1950s pinup model Bettie Page dies in LA at 85 (AP via Yahoo! News)

I don’t think the influence of Bettie Page and her work with Irving Klaw in the 1950s on BDSM and BDSM culture can be overstated; in many ways she was the first mainstream BDSM/fetish model. However, as seen by her Playboy centrefold, her beauty and charm transcended BDSM and fetish culture, making her one of the most enduring counterculture icons of the 20th century. If you haven’t read up on Bettie’s life, either of the two biopics that came out earlier this decade would be a good place to start.

Dad, George Carlin, and now Bettie Page … this just isn’t a good year. In memory of Bettie, now, the friday5.org Friday Five.

1. When did you last sleep in a bed outside your home?
This past September when I spent a couple of nights in hotels after getting a small case of wanderlust. I do not sleep well when I’m not in my room.

2. When did you last drive someone else’s car?
If rentals count as "someone else’s car" then March of 2006 when my parents rented me a Kia to take to North Carolina for the In the Groove tournament I participated in on my thirtieth birthday; otherwise, I make a point of not driving other people’s cars for fear of doing something stupid in them.

3. When did you last cook in someone else’s kitchen?
Surprisingly, I don’t think I ever have. Given that I’m a pretty good baker and cook, I would have figured someone would have conned me into cooking for him or her at some point.

4. When did you last care for children who aren’t yours?
Never. I don’t deal with children.

5. When did you last do someone else’s job?
Given how government bureaucrats have messed up our high schools so much, I feel like I’m do high school teachers’ jobs for them every time I teach. (This is not to slam high school teachers; most of them are doing the best jobs they can under the ridiculous conditions right-wing politicians and their corporate bedfellows put them in.)