R.J. Blute's Blog

Origins of Armando's Daughter

I grew up in the sixties and frequented a public pool in upstate New York. On the numerous times I spent there I always noticed that "White people" were a minority. Years later I discovered in The New York Times archives that the olympic sized pool was closed for "financial constraints" That very night I had an epiphany! The business about fianacial constraints was a smoke screen. The surrounding area was upper class white and didn't take to all the "minorities" coming from the five boroughs and fouling up their pristine recreating Haunts! My story line was later validated in Mississippi. Stonewall,A city named after the famous confederate General Jackson. The town filled in a 100 feet long by 30 ft wide pool rather than obey the integretion laws at the time. The former mayor was quoted as saying, "The pool was out there until things happene the way they did.then the integretion came along, and being southerners like we are,people just didn't want to mingle that close. That was a no-no" I think they got some "distant cousins" in upstate New York! Armando's Daughter