roll, trippin' off to West Coast Hippie-Land with my son's best friend. Couldn't get no satisfaction. Instead, a charismatic sorceress allowed me to hear the silent chant with which she produced powerful psychedelic mischief. There was even a funky little boogie with some kool San Francisco Gangsta "R&B" before, at age fifty, shaking my bootie down to the ground and disco-dancing merrily into adulthood. That's when "Life 101" class began, and the learning is on-going.

This is a story of redemption; of growth from traumatized child, to unaware "Barbie Doll" to evolving human being. Sometimes the journey was hazardous, sometimes sexy, sometimes scary, sometimes hilarious, sometimes illegal, but always instructive.

Looking back, all of it was worth the trip.

That's why I wrote the book. Read it, you'll see. . .

Do a trip through the 20th Century:

Click on a little photo for excerpts

Click on the butterfly to go chronologically:

Because, now, after 9-11, there's a singular message ringing from the recounting of that seventy-four-year excursion. Because, at this point in time, in history, each of us must take personal responsibility for the ethics of our individual and collective choices. All of us, together, must learn to live in complete integrity of mind, body and spirit for this planet to survive. We can do it together.