Despite all the personal turmoil I was experiencing at John Tyler High School in the spring of 1970 I have to admit it was a fascinating time. The whole redneck experience was new to me, as was the level of racial tension... It was easy to understand why the black students weren't comfortable with the rednecks, but they really weren't comfortable with me either... I guess I should have expected that - the mistrust ran pretty deep...
The other thing that really mystified me was the way guys and girls interacted... It wasn't fundamentally different from what I 'd seen in California - it was just way more extreme... Let's just say there was a lot of abuse, stupidity, deception and hypocrisy going on :-) But that's a topic for future posts.
"Government" was my second subject of the day (after English) and it was a "double" class. By that I mean there were 60 students and 2 teachers in a double wide room. I'm not sure why they did that - maybe just avoiding duplication?
Regardless - there was a strong conservative slant to the way the material was presented. They spent a lot of time on the "domino theory" (the justification for the war in Vietnam) as well as the usual mom and apple pie stuff... Not that I disagreed with all of it... I just couldn't buy into the whole "love it or leave it" / "my country right or wrong" philosophy...
I never spoke up during class but I'm sure my sentiments were clear from all the eye rolling and facial contortions :-) Between my attitude and the long hair it should come as no surprise that the teachers strongly suspected me of having "anti-American" sentiments... And that gave rise to one of the proudest moments of my high school career:
The teachers spent a full 3 weeks covering communism - mostly focusing on how godless and evil it was... Now - I have to admit that I tend to agree. The whole premise is based on radically invalid assumptions about human nature. It's so obvious that Marx never had an actual job in his life... Amazing irony, that :-)
So when it came time for the exam I decided it would be fun to "play into" the teachers' suspicions and I actually studied - really hard... The class average on that test was by far the lowest of the semester and I was the only student who got 100%... You should have seen the way the teachers glared at me when they handed back the graded papers. It was so worth the effort - I still chuckle when I think about it... Yeah - I know - I find strange ways to amuse myself. Always have - always will :-)
I have lots of other random memories about that class. Like the "make believe" political convention we held in the auditorium and the time they showed us how to use the mechanical voting machines. BTW: Those things actually had "Republican" and "Democrat" levers so you could vote an entire slate with one pull of the handle... No need to think at all :-)
But my most distinct memory involves the girl who sat to the right of me. No big surprise there - right? ... She was a cheerleader and I thought she was really cute. I even managed to work up the nerve to engage her in idle chit-chat a few times...
Then one morning before class she stopped right next to my desk and said "I'm having a really bad day! It's only second period and there's already a run in my pantyhose... Look!"... And she proceeded to hike her skirt up to the very top of her left leg and hold it there for what seemed like an eternity... Yeah - I suppose there might have been a run there but I certainly didn't notice. I was too busy being mesmerized. Seriously - there aren't many things in all of creation as captivating as an 18 year old cheerleader's thigh :-) I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing.
For the life of me I have no clue what that was about... She never acted like she liked me... I suspect she was either messing with me or trying to make someone else jealous (southern girls did that stuff back in the day - probably still do)...
Anyway - she was one of the many girls from school I asked out that fall after I got my driver's license... She turned me down... They all did :-)
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2 comments:
Girls are certainly weird, Pete! I'm glad I just had sons (no offence!). I think girls are simply harder to understand.
Seriously? Republican lever and Democrat lever? I've never understood voting along party lines and have never affiliated with a particular party. What makes us think it's a good idea to organize our government the way high schools are organized with lots of cliques, gossip, etc. Even if I vote for Democrats most of the time it just seems ridiculous to me that I should register as one.
As for the girls; they probably just turned you down when you asked them out because you convinced everyone you were a commie! :-)
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