Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Disappointment, Heartache and Foul Odors Pt 1

First Day Of School 2008
I took this photo yesterday, right before the bus came to pick them up in the morning. E is in 5Th grade this year and T is starting Kindergarten. Do they look like they stepped out of a JC Kohl's Bean catalogue? How about those plaid shorts on T, and E's plaid shoes?
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As a mother I try to remember what it was like to be a kid at whatever age my kids are. I think this helps me be more empathetic and patient with them.
I really don't remember much about Kindergarten. I do remember quite a bit about 5Th grade though...
Up until 5Th grade I was able to walk to school. This enabled me to avoid certain bully type people on the way to and from school. All I had to do was walk really slow. The middle school which included 5Th and 6Th grade, was located too far away; I had to take the bus. I hated the bus from day one. I was shy and being that my friends from my street all attended the Catholic school, I had no one to sit with. I don't have any specific bus memories from 5Th grade, just general bus memories. Sweaty, smelly kids, mean stares, mean whispers and uncaring bus drivers.Hot, heavy air leaving me feeling like I couldn't breath. Fear too, I remember fear of being bullied. This fear never left me even through high school bus rides.
My teacher in 5Th grade was Mrs. Smith. She was short, round and really old. Being I was in 5Th grade 1978-1979, I have no fear of her being alive now, catching me writing about her! Mrs Smith's breath was horrible. She smelled like stale cigarettes and un-bathed old person. I dreaded when she would call me up to her desk to talk to me. For the first half of the year I was her pet. I did really well academically, no one seemed to notice I didn't' have many friends.
One day she asked me if I wanted a job writing for the school newspaper. They needed a movie critic. Wow, what fun, of course I took the job. I went to the movies the very next weekend and saw whichever Star Trek movie was playing that year. Well, I didn't really like the movie and being naive about the extent of Star Trek fans and the influence they had on the world, I wrote honestly about the movie. I felt like I wrote about it fairly,but got across the point that I didn't' like it. I was fired! Turns out the stinky, wrinkly old woman was a Trekkie! I was so angry and disappointed because my writing was rejected. Not on the basis that it sucked, but because my teacher and perhaps all the members of the newspaper, were crazed Star Trek fans!
I'll be back to write about the heartache I experienced in 5Th grade next time. I don't want to keep you all too long.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since when did being a movie critic mean you had to write what would make your "boss" happy? Puh-lease. That woman was mean to you!

I think 5th grade was the very early beginning of the Sucky Adolescent years for me. It wasn't awful, but that's when I remember the first girl in our class getting her period, beginning to be interested in boys in a non-play friend kind of way, and the beginning of Mean Girl Cliques. I'm sure that all starts now in the first grade, much as things progress more quickly these days. ACK!

Misty said...

How fundamentally unfair! You know, I had this happen at university. I got an F on a paper in a Shakespeare class not because it was a poorly written paper, not because my research was unsound. But because the professor did not agree with the AUTHOR of the book I was reviewing. Not me. The author.

Literally wrote "Bah Humbug" on my paper and made me redo it in 48 hours.

Bah humbug indeed. We called him Satan. He is really old, too. Maybe he was married to your Trekkie teacher.

Anonymous said...

A teacher these days probably would not get away with that :-)

I hope your kids are loving school like mine are...and YAY new laptop!

Zip n Tizzy said...

Reading all the back to school posts and thinking about the fact that my oldest starts K next year really does have me pulling back my grade school anxieties.
It's so bitter sweet watching their excitement, yet knowing how much they have to experience to grow... both the good and the bad.

MereCat said...

That Star Trek story is going to be a perfect inside flap story for your first book. You know, the age-old "you'll never make it as a..." story. Those stories always wind up making an ass of the slamsayer.

Anonymous said...

Love those plaid shorts. Reading your post sure brings back memories, school can be tough! That was really mean of that stinky teacher to fire you, what a B. Hope the kids have a great year.

Suzy said...

Those backpacks are almost as big as the kids.

What a writing lesson, huh? My 7th grade teacher MR. GAY HIBBETT hated my writing. I can only hope he's dead now.

Barb said...

I'm impressed you remember your teacher's name! I only remember the names of 2 of mine.

Gina said...

That is so horrible!

What is wrong with some people, anyway?

I try to remember too, what it was like when I was Mr. P's age, but I can't remember that far back! Maybe when he hits 1st!

Lainey-Paney said...

i don't care for start trek either....

Manager Mom said...

Love those plaid shorts! Except for the age difference, this could have been a shot of my own littles.

I am sort of scared to read about your fifth grade trials. I had a HORRIBLE fifth grade year and it makes me sad that anybody has to have bad times in school.

BabyonBored said...

I can't believe we didn't meet until high school. We so would've been friends in grade school too. I miss you Hon!