This is the year we moved from Michigan to Louisiana in the middle of 5th grade. My friend mailed my yearbook page to me. I remember being very innocent then. Our school in Michigan had just gotten computers and I was just beginning to learn how to use them. Moving to Louisiana was like night and day. Everyone called me a yankee and thought it was funny that I said "you guys" instead of "y'all". I caught on eventually. On my first day of school in Louisiana, my teacher asked me a simple yes or no question to which I responded, "Yes". With a stern voice she said to me, "Yes what"? Surprised and all eyes on me, I said "Yes" once more. She explained, "You say, 'yes m'am' or 'no m'am', do you understand"? "Yes, m'am". My english teacher, Mrs. Moore, told our class that "musk and sweat don't mix, so please boys and girls, don't wear perfume, wear deodorant". She also told us that our school had been desegregated only 10 years earlier. The kids at this school seemed a lot meaner and rowdier and bigger than the school I had come from. "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb was a popular song, and I remember a cute boy and girl in my class broke up and got back together and this was their theme song. This year was the first time in my life a couple of people called me a snob, and it was because I had just moved away from a place I loved for 4 years where my 3 best girlfriends lived across the street, and I was shy. I adapted but I feel I wasn't quite as innocent anymore. Maybe that happens at age 10 and 11 anyway. It wasn't like I started smoking cigarettes but something shifted, where I had to toughen up a bit. I guess these things simply assist you in playing that old game called Life.
This is the year we moved from Michigan to Louisiana in the middle of 5th grade. My friend mailed my yearbook page to me. I remember being very innocent then. Our school in Michigan had just gotten computers and I was just beginning to learn how to use them. Moving to Louisiana was like night and day. Everyone called me a yankee and thought it was funny that I said "you guys" instead of "y'all". I caught on eventually. On my first day of school in Louisiana, my teacher asked me a simple yes or no question to which I responded, "Yes". With a stern voice she said to me, "Yes what"? Surprised and all eyes on me, I said "Yes" once more. She explained, "You say, 'yes m'am' or 'no m'am', do you understand"? "Yes, m'am". My english teacher, Mrs. Moore, told our class that "musk and sweat don't mix, so please boys and girls, don't wear perfume, wear deodorant". She also told us that our school had been desegregated only 10 years earlier. The kids at this school seemed a lot meaner and rowdier and bigger than the school I had come from. "Reunited" by Peaches & Herb was a popular song, and I remember a cute boy and girl in my class broke up and got back together and this was their theme song. This year was the first time in my life a couple of people called me a snob, and it was because I had just moved away from a place I loved for 4 years where my 3 best girlfriends lived across the street, and I was shy. I adapted but I feel I wasn't quite as innocent anymore. Maybe that happens at age 10 and 11 anyway. It wasn't like I started smoking cigarettes but something shifted, where I had to toughen up a bit. I guess these things simply assist you in playing that old game called Life.
2 comments:
You should write a book. Your posts are great.
I agree with Clare. This series has been awesome. The little things that you remember are so telling.
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