ARTICLE

NOTES FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

Sonia-Calif.

There is a behavior modification technique used by psychologists based upon the concept of oversaturation. The technique may be used to stop someone from sprinkling his conversation with doses of nasty sounding four and five letter words. In practice, the inveterate cusser is forced to use swear words in between every pair of words he uses. I am told that he soon tires of using these words. He cannot speak effectively and is oversaturated by the swear words.

At this point, you are probably thinking what I am thinking. Maybe someone will try that technique on me to “cure” me of my FPia. I think it would be fun to try, but my thoughts are really going in another direction. Most of us feel that we are in an FP desert and have little fear of drowning. I bring up the concept of oversaturation to show you that there is a compensation in being in the FP desert. Perhaps we may all jump at a chance to leave the desert and dress to our heart's content, yet there is a benefit here that cannot be found elsewhere. When you are in a situation in which you cannot dress with anything near the frequency you would like, if you are like me, you tend to see the negative side of the situation. Only recently have I begun to appreciate, the blessing of dressing on special occasions. I may dress up and go out once a month. This one time during the month is like the first home cooked meal a traveler has returning from a long journey. It is the cigarette that a sailor has after a long night's watch on the bridge. It is the county fair for the farmer who has tilled his fields all year. It is Christmas for the serf on a feudal estate.

When we dress up several times a week, over a weekend, or for a pro- tracted period if we are so fortunate, we lose the sense of excitement, the gala feeling that courses through the body as the special day draws

near.

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