Since I started this I've tried to think of something to say about the Chieftain. There must be something that we can say about our school newspaper.
As I remember, there really wasn't that much 'news' in it. Some sanitized stuff that was okayed by the office and a whole lot of gossip in that ugly old memeographed print. I may be wrong, but in my mind's eye I can see Wayne Poole cranking on that machine, I'm not sure if it was the Chieftain or not though.
I would dare say that at one time or another every pop song from '66 to '70 appeared somewhere in those pages, "dedicated" to someone or other. Some songs made it a bunch of times. I enjoyed scanning through it just as everybody else did, trying to figure out who a.b. was when they dedicated "I' m A Believer" to y.z., or who the d.e. was that was seen holding hands with w.x. It usually wasn't all that hard to figure out. :) I honestly don't remember ever being in the Chieftain.
Do they still make it? I bet it's a damn site easier to put together now than it was back then.
Does anyone have any Chieftain stories to share? Does anyone still have a copy of it somewhere? Kathey, you kept a list of locker combinations, is there an old Chieftain in there someplace too? It would be fun to look at if there were.
While I'm on that subject, if anyone has anything they might want to share, get it to me and I'll get it on here one way or another.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
A Look at the Old Place
For those of you who still live there these pictures may not seem like that big of a deal, but to me they are. It's my first up close look at the school in a number of years. Thanks Kathey!
In the picture on the left, it still looks like it did 40 years ago. The building's a blooming antique. But someone has done a good job in keeping it up.
In the middle picture I can see they moved the flagpole out front, which actually makes sense when you think about it. Why was it in the back of the school in the first place?
The picture on the right is a bit of an irritant. We asked for baseball way back when. I'm glad someone finally added it.
This old building has no doubt been thru the wars, but as the saying goes, it's in pretty good shape for the shape that it's in.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Class of '70 by the Numbers
First of all this is all in fun. Please don’t take offense.
My transcripts say there were 129 of us but the yearbook has 128. Who is missing?
I’ve noticed that relatively small number of 128 (or 129 or whatever it is) broke down something like this….
70 girls and 58 guys
3 Allen – one was a first name
2 Barr
2 Bright
2 Delaney
2 Faulkner
2 Gray
2 Green
2 Guider
2 Hamilton
2 Henry
2 Jones
2 Knox
2 McKee
2 McNabb
2 Poole
2 Presley
4 Russell
2 Schrimsher
2 Stafford
2 Thomas
3 Watson
3 Williams… counting Ann who graduated as Trout.
Oh, and 8 that started with Mc
The funny part about all that, like Lynette and myself, I don’t think they were all related just because they had the same last name.
There were also….
3 Ann
4 Brenda
4 Debbie or Deborah
4 Donna
3 Doug
2 Edward or Eddie
2 Gail
2 Gary
2 Jackie – a he and a she
5 James or Jimmy
3 Janice or Janis
2 Janie
2 Jean or Jeanie
3 Joe and a Billy Jo
2 John
2 Cathey or Kathey
3 Larry
3 Mary and a Mary Ann
6 Mike or Michael
2 Pat or Patsy who were girls and a Pat who was a guy
3 Peggie or Peggy
2 Sharon although one went by Sherry
5 Sue or Susan
2 Wayne
Okay, when I compiled most of this, it was 2am and I was suffering from a bad case of heartburn. I couldn’t sleep and nothing I took worked, so I sat here til my eyes and brain became fuzzy. Anyway, when my brain was the fuzziest I also noticed there was a pattern to how we sat for our pictures.
Of the guys, 10 faced right, 22 were center and 26 faced left.
Of the girls, 21 faced right, 32 were center and 17 faced left.
Why is that almost reversed? A quirk of the photographer? It’s no doubt meaningless, but it is interesting in a strange sort of way. I guess I’ve spend too many years trying to make sense of numbers.
My transcripts say there were 129 of us but the yearbook has 128. Who is missing?
I’ve noticed that relatively small number of 128 (or 129 or whatever it is) broke down something like this….
70 girls and 58 guys
3 Allen – one was a first name
2 Barr
2 Bright
2 Delaney
2 Faulkner
2 Gray
2 Green
2 Guider
2 Hamilton
2 Henry
2 Jones
2 Knox
2 McKee
2 McNabb
2 Poole
2 Presley
4 Russell
2 Schrimsher
2 Stafford
2 Thomas
3 Watson
3 Williams… counting Ann who graduated as Trout.
Oh, and 8 that started with Mc
The funny part about all that, like Lynette and myself, I don’t think they were all related just because they had the same last name.
There were also….
3 Ann
4 Brenda
4 Debbie or Deborah
4 Donna
3 Doug
2 Edward or Eddie
2 Gail
2 Gary
2 Jackie – a he and a she
5 James or Jimmy
3 Janice or Janis
2 Janie
2 Jean or Jeanie
3 Joe and a Billy Jo
2 John
2 Cathey or Kathey
3 Larry
3 Mary and a Mary Ann
6 Mike or Michael
2 Pat or Patsy who were girls and a Pat who was a guy
3 Peggie or Peggy
2 Sharon although one went by Sherry
5 Sue or Susan
2 Wayne
Okay, when I compiled most of this, it was 2am and I was suffering from a bad case of heartburn. I couldn’t sleep and nothing I took worked, so I sat here til my eyes and brain became fuzzy. Anyway, when my brain was the fuzziest I also noticed there was a pattern to how we sat for our pictures.
Of the guys, 10 faced right, 22 were center and 26 faced left.
Of the girls, 21 faced right, 32 were center and 17 faced left.
Why is that almost reversed? A quirk of the photographer? It’s no doubt meaningless, but it is interesting in a strange sort of way. I guess I’ve spend too many years trying to make sense of numbers.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Another Shameless Plug for the Alumni Site
This is starting to take off.... a little. :) Since I made the change to include a page for each year, the site gets more views and more participation.
So far we've had input for the following years:
1970 - 3, Sharon, Kathey, and me.
1997 - 1
1998 - 2
1999 - 3
2001 - 4
2002 - 1
In Memory - 1 for '69, 13 for '70 and 2 for '71
Again, that's not the numbers Google or Yahoo pull in, but it's a start. I figured I'd get more participation for the 90s and 2000s since computers are so much a part of this generation's life, but I will expand in the other direction too if anyone writes in and says they're from the 50s or 40s even.
Please consider adding your information, and those of your family if they went to Loudon High. I will even add the ones who don't have a computer if they give me the information. If you read some of the entries, you will see they can be as factual or as whimsical as you want. I'm not asking anyone to share anything personal that they don't want to share, but there are still ways of letting people know you're still around and still kicking.
You also don't have to take the email option, but it's still a choice. If you're worried that I will read any emails, don't be. First of all I have enough email of my own to worry about and secondly I couldn't even if I did want to. I can't see inside those email boxes any more than I can see inside any of the ones you may have now. All I do is create them.
The point is, this site and the alumni site are only going to be as strong as the participation they get. I can only do so much by myself, and like I've said a hundred times, I don't want either of them to be MY site, I want both of them to be OUR sites.
Think about joining in.... or just do it without thinking if that's what it takes. :)
www.loudonhighalumni.com
So far we've had input for the following years:
1970 - 3, Sharon, Kathey, and me.
1997 - 1
1998 - 2
1999 - 3
2001 - 4
2002 - 1
In Memory - 1 for '69, 13 for '70 and 2 for '71
Again, that's not the numbers Google or Yahoo pull in, but it's a start. I figured I'd get more participation for the 90s and 2000s since computers are so much a part of this generation's life, but I will expand in the other direction too if anyone writes in and says they're from the 50s or 40s even.
Please consider adding your information, and those of your family if they went to Loudon High. I will even add the ones who don't have a computer if they give me the information. If you read some of the entries, you will see they can be as factual or as whimsical as you want. I'm not asking anyone to share anything personal that they don't want to share, but there are still ways of letting people know you're still around and still kicking.
You also don't have to take the email option, but it's still a choice. If you're worried that I will read any emails, don't be. First of all I have enough email of my own to worry about and secondly I couldn't even if I did want to. I can't see inside those email boxes any more than I can see inside any of the ones you may have now. All I do is create them.
The point is, this site and the alumni site are only going to be as strong as the participation they get. I can only do so much by myself, and like I've said a hundred times, I don't want either of them to be MY site, I want both of them to be OUR sites.
Think about joining in.... or just do it without thinking if that's what it takes. :)
www.loudonhighalumni.com
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Psycho-Babble
Friday afternoon as I drove home from work I got more and more irritated. The first irritant was that when I left for work that morning at 6, it was 50 degrees, and on the way home at 4 it was 25 degrees and blustery, and I had forgotten my heavy coat.
The biggest irritation however, was on the radio. Normally I listen to satellite radio and have for several years, but when there are reasons, (weather, traffic, or whatever) I’ll flip on a local station. As I waited for a traffic update on a talk station I had to sit through several minutes of a psychologist trying to tell people how to fix their problems.
What I found so irritating was what he was saying about memories. During the section of the program I caught he said basically two things that bothered me. First, tears of joy are not tears of joy at all; they are tears of sadness or regret. When our grandkids hug our neck or we see an old friend or something like that and we laugh and tear up at the same time, it’s our subconscious being both happy and sad. Happy for what we’re going through, but sad because we’re no longer young and the time to experience these things is limited.
The same with memories, when we look back at our childhood or think about old friends, we subconsciously gloss over the aches and pains so that all that is left is the feel good, happy stuff. I’m obviously not a psychologist, and no disrespect to old friends or classmates who may have chosen that profession, but to me that’s a bunch of B.S.
I’ve taken enough psychology to know one thing. Size does not fit all. Where most of us do follow some general traits, you can’t paint it all with one broad brush. We each deviate enough to make us unique. If that were not true, there would be no need for psychologists, they would dispense counseling out of a vending machine like they do soda.
I firmly believe that aging, and events such as 911, have gotten me closer to my memories. I most certainly do remember the aches and pains of being a teenager - all the tears and fears and uncertainty of the world, and war, which lay waiting. What was I going to do, how was I going to fit in, what would become of… me? I remember the frustration and angst of dating and the volatility of some events that sometimes strained friendships.
But I choose not to dwell on those. I believe that if I made it through all that and still consider you all my friends, then that to me is true friendship. Besides, as I’ve said several times, we all went through it together. Who better to understand how I felt, or feel, than you guys? We all may not live the same lives, have the same jobs, enjoy the same pleasures, or move in the same circle of society, but we all most certainly do have a bond. Good or bad, it's there, and in that respect we are brothers and sisters.
The biggest irritation however, was on the radio. Normally I listen to satellite radio and have for several years, but when there are reasons, (weather, traffic, or whatever) I’ll flip on a local station. As I waited for a traffic update on a talk station I had to sit through several minutes of a psychologist trying to tell people how to fix their problems.
What I found so irritating was what he was saying about memories. During the section of the program I caught he said basically two things that bothered me. First, tears of joy are not tears of joy at all; they are tears of sadness or regret. When our grandkids hug our neck or we see an old friend or something like that and we laugh and tear up at the same time, it’s our subconscious being both happy and sad. Happy for what we’re going through, but sad because we’re no longer young and the time to experience these things is limited.
The same with memories, when we look back at our childhood or think about old friends, we subconsciously gloss over the aches and pains so that all that is left is the feel good, happy stuff. I’m obviously not a psychologist, and no disrespect to old friends or classmates who may have chosen that profession, but to me that’s a bunch of B.S.
I’ve taken enough psychology to know one thing. Size does not fit all. Where most of us do follow some general traits, you can’t paint it all with one broad brush. We each deviate enough to make us unique. If that were not true, there would be no need for psychologists, they would dispense counseling out of a vending machine like they do soda.
I firmly believe that aging, and events such as 911, have gotten me closer to my memories. I most certainly do remember the aches and pains of being a teenager - all the tears and fears and uncertainty of the world, and war, which lay waiting. What was I going to do, how was I going to fit in, what would become of… me? I remember the frustration and angst of dating and the volatility of some events that sometimes strained friendships.
But I choose not to dwell on those. I believe that if I made it through all that and still consider you all my friends, then that to me is true friendship. Besides, as I’ve said several times, we all went through it together. Who better to understand how I felt, or feel, than you guys? We all may not live the same lives, have the same jobs, enjoy the same pleasures, or move in the same circle of society, but we all most certainly do have a bond. Good or bad, it's there, and in that respect we are brothers and sisters.
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