I remember a number of books from my childhood fondly. Amelia Bedalia. American Girl. The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A whole collection of Disney stories, including a version of the tortoise and the hare with Goofy (in his old, beat-up junker of a car) and Donald (in his brand new sportscar) with a memorable moral: “Slow and steady, steady and slow. That’s the way we ought to go.”
However, when I saw this question, one book popped into my mind first.
Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells.
Yes, I do.
I was probably about eight or nine when we connected to the internet so I had some time without it. Though I will note that I’ve pretty much always had access to a computer because my dad worked with them. I probably got started on Windows 3.
So what did I do on the computer without internet? Well, I played the games – solitaire and minesweeper as well as pipe dream, where you had to connect pipes to prevent a spill. I also used to doodle in Paint. My favorite was to zoom in until it was just pixels and essentially create designs in a childish version of Pointilism. I also had a program that allowed me to write stories and illustrate them as well. The program would even read them to me.
(more…)As I wrote last week, my elementary school closed and I wanted to write about it.
So, let me back up. I went to Catholic school so my elementary school was my parish school. I attended there from pre-school to eighth grade, so I spent ten years of my life there. And when I went, most classrooms had about thirty or so students in them. School enrollment was over 300 children.
But over the last several years, the enrollment has dwindled. Our school couldn’t compete with the new public schools going up. They were shiny, new and had a lot of things we could only dream of affording. Most parents decided to send their children to the public schools and save up for tuition to one of the Catholic high schools.
It got to the point that our pastor decided it could no longer stay a parish school and needed to join the regional association of Catholic schools to help it get the needed funds and resources so it could stay afloat. We got a boost when another school near us closed and those students came to us.
And then COVID hit.
I’m sure most of you by now know that I live in New York and so know that we were hit very hard by COVID back in March and April. Schools here closed as of March 16th and we still don’t know what exactly it will look like come September. (Right now, it looks like a blended model – some days in the classroom, some days online instruction). With all that uncertainty, enrollment just wasn’t where it needed to be. And we weren’t the only school facing that – Cardinal Dolan sent out an email warning that the Archdiocese would have to close schools soon.
Then a couple weeks ago, the hammer came down for twenty-six schools. And mine was one of them.
It’s sad to hear my old school closed, that there won’t be anymore classes there. And I’m sorry that it went out with a whimper rather than a bang.
I was there a little over a week ago. The principal was cleaning the building out and throwing a lot out. So my mom, who works in the building, invited me to come out to see if there was anything I could save for my YMCA. And it was sad to pick through the remains of my childhood, of my school. But I was able to save A LOT for our childcare center so I’m glad it’s going to help the children we serve.
The building will still be there, so the ghosts of all us students past will still have a home there.
And my memories will live on. Shooting soda bottle rockets down the hallway. Play rehearsals. When we weren’t able to play kickball with the giant ball because we kept knocking out the ceiling tiles. When our 2nd grade teacher convinced us Santa was hiding in a closet. All the parties we threw. The time we won a stuff spider and set it up in a desk, complete with its own book. Christmas parties, Mardi Gras celebrations, and field days. Just some of the many, many memories I have from my school days.
Maybe one day I’ll write a few posts on some of those memories.
Reminder – check out my Patreon for my ongoing Quarantine short story series as well as other posts. Some are only available if you’re a patron, so please consider supporting me.
Thanks! And if you’re in the NY tri-state area, stay cool during this heatwave!
A Writer's Journey 