Back to School Friday Five

Courtesy of Songbird

1. What is your earliest memory of school?
   I repeated first grade; as I recall the reason given was "emotional immaturity". Could be argued that I need to repeat life for this same reason. In my defense (assuming I need one), my parents got divorced during this period.
      President Kennedy was shot on my birthday when I was either 2nd or 3rd grade. This is an event that haunts me, off and on, even today.


2. Who was a favorite teacher in your early education?
   Understanding "early education" as meaning anytime before college, I have two nominees: the history teacher in Junior High (now called Middle School); and Mrs. Moore, who taught Drama in High School.
      I can't remember the history teacher's name, but he was a rare instance of a coach who could teach. He worshipped Douglas McArthur, and had the students give presentations. Mine was on The Communist Manifesto.
      We can blame Mrs. Moore for my attempts at poetry. She had our class maintain journals. I wrote something that looked like poetry in mine, and she encouraged me to write more like it.


3. What do you remember about school "back then" that is different from what you know about schools now?
   As I understand it from hear-say, high school is more violent than it was in '71-75. My friends and I were more worried about not conforming than being shot.
      However, one of my friends was beat up by the football team on a regular basis. As I recall, he rather enjoyed antagonizing certain macho players.


4. Did you have to memorize in school? If so, share a poem or song you learned.
   I appeared in a number of plays in high school, and naturally had to memorize my lines. These plays included Columbine Cum Laude, Mash (I played Fr Mulcahy), and The Night of January 16th.
      I memorized T.S. Eliot's "Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" for a high school talent assembly.
      Padre bought me my first guitar - a 2nd-hand Silvertone - sometime before my freshman year of high school. I soon had significant portions of the Leondard Cohen and Bob Dylan songbooks memorized.


5. Did you ever get in trouble at school? Were there any embarrassing moments you can share?
   I went to a parochial school for fifth and sixth grades. Padre had to drop me off and pick me up every day, which meant I had about an hour of time on my hands after school.
      I did appropriately studious activities, like finishing my homework, and reading in the school's small library. But I also would get bored. There was a period, probably just a few days, where I would go to the side of the school and break pop bottles. Oddly, I was called on the carpet because the school was losing money on the deposit. I don't think anyone mentioned I might hurt myself.