Thursday, June 05, 2008
Alice Vail Junior Jail
I was excited to get to junior high because junior high had a snack bar with long johns and you went from one class to another and it was two stories and there was shop class and they had dances and we rode the BUS to school. But it was an old city bus and it cost 15 cents. It stopped right by the house and there was one with bad suspension that we could rock back and forth like a ship on the high seas while chanting "rock the bus".
There was also some nervous anxiety involved. Kids from other schools combined with your school so there were strangers who looked odd and there was gym class with showers and the P.E. teacher announced that you needed a jock strap and what the hell was THAT? "Just go to Ward's or Penney's and tell them you need one".
I had something new to call myself. Alice Vail's mascot was a Falcon. We were the Falcons.
So I immediately crushed on several girls and my English teacher.
I tried out for the football team and the basketball team but I was too small for either. Every week in P.E. we had to run a mile and a half "cross country" around the school yard. I hated that. Remember, we didn't have running shoes. We had converse all-stars and though you might think they're cool NOW, try running in them. They're kinda flat. We got to play flag football though so that made up for running. I had this incredible knack for intercepting passes.
These were two years where friends I had for years began to fade into a mix and new friends emerged. New ideas popped around and I began to notice the war in Vietnam for what it was and POW bracelets arrived on the scene. I wanted one really bad but could never get one.
I made a book stand in woodworking class that I still have and my teachers were cooler than the teachers I had before and I noticed how some other kids dressed and how the girls were developing. Just the normal stuff like kids today but with better music and warm weather.
I was excited to get to junior high because junior high had a snack bar with long johns and you went from one class to another and it was two stories and there was shop class and they had dances and we rode the BUS to school. But it was an old city bus and it cost 15 cents. It stopped right by the house and there was one with bad suspension that we could rock back and forth like a ship on the high seas while chanting "rock the bus".
There was also some nervous anxiety involved. Kids from other schools combined with your school so there were strangers who looked odd and there was gym class with showers and the P.E. teacher announced that you needed a jock strap and what the hell was THAT? "Just go to Ward's or Penney's and tell them you need one".
I had something new to call myself. Alice Vail's mascot was a Falcon. We were the Falcons.
So I immediately crushed on several girls and my English teacher.
I tried out for the football team and the basketball team but I was too small for either. Every week in P.E. we had to run a mile and a half "cross country" around the school yard. I hated that. Remember, we didn't have running shoes. We had converse all-stars and though you might think they're cool NOW, try running in them. They're kinda flat. We got to play flag football though so that made up for running. I had this incredible knack for intercepting passes.
These were two years where friends I had for years began to fade into a mix and new friends emerged. New ideas popped around and I began to notice the war in Vietnam for what it was and POW bracelets arrived on the scene. I wanted one really bad but could never get one.
I made a book stand in woodworking class that I still have and my teachers were cooler than the teachers I had before and I noticed how some other kids dressed and how the girls were developing. Just the normal stuff like kids today but with better music and warm weather.
// posted by sinner @ 9:55 AM 
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