Mini Skirts, Go Go Boots and other forbidden things

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When I was in Junior High, that's grades 7-9 when I was there, Go Go boots and Nehru Jackets and medallions and mini skirts were the cool fashion statements.  My mom said no.  No Go Go boots, No Nehru Jackets, No Mini Skirts.  No, No, No. No make up,  No boys.  I was seriously un-cool in 7th grade.  I got smarter or maybe Mom got more "with it"?  Nah.  I am sure most women my age know that if you don't have a mini-skirt when you leave from your house you can have a mini-skirt once you get to school-just roll it up around your waste!  Go Go boots were not that easy.  Make up was pretty easy too as long as you had money.  Boys, no way.

I walked to the Junior High in Nevada.  It was a large brick building at the Central School complex.  It had 3 stories, big wide steps between floors, no A/C and plenty of heat.  Let's talk about those big wide steps and mini-skirts.  Any one who ever wore a mini skirt knows how hard it is to keep prying eyes out of your business!  The girls wore really ugly and really uncomfortable Gym suits.  Our parents actually had to buy these hideous things for us.

I always got good grades, scored high on the Iowa Basic skills tests, in fact one year I beat out the George twins and got the $25 savings bond for girls from Donnelly's. Why would they separate the boys from the girls in this case?  Why not just take the top 2 students?  It was a different age.  Anyway, John Rebers was a genius.  However, this truth that I am about to confess cannot be denied, I was a terrible student.  I did not apply myself.  If it wasn't for my excellent memory, my ability to read quickly and ability to grasp the concepts easily, I am sure I would have failed, for believe me, I never carried a book home with me from school.  Homework?  No, I don't think so.  My lack of study skills and work ethic have definitely shaped my life.  I did not go to college and I would not have done well unless I changed my slothful ways.

I loved to read and always had a book with me.  Fiction-teenage love stories, historical novels, or science fiction mostly.  I used to take my book into class and read while the teacher was talking.  I guess I usually was pretty good at multi tasking.  I paid enough attention to be able to answer questions or follow instructions.  However, one day I was in Geometry class.  What was his name?  Was it Burham, Burnister, something like that.  I used to remember.  That was 50 years ago, what do you expect?  Anyway, I remember that I was reading a book, a teenage romance and I came upon a passage that read;  It is better to urp a burp and bear the shame than squelch a belch and die of pain.  I started laughing and could not stop.  The teacher was one of those guys that thought it was ok to thump people on the head and my head definitely got a thumping.

I never really got in any trouble at school.  I was quiet, followed most of the rules, minded my own business, answered questions when asked. In 7th grade I went to Junior High without my siblings.  In 8th grade, Steve started 7th.  When I went to 9th grade I had both of them with me.  I believe my only and best strategy was to ignore them.  Pretty much worked all the time.

I was in the Junior High School Chorus.  In 9th grade, our choir teacher was Mr. Philips.  We thought he was cool.  I am not sure he deserved that accolade.

My 8th grade algebra teacher was Mr. McClain.  Nate McClain.  He was ex-marine, always making the boys drop and do push ups in the aisles.  Another male teacher with wrong ideas about girls personal space.  Not criminal, just creepy.  He lived in Maxwell, the town my mom came from.  I found out many years later that he committed suicide.  Who knows what demons he faced but I never really felt sorry about it.

We had a school counselor.  I do not remember why I was in his office but he was another male who had boundary issues.  Do you say to Junior High Girls "you just can't help being sexy".  Really, I did not picture myself in anyway sexy or asking for these kinds of comments.  Another creep.  I can't remember his name and I am sure I never visited his office again.  I didn't tell anyone either.  Who would I tell?

There was a girl that always talked to me about her family.  She would tell me the saddest stories and I just listened.  I remember sitting on the top of the bleachers with her, listening, wondering.  I can not remember her name and I still wonder what happened to her.  Were her stories true or fantasy?  Listening to her sad tales always kept my own in perspective.

One of our class mates got pregnant.  Shocking?  Uncommon?  No.  Every year until we graduated we lost another one. You know they always kicked the girls out of school.   Finally when I was in high school, they stopped kicking them out of school and let them graduate, married or not married.

In Junior High the girls took Home Economics and the boys took Shop.  No choices back in the late 60's.  I learned to sew.  I already knew how to cook but I did learn that you didn't have to buy a box of cake mix at the store!  I have to admit that my mom helped me make my home project, a nightgown with a collar and gathered puffy shoulders.  That was a crazy project for a beginner to take on.  The sewing lessons from school and Mom resulted in me being able to make a lot of my clothes before I came to Milwaukee to go to school.

We walked to school.  It was not that far, it was not uphill, but it was cold in the winter and we were not allowed to wear pants to school.  Oh, we could wear them under our skirts, but that was decidedly NOT cool.  Knee socks were in style so the only part of my legs that really suffered were my knees and my thighs( remember the skirts were short).  One day I got to school and I was going in the side door.  The step was pure ice and the door was heavy.  I pulled the door and I landed on my back, spread-eagled on the ice.  I don't think anyone saw me.  Please I hope no one saw me.

I had a crush on a boy or at least the idea of a boy.  Andy, oh what a lovely strawberry blonde young drummer in the Junior High band.  He was a year older.  Never talked to him, never met him, never want to.  That was not my first crush, nor was it my last.  In 2nd grade a boy gave me a ring.  I lost it and I seemed to have lost any memory of who he was or what his name was.  It is hard for real people to live up to the fairy tales we hear when we are young or the fairy tales we tell ourselves when we are older. When I was 13
I had a crush on Davy Jones from the Monkeys.  I had a crush on Stan, I had a crush on someone every time I turned around.  I never dated a boy I had a crush on.  I only dated boys who actually asked me out but that was NOT in Junior High because my mom said NO.

More 4th Street Memories

                        

I cannot figure out why mom is showing us these shorts.  Did she make them?  Are they shorts?  That is not her happy face so why?  Who took this picture?I think she looks like she is about Junior High age.

Is there anything better than summer when you are a kid?  Having a long free time to do whatever you want, no structure, no supervision.  When it was hot, Mom closed all the windows and pulled all the drapes to keep out the heat and it worked better than you might think.  My brothers and I would take out the monopoly game and play until we were tired of it or something better came along.  We left the game set up in the corner of the living room.  We played ball in the front yard, rode our bikes, walked the dog, went to our friends house. 

I think I was about 9 or 10 when I discovered the piano.  My mom and I were visiting a lady whose name I cannot remember.  She had a piano.  I sat down and started messing around, picking out tunes by ear.  The one I remember was "Onward Christian Soldiers".  My mom must have been impressed because next thing I know she bought me a piano.  It was an old upright and it was painted army green.  I started my piano lessons with the preacher's wife.  I was not a great student but I kept at it long enough to learn to read the music and my teacher let me play contemporary songs so I started practicing more.  I am sure my brothers will tell you that I played the same songs over and over and I did.  That is how you learn!  I also took organ lessons and soon I was playing at church.  I never was any good at the organ.  My Aunt Carol and my cousin Jean were much better musicians than I was.  I played for myself.  When I left home at 18 I did not have a piano for almost 10 years.  Finally I had enough money to buy a used piano for myself and I started playing again.  Still not that good, but good enough for my own enjoyment.  I placed the piano on the wall that adjoined the kids bedroom when we lived on 25th Street in Milwaukee, WI.  I played long after they were asleep and to this day I am sure that BK know the words to "Don't let the Sun go down on me" and others.  In 5th grade, music classes and band instruments and choirs started.  I did not play a band instrument but I sang in the Early Bird choir at Milford.  Why can't I remember the director's name?  I know Mrs. Hale was our music teacher in kindergarten and first grade.  Oh, wait!  It was Mrs. Bush.  We sang "This land is your land" for sure, but I can't remember the rest right now.  I did 5th and 6th grade at Milford, a school that was out in the country.  Nevada had a habit of busing city kids to the country and country kids to the city.  On the bus we would sing "From the Halls of Milford Prison to the shores of bubble gum bay.  We will fight our teachers in battle with spit balls, gum and clay.  First to fight for wrong and freedom and to keep our desks a mess.  We are proud to claim the title of the teachers number one pests!" 

My 5th grade teacher was Mrs. Gallagher.  She had red hair in a French roll.  She loved to tell us horrible stories of traffic accidents where people had their head cut off.  I loved her

My 6th grad teacher was Mr. Wolf, my first male teacher.  He had bad breath, dandruff and a habit of invading my personal space.  I hated him.  We did get to go to Mrs. Osmundson's class for math.  She was a great teacher and a welcome respite from Mr. Wolf. 

Milford was where I figured out that I was not going to be an athlete, at least not one that had to run. I am quite sure I was the slowest runner there.  Boys after girls, girls after boys was not a game I could compete at!  I went to the bars and twirled around and hung upside down!

I want to go back to 3rd grade at Central for a minute.  They used to bus the kids from North into Central for lunch.  The Central kids had a game that we had to get off the ground before the North kids got off the bus or we would get cooties.  Imagine my horror when I had to go to North the very next year!

I lived on 4th Street from the time I was in 4th grade until I graduated High School and left home for good.  I have lots of stories.  When we moved there I was a little girl who still believed that grown ups knew what they were talking about and that they always did the right stuff.  During that time I learned that my parents did not know everything, that they could be weak and foolish and make mistakes.  I went from my mom and dad are the smartest to my mom and dad don't know anything.  Both positions are equally foolish, but it was a long time after I left home before I learned that parents just do the best they can and hope for the best. 

Memories, Part 2

My mom was raised on a farm outside Maxwell, Iowa.  My dad was raised on a farm outside of Collins, Iowa.  Both of these small towns are in Story County.  My parents lived in Story County until they moved to Ankeny in Polk County around 2005?  After my mom died in 2013, my dad moved to Wisconsin to live with me.

When I was 5 we moved to Nevada, IA.  We lived in a small 2 bedroom house on 3rd St. My brothers and I shared a small bedroom.  I had the top bunk.  Behind the house was the horse barn on the 4-H grounds.  This was not usually even noticed until the fair when a very large smelly pile of horse manure arrived.  My mom stayed home with us most of the time.  I know she worked some at the local newspaper.  And we got our picture in the paper when she was featured as homemaker of the week.  I don't remember my dad being around except on the weekend. He traveled all over the state and worked for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

It was 1960, Big Bad John was on the radio every morning when I was getting ready for school.  Nixon, Nixon, he's our man.  I had morning kindergarten at West School and I walked to school with Willie Graham..  Mrs Ritgers was my teacher.  We learned to write our name.  We had music several times a week with Mrs. Hale and recess every day.  I had 1st grade there too.  Miss Roberts was the teacher who taught me to read.  I remember the first words I learned.  Look.  Look oh look.  Look, look, look.  I was so excited!  Miss Roberts is also the teacher that gave me a complex about speaking in front of the class.  She threatened us with "ruler medicine".  She wouldn't let Willie Graham go to the bathroom so he peed in his pants. A mixed record.

 I used to play with a boy named Dale Burmeister.  One day we were playing on the bleachers by the horse ring.  Dale stood on the top level and peed!  Somehow my mom found out and she never let me play with him again.  We were happy.  I remember coming home from church one Christmas and saying something that got me in trouble. We had been up early to open our presents but we had to go to Sunday school and church. When we pulled into the driveway, I said "now we can start getting used to our toys". I'm not sure why but mom looked at me like I shouldn't have said it.  It is funny what we remember.  I remember when mom had her wisdom teeth pulled.  She had an ice bag on her face. I whined that I had a headache.  I whined until she said "fine, take it!"  I brought her home a marigold plant in a paper cup at school.  Mom said " ew, I'm allergic to marigolds". I thought she was the most beautiful mom ever and loved to out make up on her and style her hair.  We got a new puppy and named him bubbles.  He had worms.  Mom wormed him and believe me that made an impression.  Mom killed a mouse with a broom in our kitchen.  Again, that made an impression. One time my mom decided that she would feed us some canned spinach.  We had been bothering her to make it so we could be strong like Popeye the Sailor man.  It was gross.  It took me 40 some years before I gave spinach another try!

I had a friend, I think her name was Luann.  Her momma came looking for her one day and whooped her butt with a switch.  Made an impression on me!

 My brother, Steve had 2 memorable accidents while we lived on 3rd St.  He rode his bike into the mulberry tree.  He was stained purple right down to his skin! He landed belly down on the floor grate that came from the furnace and had a scar like a tic tac toe board on his stomach.

You know I can't remember Mike doing anything interesting.  That's funny!  I used to read to the boys.  Of course I couldn't really read, but I had memorized the books.  Guess mom must have read to us quite a bit.  My favorite was Little Black Puppy.  I bought a copy off the internet when my grandson, Kennedy was born.

I had a birthday party when I was 5.  Cali Christy will tell you I spent too much time drawing the donkey for the pin the tail on the donkey game.  That was my one and only birthday party until my
daughter gave me a surprise 50th birthday party in 2005.

We lived on 3rd St for 2 years.

I wish I could verify some dates and events with my mom, but she has been gone over 3 years now so I have to go on my best guess.