GIRL
Me Feel Old’
year I turned 11. Am I really old
part of a historical story?
same category as Kirsten’s prairie
dress and bonnet from the 1850s—
By Jamie Davis Smith
historical relics meant to explain the
olden days to modern kids.

What would girls in 2020
gain from learning about
the 1980s besides a series of
fashion don’ts?
Reading Courtney’s
American Girl story, I
realized that I had been
living through history in the
1980s without knowing I was
doing so. It was a decade of
both advances for women
and technology. The 1980s
included several female firsts:
Geraldine Ferraro ran as a
vice-presidential candidate,
Sandra Day O’Connor joined
the U.S. Supreme Court and
Christa McAuliffe become
the first American civilian to
go into space.

Unlike me, Courtney
knows that she is living through
an important era in history. She’s
inspired to learn coding, a new field back
Pac-Man and “The
then, so that she too can one day create
books, that is) are
games as awesome as Pac-Man. She is
long ago: the ’80s.

undeterred by gender. After all, if a girl can
Courtney could be
grow up to be a U.S. Supreme Court justice
lane rather than a
or an astronaut, why couldn’t she grow up to
firmly in middle age,
be a coder?
to today’s girls
Looking at Courtney was like looking at
of Minnesota
a younger version of myself, although if I’m
I was pretty sure
being honest, my hair was bigger and my
nightgown as
tights were brighter. Courtney may well earn
mother to confirm
a spot on my daughter’s holiday list, and I
one in pink.

know what I’m adding to mine: American
possessions, Girl’s Pac-Man arcade game. After at least a
in the American Girl
had her jean jacket, decade of not thinking much about it, thanks
to Courtney Moore, I have rediscovered an
Swatch-like watch.

old favorite. n
I had looking through
my daughter, I could
these symbols of
Jamie Davis Smith is a D.C. mother of four,
relegated to the
attorney, photographer and writer.

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