High School
Sat., February 5, 11:22 PM
Trying to distract myself from some really lame attempts at posting, I came across the following meme, a high school quiz, stolen this time from Golfwidow.
What year was it?
1955 through 1958.
What were your favorite bands or musical artists?
Eddie Fisher. Frank Sinatra. Elvis Presley. Rosemary Clooney. The Four Lads, the Four Aces, and the Platters.
What was your favorite outfit?
That’s a hard one. It had to be a dress or skirt and blouse, because girls weren’t allowed to wear slacks to school. (No one was allowed to wear jeans.) One dress that comes to mind is a yellow waffle piqué, with a large butterfly collar. Like most of my “nice” clothes, it was a hand-me-down from my cousins.
What was up with your hair?
Not much of it, though certainly more than I have now. Short, very fine, coaxed into a natural wave. Every now and then, my mother would insist on a perm, and then I’d wear Brillo for six months.
Who were your best friends?
Bunny and Annette. Bunny and I met in seventh grade and began as best friends (still in touch after more than fifty years). Annette went to a fancy college, while we went to the state university, and doesn’t answer any attempt at communication.
Where did you work?
I did a lot of babysitting, not just evenings, but after-school child care. But in my senior year, I started working at the public library and actually stayed with them for five years. That job put me through college.
Did you fight with your parents?
My mother was a difficult person and, in those years, she was also menopausal. Fight with her? I would have been taking my life in my hands. Dad was a peacemaker; I never knew how she felt about her girls being more comfortable confiding in him instead of her.
Whom did you have a CELEBRITY crush on?
In high school? I think I was over them by that time. (Or I was until I saw Sandy Koufax pitch!) I remember a crush on Mario Lanza, but I think that was years earlier.
Did you smoke cigarettes?
No, not then.
Did you lug all of your books around in your backpack only because you were too nervous to find your locker?
It was a large school, but we knew where everything was, including our lockers. (Where else would you put a coat…and boots…and umbrella?) Geekiness wasn’t an issue, because I’d had that problem from grammar school – though we didn’t call it that.
Did you have a 'clique'?
Bunny and Annette and I had our own set of friends, but never a clique as such. Actually, such organizations were against the school rules anyway.
Did you have "The Max" like Zach, Kelly, and Slater?
Wha-a? I actually had no idea what that meant until I read Golfwidow’s answer. We used to go downtown to Goody’s for a Coke – after school. We couldn’t just go in and out of the building whenever we wanted to; I have no idea how one would even attempt it.
Admit it, were you popular?
I wouldn’t say so, not in the usual way. People knew who I was – the girl in the library, for example – but I wasn’t the sort of person they’d seek out unless they needed something from me.
Whom did you want to be just like?
I used to say my aunt Charlotte, which was maybe not such a good idea. Mostly, I was happy with who I was; my “job” was to fix those areas where I fell short.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Something scientific, though I wasn’t sure what. I gave up on the idea of being doctor when I found out how long that would take, because I also wanted to get married and have babies. (I was, after all, a child of the forties and fifties.) Up until my senior year, I thought I wanted to be a nurse. I changed my mind, but the interest got me started on chemistry and biology. And I'm still interested.
