Author: 610rrandtr

Our Dynamic Duo Every guy in 7th grade pretty much agreed that two girls were top of charts. Both could not be more different–a lava explosion vs a tornado. Hence, their names here-Betty and Veronica. I’ll start with Betty She came from poor town, and her clothes showed it. Not hand me downs, but incredibly… Continue reading Betty and Veronica (Part One)

If this was poker, you’d throw your cards in! So, this is the first time you have more than 1 teacher. Talk about re-aligning your consciousness. No more teacher as semi-friend, guardian of your future (yawn). Now, every day you have multiple personalities/different shades of phobias. I couldn’t remember all these names! Hell, it was… Continue reading The Teachers

The subject of nightmares for years to come. Once you were in homeroom, the teacher distributed locker numbers and combinations. Then you try it out. The noise was crazy, made worse by the unworldly echo of the second floor. Some lockers always jammed, and half the time kids were screwing up the numbers, then saying… Continue reading Lockers

The Viciousness of Girls As I mentioned , Steve was 3 years older than I. He told me this story several years after we started our get-togethers, after I vented to him the way Dan had treated some girl. There was a junior high dance in the gym. As was the norm in the 60’s,… Continue reading Steve’s scar

In case you doubted what a monster father is really like The complete recording: Cliche phrase? Maybe, but Kent State was a “defining moment” for anyone over 12 years old. You can be killed for standing up against the war. No one will give a shit, and the person that killed you gets to walk… Continue reading Kent State–I Hang My Head

Now I ask ya: What’s life without the ironclad discipline of a schedule? “Operation: Morning” begins the night before. Mom pulled her car out of the driveway into the street. The old man arrives around 5:30, pulling right into the garage. She pulled back in behind him after supper. Downstairs alarm first. She gets up,… Continue reading The Morning Schedule

Just to show how sheltered we were One thing I will never forget about seventh grade was that we never saw a brunette before. All the girls in our little class were either blondes or browns. Now we have 3–count ’em–girls with seriously long hair black as a midnight panther. Hey, didn’t Delilah have black… Continue reading Exotic Girls aka Greetings to the New Brunette

Ah, to bathe once again in hormones……… One of the first things I had to do in junior high was bring the nurse my hay fever meds. Until that wonderful first frost lifted the curse of the cat people, I needed my pills to keep from devolving into a sneezing pile of protoplasm. So I… Continue reading I’m not in Kansas anymore

And people wondered why we didn’t trust anyone over 30 Off the bus, we came in the front door (not the side ones with 1910 concrete stating “Boys” and “Girls”) to be greeted by signs saying ‘Welcome’ and ‘Turn left for auditorium’. The auditorium looked huge. No folding chairs–it had actual seats bolted down. It… Continue reading The Foon

neither rain nor snow…. Taking the bus to our ‘new’ old junior high via a long ride to ‘poor town’. Early September morning. We’re half asleep. Not even the rabbits in the field are up this godamn early. The shoes are tight, my shirt is stiff with Easy On spray starch. No one murmers, we’re… Continue reading Get on the Bus!