Don't You?

Don't you miss high school? I don't mean all the time; heck, we're too busy living to spend too much time thinking about it, but don't you miss it at least every now and again? Like sometimes when you're alone, or hear a particular song on the radio, or see a car just like your old one, or see an old friend, or even when the troubles of life are all over you, as if they crawled right up your back bone and piled high on your shoulders and you just needed something to take your mind off that for awhile?

The going there. The bus or car or the route you walked. Maybe the anticipation of getting there so you can talk about the latest whatever or whoever in your life. The friends you made a point to see first, if you didn't ride or walk with them along the way.

The halls. The noise. The banging of the lockers. Maybe catching a last smoke before class, but only out back of the school. Never in front. Or realizing at the last minute that you didn't do the English or math or biology or history homework, but really didn't care since you could weasel out of it or copy it from somebody. Or wishing you started the day with Study Hall so you could lay your head down.

Dragging your feet to get to class as near to the last bell as you could. Look and see who was wearing something new, and did you like it? Hearing the teacher asking everybody to take a seat -- their usual seat, not the one over by the window or near one of your good friends. Hearing Mrs Watkins, at least once a week, reminding one the guys about taking a shower after gym class. After all, boys should be aware of hygiene too.

The even louder halls between classes. Half a dozen guys running to get to where they needed to be. (I never saw a girl run to class). The smell of lunch and trying to guess what it was as you were going down the steps. Sitting in almost the same seats in the cafeteria and with the same people. Dredding the afternoon classes because you knew you were going to get sleepy on a full stomach, especially with Miss Mize droning on and on.

And the odd feeling at the end of the day when part of you was glad to be going home even though at least a small part of you was already looking forward to coming back the next day.

It was all there. The joy, the anxiety, the hope, the trials and tribulations of your young life. At that time, at that age, this place was THE biggest part of your life. Your friends, and in some cases your enemies, were there. Your future was too. You were already planting those seeds if not already realizing who you were going to spend the rest of your life with.

Don't you miss high school? Even just a little?

I See Classmates Wherever I Go

Have you ever seen someone who reminds you of someone else? Sure you have.

Today I was walking down the hall at work and there were 3 guys walking in front of me. It suddenly occurred to me that the one in the middle reminded me of Bo Carey, or at least the Bo Carey of 40 years ago. I only saw him from behind but he was tall and lanky with sandy hair and he had that same loping gate Bo had (has?).

I was stationed with a guy in California that reminded me facial of Brad Gray, and at another location there was a guy that looked a little like Mike Russell.

A couple of years ago we stopped at a restaurant in Ohio and I saw someone who was the spitting image of Vivian Caldwell. I mentioned that in an earlier post on here.

Then there is this little girl at church who reminds me of Donna Morgan. She has the same smile and the same mischievous sparkle in her eyes that Donna would get at times. Donna, you should post a picture of you at about 6. I know I'm right. :)

Healthy Competition

On February 8th, this blog will be four years old and at the time it started, it was one of only two non-official, non-commercial sites for Loudon High School. The other one is older and is a great site about Loudon High School football and you can visit it here: http://www.loudonfootball.com/redskins/index.html. (Maybe I should say they were the only two I could find, but you get the point.)

Anyway, since then things have changed some. I've added the alumni site, which I still update, and then there's Facebook. If you haven't tried Facebook yet, and I think most of the regulars on this site are regulars there, I think you would find it worth a visit. Not only are there about 20 folks there from our class, but there are people there from the classes either side of us --- and let's face it, the entire high school experience can only be fully enjoyed by including people from the other classes too.

So does Facebook bother me? Nope. On the contrary I think it's great to hang out over there sometimes. It can get a bit busy for my tastes, but it's almost like a Loudon reunion, not just a high school reunion. If you haven't been there yet, give it a shot, I know you'll enjoy it.

Protests

Looking at the news of January 1970 made me think of a few things.

People were getting laid off then too, governments were just as corrupt, and people were protesting.

What would make a high school student, or anyone else for that matter, protest by setting themselves on fire?

Why didn't we protest? Was Loudon such a nice place to live, and everyone got along so well that we had no discontent? I've mentioned the planned "walk out" of whatever year it was (68? 69?) that didn't materialize, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was about. It must have been something though to make so many people want to buck the system.

And I'd like to think the blacks and whites got along okay, but I obviously can't speak for Eugene, Cynthia, Morris or George. Maybe we did and maybe we didn't.

There was no war protest. I think everybody viewed it as something that was there, not necessarily something we could do anything about. By 1975 though I'm sure that more than a few people were getting fed up with it, just like they were everywhere else.

There was no NOW movement. No demand for equal treatment and positively no bra burning. I'm sure us guys would have remembered that one.

There was also no "make love not war" hippy types, no druggies and no flower children.

Were we too settled? Were we blind to it all?

I honestly don't know, but I do know what I would like to think was the reason for it all. Overall, we were happy. It may have been a little one horse town in the foothills of the Smokies, but it was our little one horse town. When we palled around with each other it was because we wanted to, and I think it crossed racial lines. None of us were filthy rich either. Oh, some had more than some others, but not really that much more. And we were always together -- all pretty much in the same boat. No private schools or clubs. We all went to the same school, the same churches the same "hot" spots. TV was limited and there weren't concerts every day or even every month.

If you want to look at it that way, we were each other's entertainment, and we were closer because of it.

A Look Back - January 1970

Jan 1st -- USC beats Michigan 10-3 in the Rose Bowl.
Jan 7th -- Israeli pilots attack military targets in Egypt.
Jan 13th -- NASA announces it will cut 50,000 jobs.
Jan 15th -- The Department of Defense announces it will cut 1.25 million jobs.
Jan 16th -- Col. Moammar Khadafy becomes premier of Libya.
Jan 20th -- In New York, Rocky Marciano KOs Muhammad Ali in the 13th round of a computer simulated bout.
Jan 22nd -- Pan Am flies 747 from New York to London for the first time, with 330 passengers.
Jan 23rd -- The Israeli high court rules children may be registered by nationality rather than religion.
Jan 26th -- Manila: Mr. and Mrs. Marcos are attacked by protesters throwing stones and bottles.
Jan 27th -- US Senate passes bill allowing the FBI to enter without warning or ID during drug raids.
Jan 28th -- Israeli jets attack suburbs of Cairo.
Jan 29th -- Israel: Cabinet reverses court ruling allowing definition of Jew by nationality.
Jan 30th -- Manila: 2 are killed as 2000 storm the presidential palace to protest government corruption.
Jan 31st -- David Eisenhower breaks family tradition by joining the Navy.
Jan 31st -- LSU star Pete Maravich breaks collegiate basketball scoring record.
Jan 31st -- France reports that 8 high school students have immolated themselves in protests during the month.