Hey, teacher! Let’s watch a film!

Back in my school days in the 1960s, I always looked forward to an hour or two during class when we’d get to watch a film. For once, students wouldn’t have to bury their faces in a textbook. It was a glorious sight when someone would wheel in a film projector. It was almost as

Darn! Last to be picked

Back in my elementary-school days when I lived in Southern California, I never had to worry about getting chosen to play on a baseball or softball team for a neighborhood pickup game. Everybody knew me, knew I played in Little League. I was a pitcher, second baseman and an outfielder. I was good and knew

The task? Climb a rope in gym class

I started junior high in September 1964, taking seventh-grade classes at Norco Junior High in Norco, California. I had gym class in the afternoon five days a week. In those days, California officials were putting a big emphasis on physical fitness. In late October 1965, my family moved from Norco all the way across the

Walking to school vs riding a school bus

Earlier this week I was on the way to an area medical complex to get an X-ray of my right leg. Halfway there I passed a long line of cars of parents waiting for their kids to end their elementary-school day. That’s something that was never seen when I was in elementary school in the

Remembering the life of a journalism intern

Nowadays, I find myself looking back more and more to my college days. Back then I had decided to become a newspaper journalist. I’d taken a typing test to prove I had the skill to type at least 40 words per minute. And I passed, although with a few typos. So I began taking the

Yep, Monday’s solar eclipse day

We’re getting close to a pivotal day – Monday’s long-awaited 2024 total solar eclipse. Here in SE Ohio in the village of Beverly, it won’t be total. It’ll be close, around 95 percent of the sun will be blocked by moon starting at approximately 3:09 in the afternoon. Weather forecasters are not cooperating, though. They’re

Never could compete with Christine

Her name was Christine. We were in the fourth grade together at Meyer’s Elementary School in Rialto, California. I don’t remember her last name. I just remember she was a prolific reader. Our teacher, whose name I also don’t recall, had attached a poster to one of the classroom walls. It had the names of

Mom, how about lunch money for a sloppy joes?

Most of the time mom packed a lunch for me when I headed off to elementary school back around 1960. I always looked forward to buying a new lunchbox at the start of the school year. My choice depended on the artwork. It had to have a space-exploration theme. However, one day a week mom

Remembering the Age of Typewriters

I miss my typewriter. It was an Underwood from the 1940s. Lucky for me, I could still buy ribbons for it in the 1970s and the 1980s. But after I bought my first computer, a desktop Compact, I found less and less use for that antique typewriter. I now own a Hewlett Packard Pavilion laptop,

In my early teenage years, some books were off-limits

When I was a teenager in the mid to late 1960s, a state governor didn’t decide what I could and couldn’t read. My parents decided. I can think of one prime example. Back in ninth grade, I wanted to read ‘Coffee, Tea Or Me?’ My parents wouldn’t allow me, though. A trip to the bookstore