"Third Girl From the Left"

Third Girl From the Left- Martha Southgate


What of dreams deferred? Langston posed this question to us a couple of decades ago. What happens to a dream deferred? I’ll tell you what happens to it- it keeps on living, the chances of it being realized becoming less and less likely with every passing day. And in between those days, life continues. Coming from someone who “SHOULD HAVE BEEN” one of the dancers in the Michael Jackson ‘Remember the Time’ video (looong story!), I understand somewhat the tragedy of the deferment of dreams. As you become less attached to the idea of achieving your vision or fully realizing your talent, you become more distracted by the insidious 525,600 minutes that become a year which, if you’re not careful, becomes a decade. The only redeeming factor would be if that decade bought forth SOMETHING that made the deferment of that dream all worthwhile. While “Third Girl From The Left” starts out as just your requisite “black lit” love story, its theme speaks more to dreams and aspirations- the yearning, the energy it brings into your life, the internal pride and passion that continually fuels you, the internal sadness that comes when you realize that perhaps what you THOUGHT would be your destiny is really going to be something else, the re-definition of what becomes important to you after the ‘death’ of your dream, and a new paradigm of what your life-your dream- will be going forward.

Side plotlines of experimental lesbianism, conformity, mother-daughter relationships, racial strife, family heritage and love in all its forms become woven into the tapestry of this earthen tale of three generations of women in one family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Southgate infuses camp, humor and self-referential parody while giving us a glimpse into the examination of each woman’s dreams and the realization/and or deferment of such. It makes a statement on the power of the movies to change a life (the title comes from daughter Angela’s “cameo” appearance in a Pam Grier blaxploitation movie as ‘Third Girl From the Left’), to renew familial pride (leading granddaughter Tamara to pursue a career in filmmaking and create a loving documentary), and to soothe psychological scars (patriarch Mildred escaped the painful remnants of the Tulsa race riots with weekly trips to the town’s movie house). Southgate offers one of the most interesting fusions of history and fiction I’ve read. She shows a reverence for the acting/moviemaking crafts and the passion that those who pursue them possess while simultaneously challenging the reader to further reach for his own dreams.