The Auditorium of Memories

This weekend is the Broome County Art Trail, and we decided to visit the site of a historic school that was the site of several art displays.

The J. Ralph Ingalls School in Maine, New York was built around 1938-40.  At that time New York State was attempting to consolidate rural one room school houses that were still operating into one centralized building.

The hamlet of Maine, New York (population about 5100) had 14 one room school houses and their students were transferred into the completed J. Ralph Ingalls school building.  We were told that classes ceased around 1981 and that the building was placed on the National Historic Register in 1998.

A man in Johnson City had (we were also told) purchased the building and intended to renovate it.  Unfortunately, he passed away a couple of years ago before he could complete the work.  A local historical society currently owns the building.

I couldn't photograph the outside due to heavy rains when we pulled in, but I found this photo on Wikipedia.  The sidewalk was filled with water and I was wearing walking shoes.  All I got was a picture of the entrance.

But let's go in and see what we can find.

We were met by a retired teacher and he let us explore some of the rooms.  I didn't take pictures because I was concentrating on art, including photographs (excellent ones) taken by our teacher guide while he talked to some former students who had come to visit the building.

The stage - taken without flash

The auditorium was dark.  The teacher let us explore inside - in the dark.

The auditorium was filled with treasures - or junk.  You decide.  I turned the flash on while spouse used his phone as a flashlight.

Rocking horses?

On a couple of tables were books - lots and lots of books.  In the dark, I saw a title that interested me (above) and the teacher said I could keep it. (It's a book club edition, alas, but I didn't take it for value but to read.) There was another book, a 1959 Fannie Farmer cookbook that I may have been interested in also, but it was falling apart.

I thought I took some other pictures but they didn't come out.

While we were there, other former students came through.  I wonder what I would think if I visited my elementary school (which is still standing and still an elementary school

Maybe I should have taken pictures of the interior.  Hopefully one day I will get another chance.

These Modern Times

Yes, I'm late posting today.  I just couldn't bring myself to write a perfect post about something that happened yesterday, so let's just leave it at the bare facts.

I only found this out from a co worker who lives near our public school complex.

She texted me about 2:45 yesterday saying that the high school apparently was on lockdown.  The school buses weren't being released to take students home; the entrance was blocked by police and she saw five police cars go up into the entrance area.

I wasn't at home at the time, and I didn't know anything about this.  She texted back advising she was going to contact another co worker whose daughter is a teacher in another district.

She texted me back a few minutes later.  Apparently there had been a bomb threat on social media.  The students were being released from lockdown.

All in a day's work.

I can't seem to find media reports of this incident.  Maybe that's what we've come to - this happens so frequently that it is no longer news.  When I used a search engine, I found reports of so many bomb threats. 

We do know what gets into the news.  The community I used to work in until COVID is one of many, too many, communities that have suffered mass casualty shooting events in the past few years.  Ours was in an adult classroom for immigrants.  The shooter was a former student, also an adult.

But there is a lot more just underneath the surface of calm.

I have several relatives who are teachers (none in this area) and a couple of more who are retired teachers or paraprofessionals.  My spouse also has a cousin or two who are teachers.  

I don't even know what to say or think anymore.

They are in the thick of it, along with people I know who have school aged children.

Perhaps, for today, I'll just post a picture of a male Northern Cardinal in my yard, taken on May 8th.  And, Monday, it will be Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.  I'm going to spend this afternoon transplanting bedding flowers into planters.  Good, happy things that will keep me busy.

Things that will take my mind off the grim things on this beautiful spring day.

I've also been trying to stay off of social media, so if it takes me longer to approve comments than usual, I hope you'll understand.

I will be back tomorrow with a timely post for Skywatch Friday.

The Teen Years and More Thoughts on an Alumni Day

When I think of the possibility of reincarnation, one of the things I dread going through once again is my teen years.  Or, well, the teen years of the person I come back as.

Maybe "dread" is the wrong word, but if I come back again and have to go through the teen years, I hope they will be....different.  In a good way.  

Growing up is hard to do.  I think it's getting harder and harder.  It's harder now than when my son was growing up.

True, I grew up in the 50's and 60's, which we sometimes look back at with nostalgia, but the surface truths of those years held deep, dark, nasty secrets.  And the Vietnam War overshadowed the happiness of some of those years.

Then, there are high school reunions, where we are asked to relive some of those years.

After reading my recent post on my spouse's 40th high school reunion (the only reunion either one of us has ever attended) I found I'm not the only one who has stayed away from them.  One might say I hit a nerve.

Why do we get so nostalgic about high school?  Is it because of friends we have lost touch with, friends we hope to reconnect with?  Or because we want to return to a time when things were simpler and we were younger?  Except, things were never simpler back when, whatever back when is for you.

It certainly isn't simple now, though, in 2023.

I had signed up for my 50th high school reunion only because one of the two gatherings was going to be held at the high school I went to.  It wasn't a dinner dance, but rather was a daytime event, which was going to feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school (it is still in the same building but things have changed).

There was only one problem - the reunion was scheduled to be held in June of 2020.  You can all guess what happened.  Nothing happened. If it ever happened, I never heard of a rescheduling.  I had other things to think about.

So I am trying again, this year, with an "all years" alumni day, again in June, celebrating my high school's 85th anniversary.  Scheduled during the morning and early afternoon, it will feature speakers, demonstrations, and tours of the school.  It will also feature opportunities to meet current students.

Meeting current students, I admit, was what interested me the most.  I keep in mind that these are the students of the pandemic years, the years of active shooters drills, the years of social media bullying.  They are the students who were rudely yanked from their almost spring 2020 routines and dumped into a new nightmare of remote learning, illness, and fear.   Then, they returned to school in the fall of 2021, to masks, illness (when Omicron swept through the school, which I heard about through Reddit) and more fear.

I lost a high school reunion in June of 2020.  They lost so much more.  They were too young to have the resources to cope that someone my age has.  

They persevered.   But at what cost?

We'll see the outside of those students, their public faces, the faces of high academic achievement (something my high school specializes in).  What we won't see is the inside.

Nor will I see how they see us - the young adults, the middle aged, the elderly.  An all years reunion.  I may be happy I can't read their minds, but a part of me will want to know how they will perceive the alumni like me.

Who will come to the alumni day?  Will I know anyone? (Being a New York City school, my graduating class had hundreds of students.  I knew a fraction of them.)  Will I even be able to make my way through the school floor plan?

(I'll be happy to have a friend, and perhaps a couple of guests, just in case....)

The event is free, and I could change my mind and decide not to come after all.  It will cost me some, for two nights worth of motels, just for a four hour event.  Fortunately, I have other things I can do just a few miles away from the school

If I do go, it sure will be interesting.  And different.  

Am I ready?

Stay tuned.

School Days #MusicMovesMe

It's Monday, it's September, it's Labor Day here in the United States, and it's time for Music Moves Me!

Who are the Music Moves Me bloggers? We are bloggers who blog about music each Sunday or Monday and if you have music to share with us, you are most welcome to join! (Music Posts Only-meaning at least one music video, please!)   Our head hostess is Cathy from Curious as a Cathy,  and she is joined by the knowledgeable Stacy of Stacy Uncorked and (last but not least) me.

Why not join our music loving folks?  It's so easy. All you have to do is join the linky above with a music post that contains at least one music video (there must be a music video or your post will be subject to removal or labeling "No Music").That's all it takes!

Each month, except December, we have a guest host. For September, we welcome a new guest host:  John from "The Sound of One Hand Typing".

His theme for this week is "For Labor Day, songs about school".

Oh, school days.  I remember well that first day of school in elementary school, walking to school with a brand new briefcase (this was before the era of backpacks), a brand new pack of Crayola crayons (oh, the day when I got the 64 pack with the crayon sharpener!) and new looseleaf (some call them binders) books.

School Days, from 1907, is somewhat nostalgic.

1963's Be True to Your School, from the Beach Boys, gives us the flavor of school spirit.

This song was played at my son's elementary graduation ceremony. From 1999, here's Vitamin C's Graduation (Friends Forever).  I wasn't fond of it when I first heard it, but it's grown on me over the years.

But let's flip the memories of school just a little.

There were the summer vacation memories of the students of Cheech and Chong's Sister Mary Elephant, from 1972.

Not all memories are nostalgic ones.

1970's Loudon Wainwright III's  School Days looks back at his days in an all male school in Delaware.

Steely Dan, My Old School, from 1973, has a bit of a backstory.  It's based on a true incident and it's a college, not a primary or secondary school, but I absolutely love the music and lyrics of this song.  I

One more, to wake you all up, 'cause this song is mandatory on any school playlist.  1972's Schools Out from Alice Cooper.

And that's a wrap!

Join me again next Monday for another episode of Music Moves Me.

Memories of Back to School

The Back to School sales are in full swing.

The Sunday newspaper is full of ads for crayons, markers, marble notebooks, plus other necessities such as see through lunchbags, face masks and hand sanitizers.  

How can these types of ads bring back memories of growing up, when so much has changed?  But they do.  As I grow older, it seems I just want to slip back into memories sometimes, instead of moving forward.

Were things simpler in the early 1960's?

 

I remember how a rite of passage was the increasing size of my crayon box.  In elementary school, very September, I would be given a box of Crayola crayons for the school year. As I made my way through early elementary school, I worked my way up from a dozen crayon box, to 24, to 48, and finally, the coveted 64 crayon box, complete with crayon sharpener.  The smell of crayons sticks with me.  These still exist, although some of the colors have changed.

There was the back to school briefcase (we didn't use backpacks in those days), smelling heavily of leather.  I started out with marble notebooks and graduated to looseleaf (they call them "binders" where I live now) books and spiral notebooks. 

Mucilage.

Cigar boxes that served as pencil boxes.

Textbooks needed to be covered.  My parents would take brown paper from the laundry who did my Dad's shirts (a luxury my Mom used) and make book covers.  My Dad was really good at it; I never got the hang of it. I also remember book covers from the local milk delivery service with logos of New York colleges - Cornell and Colgate stick in my mind.

The day we were herded into a large room and waited to get our polio shots.

Not all the memories were pleasant.  I can remember physical discipline was used in my first grade class.  And  the fate of those who needed special education was not necessarily a good one, as I found out when I married a man whose younger brother is autistic and learned about his elementary school days. 

But some of my memories were very nice indeed.

I'm sure you have memories, too. I'd love to have you share them in the comments.