Thanks to imoan, I've settled

[Deleted]

A coming of age story circa 1967 Indiana about a recent graduate who returns to her hometown with an eye to seduce the boy she's been in love with since she was 7.

[idahome]

As a life long resident of the Hoosier state I'm interested. I must know: rural or urban setting?

[Deleted]

Oct 29, 2012 10:37:35 GMT -5 idahome said:

As a life long resident of the Hoosier state I'm interested. I must know: rural or urban setting?

Ruralish.

I know nothing of Indiana. But I wanted something small and country but not Southern. Something Little Pink Houses-ish if you know what I mean lol.

I'll probably do a fictional town and be vague about the location to avoid the distraction of research once I start writing. But ideally, I want a town large enough for a high school, a department store, and a courthouse that has enough business to have a rich lawyer walking around.

[eclaires]

You should pick Bloomington (or one of the nearby towns)... IU is in Bloomington, but it's in a fairly ruralish area and John Mellencamp is from there. It doesn't get more Pink Houses than central-ish Indiana.

I'm from the southern part of the state, about 1-2 hours south of the Bloomington area, but our area was heavily influenced by the culture of Louisville, KY so it's a bit different than the rest of the state.

[eclaires]

Have it be about an hour south of Indianapolis. That's vague/general enough, but it will be the type of area you're describing.

[lemondrop]

That sounds interesting.

As far as a town large/small enough, I think around 2000 people could produce the things you want.

[Deleted]

That all sounds good.

Now if any of you know much about what kind of degree a woman would get circa 1967, I'm all ears.

[diceeyes]

Any degree they were inclined to pursue; lots of schools still offered general degrees, too (e.g. Liberal Arts).

Oct 29, 2012 12:14:25 GMT -5 @habbsies said:

That all sounds good.

Now if any of you know much about what kind of degree a woman would get circa 1967, I'm all ears.

[clickerish]

Please make her an unrepentant hippy. That would be awesome-ness.

But yes, she could get pretty much any degree for the most part.

[Deleted]

No unrepentant hippie, sorry. Just a small town girl raised by her frequently drunk father above his auto shop.

Unless I change my mind, she will be working on a business degree. But IDK, a teaching degree sounds good too

[Deleted]

No unrepentant hippie, sorry. Just a small town girl raised by her frequently drunk father above his auto shop.

Unless I change my mind, she will be working on a business degree. But IDK, a teaching degree sounds good too

[Deleted]

In the sixties/seventies women were going to school for a whole bunch of subjects. Mostly teaching/clerical/liberal arts. Some women even went ahead and got JD's or MDs (*gasp*).

I didn't take many courses on women's history but I did take a few on the sixties. In the late sixties was when more college students were getting into more militant movements and a lot of women were going out and doing the marches etc. If I can find my notebooks about students and degrees or in a book, I can give you some insight.

[Deleted]

Thanks, skipping.

I need two degrees, the one she's actually going for and the one she tells everyone she's going for lol. The former should be the one you would pursue if you had your eye on running a department store. I guess business. The latter would be a degree that in theory would take you far, far away from small town Indiana, preferably to Paris or somewhere equally exotic to the late 60's eye.

[aliceinfairyland]

Keep in mind, that I know nothing of degrees in the 60s, but what if she told everyone that she was going for home ec (respectable) but she was really going for some sort of fashion degree? She could be really into sewing and such, could dress demurely during the day, but have a whole secret stash of dresses for the runway...

I'm picturing this closet as this huge symbol of her opening up to lawyer man and letting him into the truth of her heart (make sense?)

[Deleted]

I worked it out with fuss last night. She's not after the lawyer, btw. She's making eyes at the son of the Sears-like store owner.

I found an online copy of a women's college handbook for the year I need so that's where she's going, Mount St. Mary's in LA of all places. Whoo hoo for out of state college scholarships. She's studying Business Administration which she told him was because she wanted to own a bakery in France or something. I haven't sorted that out yet. But is really so she can help run his father's business while she and the object of her affection are having lots of sex and babies.

[aliceinfairyland]

Ooo, I like that.