Laurie Notaro Quote

It was 1976.It was one of the darkest days of my life when that nurse, Mrs. Shimmer, pulled out a maxi pad that measured the width and depth of a mattress and showed us how to use it. It had a belt with it that looked like a slingshot that possessed the jaw-dropping potential to pop a man's head like a gourd. As she stretched the belt between the fingers of her two hands, Mrs. Shimmer told us becoming a woman was a magical and beautiful experience.I remember thinking to myself, You're damn right it had better be magic, because that's what it's going to take to get me to wear something like that, Tinkerbell! It looked like a saddle. Weighed as much as one, too. Some girls even cried.I didn't.I raised my hand.Mrs. Shimmer, I asked the cautiously, so what kind of security napkins do boys wear when their flower pollinates? Does it have a belt, too?The room got quiet except for a bubbling round of giggles.You haven't been paying attention, have you? Mrs. Shimmer accused sharply. Boys have stamens, and stamens do not require sanitary napkins. They require self control, but you'll learn that soon enough.I was certainly hoping my naughty bits (what Mrs. Shimmer explained to us was like the pistil of a flower) didn't get out of control, because I had no idea what to do if they did.

Laurie Notaro

It was 1976.It was one of the darkest days of my life when that nurse, Mrs. Shimmer, pulled out a maxi pad that measured the width and depth of a mattress and showed us how to use it. It had a belt with it that looked like a slingshot that possessed the jaw-dropping potential to pop a man's head like a gourd. As she stretched the belt between the fingers of her two hands, Mrs. Shimmer told us becoming a woman was a magical and beautiful experience.I remember thinking to myself, You're damn right it had better be magic, because that's what it's going to take to get me to wear something like that, Tinkerbell! It looked like a saddle. Weighed as much as one, too. Some girls even cried.I didn't.I raised my hand.Mrs. Shimmer, I asked the cautiously, so what kind of security napkins do boys wear when their flower pollinates? Does it have a belt, too?The room got quiet except for a bubbling round of giggles.You haven't been paying attention, have you? Mrs. Shimmer accused sharply. Boys have stamens, and stamens do not require sanitary napkins. They require self control, but you'll learn that soon enough.I was certainly hoping my naughty bits (what Mrs. Shimmer explained to us was like the pistil of a flower) didn't get out of control, because I had no idea what to do if they did.

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About Laurie Notaro

Laurie Notaro (born October 1965 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American writer.
She co-founded Planet Magazine, and was a senior editor at Tucson Monthly, a full-color city magazine. Notaro was a columnist for ten years at The Arizona Republic. In October 2001, her book The Idiot Girls’ Action Adventure Club was picked up by Random House, which resulted in eleven books. She published with Simon & Schuster with Crossing the Horizon and Potty Mouth at the Table. Her latest book, Excuse Me While I Disappear, is published by Little A and is a collection of musings on a Gen X-er becoming an AARP-er. Numerous articles, essays, and novels have followed, and she was a finalist for The Thurber Award for American Humor. She has written for The New York Times, Glamour, Oprah, BARK Magazine, USA Today, Village Voice Media, and BUST.
Notaro was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, She graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in journalism. She currently lives in Eugene, Oregon with her husband.