1982
As this first full year of Reagan's first term dawned, I was still in the classroom of who might have been the grumpiest frowniest senior citizen of a teacher I ever had:Mrs. Fromm. Even her semi attempts at smiling were akin to a grapefruit that needed to go. I remember her being on my case pretty frequently...as my learning style apparently demanded. Even on the last day of school in mid June, she whispered to me as I left her room for good, "Get your head out of the clouds!" I think she probably said the same thing to another classmate named Jeff Keiss, who was my cloud soul brother that year.
In January I caught a small vacay for myself, though not a pleasant one. I was diagnosed with croup the day after Super Bowl XVI, where the 49ers kicked the Bengals' asses! I was home all week on meds and developing a love from Ocean Spray cranberry juice as my breathing slowly improved. We also had several snow days that winter.
As I came to understand later, there was an interesting system to snow emergencies, or rather ice emergencies. If the roads could be cleared for buses in good time, school would be delayed for an hour, maybe 2, and it wouldn't necessitate a make-up day. However, if the plows and road salters couldn't keep up, we'd have a day off that would have to be made up. The winter of 1982 created several make-up days in June.
In the meantime, I was getting into a good groove of walking to school with either Jeremy, Eric, or Tommy and back home with at least one of them usually. Occasionally I went home with another friend form class, A.J. Geiss, who wanted to be a fireman (we'd always watch "Emergency" when we got to his house). I would sometimes play at Eric's house. He had a toddler sister named Maari who loved it when I came over to play or sleep over. Other times I'd enjoy Jeremy's basement because he had an Atari 2600 (soon after an Intellivision) and made me thirst for my own video game system. Jeremy was also into a cartoon called Star Blazers, a Japanese import that told of a group of Earthlings traveling in a rebuilt Japanese WW2 battleship to fight the Gamilons and Comet Empire...my new favorite show for the next couple of years!
At some point, Mrs. Fromm got a student teacher from Kutztown University. I do not remember her name, jsut that she was a young, friendly, energetic African American woman we were sad to see go when her time was up! She was a pleasant break from Fromm (haha) as she taught us more and more subjects.
As the summer dawned on us, our family decided to skip Michigan as we had seen enough of it in 1981 (4 visits)! Instead, we took a few days to check out Washington D.C. That was a neat trip as I recall. I remember seeing the White House, Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol, the Smithsonian, and some museums I didn't care for then. We also did some paddle-boating on the Potomac, now THAT was a fun evening activity!
Apart from that, the summer was spent at the park behind our street. A nice thing about those Spring Township neighborhoods (due to taxes and HOA dues I am sure) was that they provided summer activities at the various parks. We did crafts, went to movies or miniature golf places, even walks to McD's for ice cream in the evenings.Come September, more specifically Labor Day, we had 2 days to get our affairs in order before returning to school. The general rule was, once the Jerry Lewis telethon aired, your summer was shot!
Shortly before school began, I joined the local soccer league. I wasn't very good at first, but with running laps and good coaching by Mr. Guzowski, I got better, and my legs got some decent strength. I wasn't Pelé by any imagination stretch, but the kicks got straighter at least.
I entered the 4th grade in fall of 1982. Talk about a complete reversal from 3rd grade! I had THE coolest teacher in my whole Wilson student career that year in the person of Ms Susan Christman. If Mrs. Fromm was an expired grapefruit, Ms Christman was a blossoming orange tree. She had a bright cheery attitude pretty much every day, and made learning fun. As 4th graders, we learned all about Pennsylvania that year, from our own county to the state's history. We also did class switching for reading and leveled switching for math. I was in the high group the first quarter in Ms Vickery's class. The second quarter, I was in Mr Carly's room for multiplication.
Coming with me from Mrs. Fromm's room were Mike and Kevin and Lisa and Mark, maybe a few others. Michelle Sattazahn from Mrs Lambert's class was also there. Marcus Turner, another kid from my neighborhood, was in that class as well. We got along sometimes, other times not so much (amazing how it is easy to look upon the past with a smile and a laugh). I made a new buddy in Jake Birmingham that year. He lived in the nearby neighborhood of Drexelwood. Sometimes I'd go to his house, we'd get homework out of the way, then play afterward, then one of my parents would pick me up.
One thing I remember distinctly about 4th grade is that the rumors about who likes whom were rampant, whether they were true or not...that hasn't changed much! I was pegged as being engaged to classmate Barbie Reinish, when my focus was on someone else....Lisa, who definitely did not reciprocate. A clever if accidental subterfuge on my part! 😉
Sometime in 1982 (I believe) my dad had a wood stove installed in the family room, a device that really put out the heat (when metal turns red, yeah it is hot). He also installed a fan system to blow the hot air to the upstairs hallway, a definite winter fuel savings device!
That year I turned 10 with a small celebration at my house...the opening of hunting season, which was why we always had the Monday after Thanksgiving off. At Christmas, there were 2 big surprises. First, we got a puppy, a Scottie named Mac(Tavish). Second, I got an Atari 2600! I also got the "Empire Strikes Back" soundtrack. What a great way to end the year!
1983
What I recall from the winter of the 1983 specifically is a 3+ foot blizzard and a bout or 2 of strep throat. Just that illness that goes pretty frequently around the playground at recess. A small bout of chicken pox went around that year as well with 1 or 2 students being away for a bit.
Apart from that, I was enjoying my new Atari a lot. We moved it to the guest room that had the old black and white set (killing the color but not the fun) so that I wouldn't be nagging to play since the family didn't particularly care about playing video games with me when other important shows like Greatest American Hero were on.
In school, the Pennsylvania learning and projects were still in full swing. One project I enjoyed was the salt and flour state map art project. I tried that with students this year, then I recalled that Ms Christman had hard floors (most of the school did) so cleanup was easy then. Carpet is another hell! We also had an all day field trip to several historic sites like Daniel Boone's homestead and a few monuments in downtown Reading. I HOPE those haven't been torn down in recent times!
One cool memory I have is in math. I was put in Mr. Sweigart's room as I'd had trouble on the fractions pre-test (he had the struggler's class). A few weeks later, before school, he stopped me while coming up the stairwell and said, "Bryan, I was playing Monopoly with some buddies last night. I landed on Chance and the card said, Bryan go immediately to Mr. Carly's room for math, don't pass Go, don't collect $200!"He then showed me the 100% I got the the recent test and gave it a bog old smooch!
Folks, that is the kind of teacher I have tried to model my style after, to varying degrees of success.
Ms. Christman also had a nice student teacher early in the 2nd half of the year...her name fails me as well.
That winter, my dad decided to get the PRISM premium channel. This required one of those decoder boxes on top of the TV. Star Wars was playing a lot at that time and I watched it whenever it was on. Unlike HBO, PRISM put rated R movies on in the daytime and, as I discovered a few years down the road, late at night they'd show some softcore material. I led quite a priviliged life!
There was an event that many of us were waiting for, a life-changing event indeed! It had been anticipated for about 2 years. You guessed it, it was the day Reagan put some new flavor jellybeans in his jar! No, just kidding, it was the May premiere of 'Return of the Jedi' in theaters! Mr. Lightsaber Duel Fan himself was ecstatic when it happened and I watched it...a funny thing, though...then it was cool, now I see it and realize the faults storywise (compared to entries of the past 21 years, it still reigns supreme!).
On the last day of school we had field day as always, except we were no longer playing the little kid stuff, we were into the real sports. We got out at lunchtime and had a sad farewell with Ms Christman. Luckily, we got to see her again soon at her wedding to Mr. Southworth...she is currently Ms. Christman again, I'll leave that to your own surmisings!
The summer of 1983 was pretty fun as I recall. I still spent time with my buds and the park group activities. We as a family went to Michigan for a bit. I remember my dad working the morning, then we left early afternoon, having a picnic dinner at one of the rest stops on the Turnpike. We ended up getting to my grandparents' house just before midnight. Detroit is definitely prettier at night than in the daytime...kind of like Vegas!
That summer I also went to Binden Wood day camp run by the YMCA on South Mountain near Wernersville. That was a fun experience. I learned quite a few things (archery, shooting), became a better swimmer, and just enjoyed the outdoors. We even had a sleepover night near the end.
I was also riding my bicycle more that summer, getting more confident. 1983 was also the year for movies. Aside from ROTJ, I saw 'Superman 3', which was cool at the time, I have since revised that opinion to Richard Pryor not belonging in a DC hero flick. I also saw 'Wargames', makign me want a computer!
I decided to give soccer another turn, but this time I wasn't really into it and dropped out shortly after the season began. I opted for bowling on Saturday mornings instead, something I'd be sticking with for a few years. The local bowling alley was fun and it had some decent arcade games that kept up with the more expansive arcade at the mall at the time.
For some reason, our school district decided to try an experiment with starting us a week earlier than usual, on August 31st! I have gotten used to starting school in August as a teacher for sure, mid August even! Back then, though, it was a travesty!
In 5th grade, I got Ms Kalbach. She was ok, not quite as spirited and fun as Ms Christman, but she enjoyed reading novels to us. Coming with me from 4th grade was Jake, Mike, and Marcus and Michelle. I met a new buddy in Mike Stout that year as well. He had an Atari as well and introduced me to some games I didn't have.
Two events from that fall stick in my memory. The first is the shooting down of a Korean airliner by a Soviet MIG. There were a LOT of fears about World War 3 stirred up by that. The second event was the accidental death of WPVI channel 6's favorite weatherman Jim O'Brien. He was a Philly TV fixture and favorite for many years. Did I say 2 events? I meant 3: the cartoon debuts of G.I. Joe and steroid-injected (oh sorry, MAGIC SWORD TRANSFORMED)He-Man were the talk of the 5th grade!
For my 11th birthday, I got a bowling ball to go with my new Saturday activity. On that birthday, I also got to go with my dad to work. Now, this is where fantasy and reality can have a fascinating collision. You know, sometimes as a kid, you have a vague idea that your parent is out there doing amazing things, and as an engineer, my dad is awesome! He is very professional and well-respected and could have worked anywhere he really wanted. That said, watching him do work is, well, equivalent to watching mosquitoes mate, at least to a newly 11 year old who really didn't get it. He arranged for me to meet some people, including the main computer guy, who help run the whole show. One thing I do remember is the draftsmen who were a bit loud at times. Sadly, those people have been largely replaced by technology, like other old jobs that no longer exist.
That Christmas, there were no grandparents as it was their year to go to San Diego. That was ok, we still had a good Christmas, I got some new Atari games and the Return of the Jeid soundtrack....only a single album release with many scores missing. though I forget what else I got...oh yeah, clothes! Hell, I can't remember all!
Up next, part 3: 1984-85
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