Allison Pugh

Sure. You know, right. The youngest of five. It was a generally loving environment, but I would say it was one my mother still sometimes calls it benign neglect. So I did not get a bathing suit that wasn't owned by someone else until I was in college. Wow.

Sure. You know, right. The youngest of five. It was a generally loving environment, but I would say it was one my mother still sometimes calls it benign neglect. So I did not get a bathing suit that wasn't owned by someone else until I was in college. Wow.

Sure. You know, right. The youngest of five. It was a generally loving environment, but I would say it was one my mother still sometimes calls it benign neglect. So I did not get a bathing suit that wasn't owned by someone else until I was in college. Wow.

And I went myself to a department store and picked out, I think, a pink bathing suit that I that I wanted instead of the, you know, scores of other kinds I had had over the years.

And I went myself to a department store and picked out, I think, a pink bathing suit that I that I wanted instead of the, you know, scores of other kinds I had had over the years.

And I went myself to a department store and picked out, I think, a pink bathing suit that I that I wanted instead of the, you know, scores of other kinds I had had over the years.

I remember coming home kind of full of outrage and being like, this is not okay. They shouldn't be doing this. And I was trying to figure it out. I just didn't know how to handle it. And she did not take it seriously at all, unfortunately. She just kind of said, oh, that's because they like you. That was her reaction. That was her rationale.

I remember coming home kind of full of outrage and being like, this is not okay. They shouldn't be doing this. And I was trying to figure it out. I just didn't know how to handle it. And she did not take it seriously at all, unfortunately. She just kind of said, oh, that's because they like you. That was her reaction. That was her rationale.

I remember coming home kind of full of outrage and being like, this is not okay. They shouldn't be doing this. And I was trying to figure it out. I just didn't know how to handle it. And she did not take it seriously at all, unfortunately. She just kind of said, oh, that's because they like you. That was her reaction. That was her rationale.

And at the time, I remember a really sharp disjuncture between my own, I would say, half-desperate outrage and her kind of semi-humorous, oh, you know, they just like you.

And at the time, I remember a really sharp disjuncture between my own, I would say, half-desperate outrage and her kind of semi-humorous, oh, you know, they just like you.

And at the time, I remember a really sharp disjuncture between my own, I would say, half-desperate outrage and her kind of semi-humorous, oh, you know, they just like you.

No, that was a big moment of a kind of cognitive dissonance between what I thought was going on and her response, for sure. I did not feel seen.

No, that was a big moment of a kind of cognitive dissonance between what I thought was going on and her response, for sure. I did not feel seen.

No, that was a big moment of a kind of cognitive dissonance between what I thought was going on and her response, for sure. I did not feel seen.

At the time, we were living in California and there would be old boxes or, you know, interesting rocks or, you know, kind of things that they'd be on the sidewalk. Obviously, either somebody, part of nature that was just there or some things that other people were putting out for either garbage or for people to pick up. And my daughter was always the one picking. to pick them up.

At the time, we were living in California and there would be old boxes or, you know, interesting rocks or, you know, kind of things that they'd be on the sidewalk. Obviously, either somebody, part of nature that was just there or some things that other people were putting out for either garbage or for people to pick up. And my daughter was always the one picking. to pick them up.

At the time, we were living in California and there would be old boxes or, you know, interesting rocks or, you know, kind of things that they'd be on the sidewalk. Obviously, either somebody, part of nature that was just there or some things that other people were putting out for either garbage or for people to pick up. And my daughter was always the one picking. to pick them up.

So she had a name for them. She called them her inventions. She was very young. I think she meant that they were a kind of art or maybe that she was inventing, that she would be imagining what she could do with them or something. But I really viewed them as junk. I actually threw them out. And she still remembers that and reminds me.

So she had a name for them. She called them her inventions. She was very young. I think she meant that they were a kind of art or maybe that she was inventing, that she would be imagining what she could do with them or something. But I really viewed them as junk. I actually threw them out. And she still remembers that and reminds me.