But mostly, Karr just mined her memory for what her sexual fantasies were back then, surprising herself at how simple her desire was. I asked Karr if she thought that her experience growing up in the Seventies was unique to Southeast Texas. I wondered if she thought things had improved for girls. She credits girls' sports with changing things for the better, offering girls new ways to prove themselves. The toothpaste is out of the tube.
People talk about sex, and a lot of stuff that was clamped down back then is just out there.
One of Cherry 's most memorable scenes is an LSD-laced visit Karr and her friends make to a juke joint, an Alice in Wonderland kind of world where things are not what they seem. I asked Karr whether this frightening episode was a kind of watermark in her adolescence. Then you start choosing activities and who you'll associate with, trying on different selves. You think you know what you're doing, but you have no idea. The world operates on protocols you're in no way privy to.