Redneck Woman makes me feel that I can do this challenge.. even as messed up as my childhood was..
I also was more stable in my dysfunctional family when I lived with my grandparents.. I just did it off/on my entire life, growing up. I was born to a teenaged divorcing mom.. and well.. it has had its many challenges in life.
I started Kindergarten, with my grandmother at my side. I went to both morning and afternoon sessions. We didn't have full-day K then.. but somehow I was able to attend both.. who knows why or how.. I just bet it wouldn't be allowed today.
First grade was a nightmare. I went to so many schools that I have a few scattered memories, but I don't really know any teacher's names. I finished first grade at Birney Elementary, in San Diego, where I had to put my head on my desk for kissing Ernie Valdez, in line! LOL (Once a week, I walked the opposite way home, from school, in first grade, to my brownie leader's home. This was the way Ernie walked! Other than this and some baby chicks we cooked in an incubator and then played with after we rolled up the carpet.. I don't remember anything else of first grade.)
I stayed at Birney for 2nd grade (Mrs. Harris) and then half of 3rd grade (Mrs. Yates).
In the middle of 3rd grade, we moved back to grandma's. I don't remember the name of my teacher, back at Carson Elementary, but I remember that she was very pregnant. Willie Coyle had a cast on his arm and she was hit breaking up a fight, on one of the last days of school.
4th grade was Mrs. wow. I can see her.
5th grade was Mr. McCan. This was the year that we learned about the Holocaust and met one of his relatives that had spent time in a concentration camp. Very moving experience. This was not my first male teacher. I had one other, during summer school, at Birney.. for oceanography.
6th grade was Mr. Youngdale. I sat at his desk and graded papers. I was like a teacher's assistant. He tried to get me pushed through to jr high school and I'm so glad that didn't work out. After I got to jr high, I was lost all the time and a social mess. Going a year earlier would have only been more traumatic.
7th grade started at the jr high school. I only remember things that happened.. not really names. My Spanish teacher was in her sixties and used to spit on us. My pre-alebra teacher used to sing "everybody's working for the weekend." My home-ec teacher scared me and I felt I knew more about cooking and sewing than she did. She did intimidate me, though. My History or Geography teacher was scary, too. Everyone referred to her as a witch and I'll never forget how we fell-out when she announced her birthday was October 31st.
8th and 9th grade was also at the jr high school. It was my introduction to electronic typewriters and tutoring. P.E. was torture. It didn't have to be but my teacher was a sadist. LOL
10th grade started at the high school. I mostly remember Mr. Garris. He was my art teacher. The only problem is that I didn't take an art class. I signed up for "Crafts" because I can't draw. We spent too much time drawing still-life and I thought it would suck life from me. Our TA ended up being a student and a senior.. and asked me out. Oh Eddie Echevarria! *sigh* I was so naive.
My English teacher was Ed Singer. His mother also was a teacher at Kearny. I really liked him. He was a great teacher. He inspired me. I stayed in his classes for four semesters. I transferred into business courses after that. I continued to stop in and read what his class was reading, though. Novels were easier without the tests!
My Geometry teacher wasn't a teacher at all and I can't remember his name. I just remember we had community tests and I learned nothing the first semester. I transferred to "the other teacher" for the second semester. That was the semester that you apply what you learned the first semester.. and since I learned nothing.. I struggled.
My science teacher was a trip. He was the basketabll coach but I don't remember his name. He was very real with us. One time, someone asked him where he lived.. He said, "You know when you turn down Genesee Avenue, and head down into the canyon and just as you get up to speed, the light, at the bottom of the hill turns yellow and you have to stop for some asshole that is coming out of that new subdivision? Well, I'm that asshole"
My Senior year is where I seemed to come alive.
Dr. Short taught governement. My business/computer class teacher was our ASB (Assoc. Student Body) Advisor. Mrs. McSomething (McMullen?), I think. I hate that I can't remember her name. It will come to me in the middle of the night, next week, and I'll sit straight up and say her name out loud. I'm sure. *giggle*
I spent a lot of time, in high school, with the Wrestling Coach (Varner) and the Football Coach (again, I can see him.. hmmm). I had adapted PE by that time because I was a clutz and always on crutches anyway.
By the second semester of my senior year.. I hated school. I had spent my life thriving in school because home life was so bad. School was my escape. No one really knew my dysfunctional life when I was at school. By the time I could drive.. the sky was the limit and I was itching to just get away.. anywhere..
When I turned 18, in April of 1987, I was ready to drop out. I no longer needed that hell that was such a game. It wasn't about learning, anymore. It was about a game that you had to learn the rules to, in each class, and then endure. When the attendance laws changed, in January, of that year, I instantly went from straight A's to F's, and really I didn't care anymore.
My mom had always said that if I could carry straight A's and not be there, then I obviously didn't need to be there. I would go for tests and turn in homework via different channels (wish we had email then) but in general, I spent my time in libraries, reading, doing family history, or going to book signings.
OH Mr. Garris always called me HOLLY. For three years I was Holly, no matter how I corrected him. He was a crazy old man that loved teaching, even though he was more a military commando art instructor. Eddie saved my life in that class. I found creative ways to do my projects and managed to get on the teacher's good side.. so enduring was a little easier.
This was fun.. thanks SheB
