Love Is Blind, but It Ain’t Apolitical: The Way We Were
She — Barbra Streisand — was a political organizer, unconventionally pretty with dark, feisty curls. He — Robert Redford — was a sandy-haired frat boy with a twinkly smile who looked good in a uniform. They fell in love, and at 14, that was all I wanted to know about love — that anything was possible. Imagine my heartbreak when they couldn’t keep it together. My junior high girlfriends — four out of five of whom turned out to be lesbians — and I cried for an afternoon. Now that I think about it, I was the only one wailing, “But, why, why can’t they love each other?!,” the Maybelline eye shadow streaking down my face. “They were so much in love!” My closeted friends were probably wondering the same thing, but I was the only one allowed to ask that question out loud. — Belinda Acosta
This article appears in February 8 • 2002.
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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...
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