Back in the Day
In honor of my 30th high school reunion, which I'll be leaving for a week from today, I thought I'd do a post that had to do with high school.
My high school had two stories and four staircases. Unlike my middle school, where two staircases were only for going up, and the other two for going down, on these four sets of stairs we could travel either way. One staircase, however, was only for seniors. It was labeled as such, and technically, no underclassmen were supposed to darken its steps.
When I was in junior high and went with my older sister to events at the high school, I thought this senior staircase was the coolest thing. It wasn't until I started going to the high school that I realized it was in the least trafficked area of the building and there was no formal policing of who actually used it.
Never the less, most underclassmen steered clear of it, and, as seniors, we had a fun time acting like we were willing to kick anyone's butt who dared try and bend the rules. I wonder if that senior staircase still exists in that school today.
Did anybody else out there have one in their high school? Or know of one that's still around today?
Another thing I almost can't believe when I look back, is the lax attitude that existed toward students smoking. Our high school did not have a smoking lounge as I've heard some others did, but there were five minutes between classes, and kids would head outside to the curb to have a cigarette then, and during lunch or free periods.
All this was completely within the rules. Of course, it was the 70's, and when the door to the teachers lounge swung open, huge clouds of thick cigarette smoke drifted into the hallway every time.
In honor of my 30th high school reunion, which I'll be leaving for a week from today, I thought I'd do a post that had to do with high school.
My high school had two stories and four staircases. Unlike my middle school, where two staircases were only for going up, and the other two for going down, on these four sets of stairs we could travel either way. One staircase, however, was only for seniors. It was labeled as such, and technically, no underclassmen were supposed to darken its steps.
When I was in junior high and went with my older sister to events at the high school, I thought this senior staircase was the coolest thing. It wasn't until I started going to the high school that I realized it was in the least trafficked area of the building and there was no formal policing of who actually used it.
Never the less, most underclassmen steered clear of it, and, as seniors, we had a fun time acting like we were willing to kick anyone's butt who dared try and bend the rules. I wonder if that senior staircase still exists in that school today.
Did anybody else out there have one in their high school? Or know of one that's still around today?
Another thing I almost can't believe when I look back, is the lax attitude that existed toward students smoking. Our high school did not have a smoking lounge as I've heard some others did, but there were five minutes between classes, and kids would head outside to the curb to have a cigarette then, and during lunch or free periods.
All this was completely within the rules. Of course, it was the 70's, and when the door to the teachers lounge swung open, huge clouds of thick cigarette smoke drifted into the hallway every time.
There was also so much smoking in the girls bathrooms that I rarely used them. If I really had to go, I'd travel way to the other side of the building, where I knew I could find an empty bathroom (probably right by the senior staircase). Sure, I had a few friends that smoked, but several of those other girls seemed to hold court in the bathrooms, and they were mean.
Two or three times a year the vice principal would do a sweep of the bathrooms and kids would be suspended. But everyone was right back at it the next day.
At my 20th high school reunion, at one point there were several women out on the dance floor together. As we danced, a woman who looked familiar but whom I did not know, leaned over, peeled my name tag from my dress, and stuck it on her own.
"I want to see what it's like to be you," she said.
"Oh?" I was clearly taken aback. "Did we go to high school together?"
"Yeah," she said. "But we didn't travel in the same circles."
Sure, I thought, she assumed it had been so great to be me, while I'd probably been scared shitless of her.
"So," I told her, "you must have been one of those girls that had me too afraid to walk into the bathroom?"
Looking as surprised at my comment as I'd been by hers, she seemed to consider for a moment. Then she laughed and said, "Probably."
And, having cleared that up, we continued to dance.
Ah, high school. Aren't we glad that's over?
Two or three times a year the vice principal would do a sweep of the bathrooms and kids would be suspended. But everyone was right back at it the next day.
At my 20th high school reunion, at one point there were several women out on the dance floor together. As we danced, a woman who looked familiar but whom I did not know, leaned over, peeled my name tag from my dress, and stuck it on her own.
"I want to see what it's like to be you," she said.
"Oh?" I was clearly taken aback. "Did we go to high school together?"
"Yeah," she said. "But we didn't travel in the same circles."
Sure, I thought, she assumed it had been so great to be me, while I'd probably been scared shitless of her.
"So," I told her, "you must have been one of those girls that had me too afraid to walk into the bathroom?"
Looking as surprised at my comment as I'd been by hers, she seemed to consider for a moment. Then she laughed and said, "Probably."
And, having cleared that up, we continued to dance.
Ah, high school. Aren't we glad that's over?
Oh yes -- I am so glad it's over too. I once wrote an essay for the Detroit Free Press on attending my 20th high school reunion, and got lots of response to it (I included the piece in my essay collection). Those weren't the best of times for me, with a few exceptions... and oh my, you brought back memories of those smoky bathrooms!
Posted by: Cindy L | July 10, 2009 at 10:04 AM
I didn't love high school. Although I was fairly involved in school activities, I always felt a bit like an outsider. I moved from Houston to a small town with kids who had been together since kindergarten. Billy Joel's Uptown Girl was frequently sung in the halls behind me...which was humiliating and hurtful. College was soooo much better.
Posted by: Jill | July 10, 2009 at 11:55 AM
I'm like Jill. We moved in the middle of my sophomore year and the kids were really stuck up. I ended up hanging with all kids that moved there that year like me.
Love, love, love the story of the 20 year reunion.
Posted by: Pseudo | July 10, 2009 at 12:25 PM
My kids had a senior staircase at at their school. I didn't. But then, they liked high school more than I did too:).
Posted by: LPC | July 10, 2009 at 12:51 PM
We didn't have smoking lounges, but the kids who did smoke could smoke in the lunchroom courtyard or right outside the doors leading into the school (and not all of the smoking going on was of legal tobacco, either). I don't remember much smoking going on the bathrooms.
High school was okay - I was in band and choir and drama, so I had my nerdy/geeky little clique. And if high school wasn't all it was cracked up to be, it sure as hell was TONS better than middle school. I LOATHED middle school.
Posted by: Jan | July 10, 2009 at 04:43 PM
Smoking was totally normal in high school. There was a smoking circle on school grounds at my high school in the Panama Canal Zone and then when we moved my senior year and I had to go to a non-Dept of Defense school with a bunch of people who (hi Jill) had all known each other since kindergarten, there was also a spitting tree where all the tobacco chewers spit at lunch. Grass was dead. I wonder if the tree is still alive.
I feel sorry for kids today with all this forced volunteering and no smoking circle and hovering parents.
Posted by: class factotum | July 10, 2009 at 05:46 PM
I wouldn't go back to high school if you paid me a million dollars. Ugh. What a miserable experience. Nothing worse than a gaggle of high school girls. Meeeowwww! Ugh. Good luck with the reunion. The good thing about 30 years going by, is that most of that shit is so over. I say most of it...LOL
Posted by: Midlife Mama | July 11, 2009 at 08:45 PM
Go to your Blogger profile page and enable public access to your blogging e-mail! That way I can reply directly to your comments!
To answer your question, I realized that one person I read was in my area; I asked her if she knew of anyone else. And then we announced the meet-up at the Women's Colony also (you do know about the Women's Colony, don't you?).
Posted by: suburbancorrespondent | July 11, 2009 at 09:18 PM
I went to four high schools! Fitting in wasn't always easy and I was always getting into fights sticking up for the underdog. Girls can be so much fun but at the same time can be very cruel.
Aside from all the crap that goes along with being a teeny bopper, I had a lot of fun with the friends I did make, lots of great memories. I've never been to a reunion but I've caught up with a lot of my high school and grade school friends on facebook and that's been fun.
Posted by: Kirsty | July 11, 2009 at 09:44 PM
Yes we are. We had a smoking area at our high school called "the pit"...I managed to avoid it until college when I discovered the clove cigarette. Yikes. I still worry about my lungs from that stupid period of time.
Posted by: Mrs. G. | July 13, 2009 at 01:46 AM