On Sunday, I headed south to pick up my sunglasses at the Optometrist in Glendale...
(there are some things I've chosen to continue to take care of down south!!!)
But part of the reason I went down Sunday was so that I could take some meaningful photos
of Glendale for the family of a childhood friend who recently passed away...
She was a lovely person and I was honored that I had been asked.
One of the spots I headed to was our Jr. High School...
(so just what was so politically incorrect that they had to change from Jr. High to Middle School???)
Well...as you can imagine...this conjured up a bunch of memories!!!
For instance...10 of us girls (including Marilyn) did a black light dance for the talent show...
(it was quite successful!)
Another year, and another talent show, I played guitar and actually sang...
(why they let me onstage for this one I'll never know!)
At every assembly, our principal spouted off his inspirational mantra...
"Good, better, best,
never let it rest,
'til the good is better,
and the better best."
(indelibly etched in my mind)
(can't remember his name, but I'll never forget the mantra!!!)
(Oh!!! Wait!!! That would be Mr. Harvey!!!)
My math teacher used to call me "Wilt the Stilt" after basketball player Wilt Chamberlain
(because he saw me stuff the basketball during PE-I was one of the tallest girls back then)
Our girls PE teacher...Miss Brolier...
(she always wore a long pleated skirt, white blouse, cardigan sweater buttoned at the top)
Posture tests in the girls gym with those icky bra-like things we had to wear...
walking around the gym (with the doors shut tightly, but which the boys always managed to open!)
and exercising while the PE teachers checked our posture and knocked us out if we slumped...
(I always did well...but a friend, who had scoliosis, always got a bad grade...
definitely not a fair practice!)
Mr. Gorby...Vice Principal...all the boys were wary of him because he wielded a big paddle...
Our cooking class teacher who used to lick her lips all the time
(and of course, we used to count the number of times per class)
(I actually often think of her when I'm cooking...she was a stickler for precise measurements...
I'm of the ilk that 'if it's close, it'll do'!!!)
Our sewing teacher who used to have a bottle of mouth wash on her desk at all times
(and took a nip frequently throughout the day)
The young female teacher who always sat on her desk with her legs crossed in a short skirt...
(no boy ever fell asleep in that class)
And Miss Cailor,
the best English teacher I ever had, and who I credit with any success I've ever had in
navigating the English language and writing...
(she'd probably be appalled by my use of extra punctuation in my blog posts!!!)
And who could forget...
lot's of chatter and flirting going on under the dome during snack and lunch breaks...
It just so happens that I remember meeting a tall young man, a class ahead of me,
in this very spot...
(I seem to remember that he had hair back then...)
his brother was in my class...
but then we girls all were more interested in the older boys rather than the ones in our class...
Yep!!! I remember chatting and flirting with TheChief back in the day!!!
Update!!!
Haha!!! One of my school daze friends just emailed me reminding me of having to kneel
down to measure the length of our skirts...if the hem touched the ground while we were kneeling
they were the right length...
I remember kneeling in a dress that my mom had just made for me...my skirt was too short...
the teacher excused me saying that I was growing so fast that my hems couldn't keep up with me
and that even if my hem was a bit short...my legs were long enough that I was still
decently covered!!!
down to measure the length of our skirts...if the hem touched the ground while we were kneeling
they were the right length...
I remember kneeling in a dress that my mom had just made for me...my skirt was too short...
the teacher excused me saying that I was growing so fast that my hems couldn't keep up with me
and that even if my hem was a bit short...my legs were long enough that I was still
decently covered!!!
Linking to...
(It's probably a bit of a stretch to include the front of the Jr. High School as a sign...
but hey! A little creative license here!!!)
(and...yeah...well...an indelibly etched mantra in my mind
and lot's of memories from way back...definitely qualify for "enduring"!!!)
What a fun post to read. Kudos for all English teachers! PS. Slowly feeling better but not there yet!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kate! I had fun writing it! Th memories started to pour in!!!
ReplyDeleteYou have an incredible memory. I have to pass my middle school whenever I visit my mom, your's is much nicer.
ReplyDeleteBrings back my own memories of junior high.
ReplyDeleteHow old some of the teachers seemed then, how young they were.
I think it was seeing the "tripidome" that got my memories flowing Woody...then one led to another!!!
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean Jean...the young teacher who sat on her desk was probably in her late twenties, early thirties. Although my PE, sewing and cooking teachers were definitely on the older side...dayam...it just occurred to me that that would be about my age now!!!
måtte lese sakte men skjønner en del, takk for at du deler :-)
ReplyDeleteTakk Dirk! Jeg er sikker denne var vanskelig å lese og oversette... bare mye av dum minner fra alder 12-15!
DeleteThanks Dirk!!! I'm sure this was difficult for you to read and translate...just lot's of silly memories from age 12-15!!!
What a lovely memory sketch! You are making me think of my own junior high memories (we called it intermediate school back then). Ah, Woodrow Wilson is still remembered around here, president of Princeton University, his former home now a faculty house, and the policy named after him (Woody Woo for short:)
ReplyDeleteWoody Woo!!! I love it!!! thanks LondonLulu!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Kathryn! Lots of memories in it. My 10th grade English teacher did the same thing (sitting on the desk). Her name was Miss Hummer! I don't know if it was the same everywhere, but in my school district, when they added 6th grade to Jr. High, they changed it to Middle School.
ReplyDeleteHaha!!! I guess there's one like that at every school!!! I think you're right...although with Wilson, they also dropped the 9th grade and shifted them to high school. Which leads me to a rant!!! I get that since 9th grade is technically high school regarding grades and credits, I don't think 9th graders are socially ready for high school...
ReplyDeleteAnd while I'm at it...I don't think 6th graders are ready for Jr High either!!!
ReplyDelete