Of all the pictures that I've posted, this is the first one where the principal is displayed. Mr. Naz Fiore, the upper left hand corner... with the super cool porn mustache. The funny thing is that the same picture was used in 1986 when my little sister was there. Somethings never go out of style... although maybe they should.
Anyway... where do people get their notion of what beauty is? At what age is it formulated? Does it occur at your first crush? Is it based on the most popular girl in elementary school? I don't know.
What I do know is the first time that I saw a black/African-American/Aframerican girl that I wasn't related to was in 7th grade. I've told the story about how her brother introduced me to her before (hitting me below the belt, grabbing me by the jugular pushing me up against the wall with 2 or 3 friends of his in tow telling me that I was going to ask his sister to some dance or another...)
Of all the teachers that I had, I think Mr. Reeser is most responsible for the way that I live my life. Mr. Reeser introduced us to a larger world than what was in the books. He introduced us to learning and thinking.
It was in his class that I learned to really play the game of chess. He taught us how to forecast the weather by taking the relative humidity, using a barometer, reading weather maps. I learned sign language under his watch as well. The world snapped sharply into focus then and became less magical and more formulated by reason.
Sometimes, I think I'm too nostalgic about where I grew up.
What I do know now is that I'm not the only person that grew up like this. I also know that there are others that struggle like I do regarding the way that I grew up. A lot of them have embraced the punk counter culture and are still in that lifestyle today because it's where they found acceptance. Or they completely deny their ethnicity in an effort to try to fit into their world.
What I do know is that it does cause an impact that's not easy to resolve.
Maybe I'm nostalgic because I long for a time before I was jaded. I dunno... honestly. What I do know is that I turn 39 this year... and I still struggle with finding places where I feel comfortable to be just me.
Maybe when I'm done... I'll talk about who I am... since I long to be just me.
Maybe that's what I need to define.
1 comment:
It's wonderful to have memories like that. All my school pictures were accidentally lost during a move when I was a teenager.. I miss them! Thank you for sharing yours with us.
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