School Memory Meme
I got this from Jo(e) and really like it. Feel free to feel tagged if you like. I won't single anyone out:
Smells that remind me of elementary school: Chalk dust, that indescribable salisbury steak smell.
Things that remind me of elementary school: kelly green paint, red playground balls. Construction paper cut-outs of anything.
How much milk cost when I began school: 25 cents. Lunch was a buck. No chocolate milk until Fridays.
Scariest thing about school: reading out loud. I hated having to read in front of the teacher or other students.
Thing I didn't like about school: reading out loud, getting picked on as the brainy girl, getting cliqued out of the cliques. [Happened frequently.]
Favorite school clothes: oh, Jebus. I was a child of the Eighties. There were stirrup pants worn over shoes. There were leggings worn under dresses (hey, that's back!). There were any number of disasters. But I also had a really cool pink and grey plaid dress somewhat reminiscent of Monique's in Better Off Dead. That counts for something.
Party tricks I learned in elementary school: I was quite a good spitter back in the day. Could also hold my own with some fake nunchucks. But seriously, I learned to juggle in 3rd grade. And can still do it. A bit.
Strangest thing: I remember vividly when we got a new principal at our elementary school, and she wanted to change the school mascot from the Wildcat to the Wallaby, because wildcats were too violent or dangerous, and wallabies were friendly. WTF?
Favorite classroom: 2nd grade. Mrs. Trullinger. She had a big oval rug we sat on to hear stories. I went to her class when I was in first grade for reading. So I got two years of the rug.
Favorite teacher: Mrs. Bolger, fourth grade. She was Canadian, and had a delightful lilty accent. She was also a serious hard-ass. Perhaps I model myself on her! Except that I'm in California's Canada, not the real one.
Best seasonal memory: which is not the same as most vivid seasonal memory (the Christmas virus that kept me out of the 3rd grade play and hence killed my acting career in utero). Best seasonal memory was Halloween -- I won a pumpkin decorating contest -- no carving for 6 year olds, for some reason -- in first grade by making a Jimmy Carter pumpkin.
What I wanted to be when I grew up: I wanted to be a writer. Back then, I meant novelist or poet. But I realize now that I am a writer. And I love it.
Smells that remind me of elementary school: Chalk dust, that indescribable salisbury steak smell.
Things that remind me of elementary school: kelly green paint, red playground balls. Construction paper cut-outs of anything.
How much milk cost when I began school: 25 cents. Lunch was a buck. No chocolate milk until Fridays.
Scariest thing about school: reading out loud. I hated having to read in front of the teacher or other students.
Thing I didn't like about school: reading out loud, getting picked on as the brainy girl, getting cliqued out of the cliques. [Happened frequently.]
Favorite school clothes: oh, Jebus. I was a child of the Eighties. There were stirrup pants worn over shoes. There were leggings worn under dresses (hey, that's back!). There were any number of disasters. But I also had a really cool pink and grey plaid dress somewhat reminiscent of Monique's in Better Off Dead. That counts for something.Party tricks I learned in elementary school: I was quite a good spitter back in the day. Could also hold my own with some fake nunchucks. But seriously, I learned to juggle in 3rd grade. And can still do it. A bit.
Strangest thing: I remember vividly when we got a new principal at our elementary school, and she wanted to change the school mascot from the Wildcat to the Wallaby, because wildcats were too violent or dangerous, and wallabies were friendly. WTF?
Favorite classroom: 2nd grade. Mrs. Trullinger. She had a big oval rug we sat on to hear stories. I went to her class when I was in first grade for reading. So I got two years of the rug.
Favorite teacher: Mrs. Bolger, fourth grade. She was Canadian, and had a delightful lilty accent. She was also a serious hard-ass. Perhaps I model myself on her! Except that I'm in California's Canada, not the real one.
Best seasonal memory: which is not the same as most vivid seasonal memory (the Christmas virus that kept me out of the 3rd grade play and hence killed my acting career in utero). Best seasonal memory was Halloween -- I won a pumpkin decorating contest -- no carving for 6 year olds, for some reason -- in first grade by making a Jimmy Carter pumpkin.
What I wanted to be when I grew up: I wanted to be a writer. Back then, I meant novelist or poet. But I realize now that I am a writer. And I love it.
posted by Courtney at 8:58 PM
6 Comments:
"I remember vividly when we got a new principal at our elementary school, and she wanted to change the school mascot from the Wildcat to the Wallaby, because wildcats were too violent or dangerous, and wallabies were friendly. WTF?"
I didn't realize we went to the same elementary school?!? Was there a guy in your class who did a really good impression of Michael Jackson and was all the rage at the school talent show?
NOT the leggings! So many things that were so, so bad are coming back : ) Sometimes I love being a clueless old mom.
Jade, how did I not know this? I always pegged you for a co-elementary of our beloved Andy.
As for the Michael Jackson impersonator, we had a girl who was quite a devotee, and did the dances well. And wore one white glove frequently. Good times.
Oh, and Jennifer: I realized I was old when I started watching my students (I teach college here and there) walk into class and the first thing I would think was, "Your mom let you out of the house wearing that?"
:) I wasn't really a stand-out personality in grade school, unless you count being in the Safety Kids plays (which I'm sure everyone in the audience watched with undying concentration, right?) Oh, I did play Mrs. Umbrerto in the 3rd grade Christmas play, you would have been in the 4th grade at the time.
Jade, I was in Safety Kids, too. Still remember some of those mind-numbingly bad songs.
Also: saw legwarmers for the first time on an actual person today. Ew.
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