Day 450: Got No Class!

7 Responses to Day 450: Got No Class!

1. Tara Li says:

   July 30, 2012 at 8:32 am

   I love these looks back into your past. It’s interesting to see the sources you draw your experiences from.

   Reply
2. Anita Lewis says:

   July 30, 2012 at 9:24 am

   Oh, wow!!! Governor’s Island. I joined the Army in Feb 1965 and my first assignment about 4 months later, I guess, was Ft. Jay, NY which was First Army Headquarters on Governor’s Island! So that was around June. Some time in 1966 there was a transition from Army to Coast Guard. I volunteered to stay on at the hospital to work in the emergency room and take care of immunizations until there was someone from the Coast Guard there to do it. I went out during that time with one of those cute guys in that nice CG uniform. I was among the last Army to leave and I was offered my choice of where to go. Imagine that! Never happened again. I think it was summer in 1966 when I left. I recall there was a hurricane in Florida at that time; so yes, it must have been summer. I guess our paths didn’t cross, but it sure would have been close.

   And, yes, being 18 and going to a place that was a short ride on a ferry to NYC was a real growing up experience for this gal. It’s wonderful to imagine you on some of those same trails. I was more into the Village than the museums at that time, but I spent a lot of years much later just across the Hudson and caught up on the museum scene at that time.

   Reply
3. Lucie Le Blanc says:

   July 30, 2012 at 1:56 pm

   Thanks for sharing those memories with us. It was quite a treat !

   Reply
4. StephenK says:

   July 31, 2012 at 7:40 am

   Didn’t get to listen to this yesterday so I’m late commenting but this was a great episode. Thanks for sharing all those little moments. For a little bit I forgot this was a recording and that we weren’t talking on the phone… strange experience that 🙂

   Reply
5. Stephen Jacob says:

   August 1, 2012 at 10:32 pm

   What everybody else said … and I, for one, would buy your memoirs in a second. 🙂

   Reply
6. paul says:

   August 7, 2012 at 5:00 pm

   Been on vacation, then discovered Apple Mountain Lion deleted all my feeds from imail. Just recovered them in iGoogle. I was intrigued by your comment (being tested at a young age with puzzles etc.) (Sorry this may be long and boring to some) I have somewhat of an explanation for that testing. I was tested from grade school through highschool, the testing followed me every few years from American military bases and schools in England where I grew up to Colorado and finally Texas. I often wandered about those simple puzzles, some with shapes, colours, or black and white, also some very simple sounding questions. Always by a mysterious guy in a dark suite and a briefcase full of puzzles.

   I was a hard headed kid, in third grade I got fed up with reading simple dumb books in school and decided not to read them anymore, when asked by a teacher to read a paragraph my choice was very simple I said I can’t read. No problem she went on to the next student. I did not count on the school holding me back a year and my parents going along with it. Still hard headed in Junior high in Colorado but at least I was in advanced classes yet one day I was puzzled by a teacher asking me to report to the office, I asked WHY, she said someone here to see me and she does not know why. It was the puzzle guy again, I answered all his questions, did the simple puzzles and asked him why he was here, he said “That’s all I need” (he needs). 1975 High School, Texas, I look native american but with a British accent still, having a hard time fitting in first year, do not draw attention to myself and keep my grades just low enough to avoid nerd label, then one day Puzzle guy shows up. Teacher asks me how come this guy has credentials to pull be from class no questions asked. I don’t know but I decided to be hard headed, I skewed his data, I did the puzzles very slow and answered questions with smirky answers while looking him in the eye. He knew I was messing with him, I asked if he was the same guy who tested me last time. No Answer, he was done. 1992 UTD East Dallas, Child Psych class for education majors. Visiting prof discussing long term child testing using Emersonian theory vs Freudian. I Said I was Jungian and not familiar with Emersonian theory, so she explained some of the long term testing. I decided to tell her about the puzzle guy and I asked the class how may others had been tested like that (Zero). I was surprised when she took down notes and told me she would pass my thoughts on to her colleagues, I was shocked and asked her what was the testing for? She just said it was really just benign testing of random children long term, I said they have know Idea how that could have affected those random children tell them that. Sorry so long.

   Reply
   • Nathan says:

     August 7, 2012 at 5:18 pm

     Thanks!

     I only remember seeing him a few times. I have the impression that it was before I started going to school, but if it was, then it had to have been the summer of 1956 because I started kindergarten that fall. My sister, Laurie, remembers him, too. I should ask her if she has any ideas worth sharing. 🙂

     I appreciate your taking the time.

     Reply

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