Author: 610rrandtr

Or, as dad called me–“Him” I think in third grade, I got signed up for bowling after school around twice a month for half the year. We got on a bus right as school ended and we were schlepped to the nearest alley, which was 30 minutes away–don’t forget we were close to nothing. Riding… Continue reading So, What did the kid do after school?

Last call for smiles. Until 5th grade, I got picked up most of the time and mom often had an agenda. Supermarket, bank, dry cleaners, department store…………wait a minute! Department store?! Yes, the change from back country to suburb was underway! We got a large store only around 5 miles from the house, and mom… Continue reading 3-5:30: A Mom and Her Music

A Pause to reflect If anyone reading this finds that their childhood resembled the tragedy below, I am sorry. What happened to you was not your fault. I hope you find healing, as I did. I have no intention of turning my blog into a pity party. But I was seriously abused verbally by my… Continue reading Cruelty

Movin’ On Up! As I said, in such a tiny enclave, you knew all the teachers. Well, lemmee tell you, the first grade teacher was a force of nature………or something far darker. She looked to us like a taller version of Hagar the Horrible’s wife. All she needed was the horn helmet and a few… Continue reading First Grade!

“but all these girls have cooties!!!” And so it began. I started school half day. No more running around with mom to errands and the museum. It was like college in the respect that you were thrown into close quarters with a bunch of people you didn’t know. Except that these people you didn’t know… Continue reading Kindergarten

Gotta have the best Radio took a big step forward in the 60’s. Stereo sound meant that ‘high end’ radios could be sold as must have devices for every house so you could play the music at higher volumes without signal loss or crappy AM signals. Dad bought a large radio that was about three… Continue reading More Wonderful Innovations

And that Space Age design! Wow! Refrigerators in those days had a lock system that was connected to the handle. You didn’t just pull the handle–you pulled it down as well to unlock the door. But in the sixties, fridges became frost-free (old fridges were called iceboxes), which meant that the freezer no longer accumulated… Continue reading All those time saving Gadgets

The Great Escape In the 1860’s/1870’s, Irish immigrants flooded the US. Many found work in the Pennsylvania anthracite mines. The Irish were considered the lowest form of humanity–drunks and ruffians who indiscriminately had babies that they couldn’t support. From this discrimination/humiliation came The Molly Maguires, a combination of a trade union and a terrorist group.… Continue reading Total Time Transfer: Late 1910’s

Sitting in the classroom, trying to look intelligent So now you see that my wonderful little hamlet was swelling like a pregnant seahorse, ready to discharge hordes of baby boomers. Yipes! That ancient 40-year old school just won’t do. So they built one kind of halfway down the hill, on a wide mesa atop the… Continue reading I fit in a little dedication, with one eye on the clock

Welcome back, baby…to the ‘poor side of town’ My borough was between the road at the base of my street (north-south) and a four lane thoroughfare (east-west). The borough sprouted in the 1900’s off the main thoroughfare and oozed up the large hill behind it. It was called “The Hills”. Houses were generally mansions, but… Continue reading Rising above the factories and the fields