If this were the day after Labor Day — and it is — and if I spotted you a few decades — and I will — you would find me primed and eager to begin a new school year. I only wish!
Ah, how I looked forward to getting back to school. Maybe it was the smell of books and chalk and lunch boxes stashed in desks, but it was all new and exciting. Getting back to school and seeing friends after a long summer was one of the most exciting events in my young life. Maybe I was a nerd, but it was not just the end of summer, it was a beginning which offered something new and, potentially exciting, every day.
I had never heard of a back pack. I had to carry a load of tablets, a new “pencil box,” a new box of crayons and, rather reluctantly, a small tin of water colors. It wasn’t that I was disinterested in art, but I never did master water colors. My drawings were more water than color and I never appreciated the medium until I met Salty Seamon.
Every new year at school was an adventure waiting to happen, but no “first day” could begin to match my first day in first grade. I can still close my eyes and picture Miss Meeker. She went right to work on her new class with the goal of teaching us to read and, maybe more important, teaching us to enjoy reading. When our primer adventurerers Dick and Jane began to produce yawns, she would sit us in a circle and read to us. My favorite was “Alice in Wonderland.” I still try to reread it every now and then. Few things intrigue me more than the wonders Alice encountered down that rabbit hole.
I suppose Alice’s adventures would seem pale today. Could a talking rabbit or a Cheshire cat compare with alien creatures?
Alas, Labor Day no longer offers that special magic for me. School has already been in session for a week or more. I’m told that school starts earlier than September because rules dictate that football practice is allowed only “X” number of days prior to the start of school and, football schedules being what they are, we need more time to get all those games played before the next season, or time change, or snow or whatever brings football season to an end.
Still, as my Best Friend and I head out to the Sports Center these early mornings, it is reassuring to see kids standing out along the streets waiting for the school bus. These days they have a back pack slung over their young shoulders. I no longer know what is inside those back packs. Surely the younger kids still carry crayons, but lots more colors now than when I had a choice of eight or 16 colors. I would guess they have pages of homework too, no doubt a lot more than I had, but then there were never more than about 18 kids in my classes. Wouldn’t that be a dream class for today’s teachers?
I watch those kids as they wait and hope they are looking forward to being back in school. I hope they are eager to learn and I hope they do learn. Maybe, decades from now, they will have a lot of very happy memories of their school years.
If this were the day after Labor Day — and it is — and if I spotted you a few decades — and I will — you would find me primed and eager to begin a new school year. I only wish!
Ah, how I looked forward to getting back to school. Maybe it was the smell of books and chalk and lunch boxes stashed in desks, but it was all new and exciting. Getting back to school and seeing friends after a long summer was one of the most exciting events in my young life. Maybe I was a nerd, but it was not just the end of summer, it was a beginning which offered something new and, potentially exciting, every day.
I had never heard of a back pack. I had to carry a load of tablets, a new “pencil box,” a new box of crayons and, rather reluctantly, a small tin of water colors. It wasn’t that I was disinterested in art, but I never did master water colors. My drawings were more water than color and I never appreciated the medium until I met Salty Seamon.
Every new year at school was an adventure waiting to happen, but no “first day” could begin to match my first day in first grade. I can still close my eyes and picture Miss Meeker. She went right to work on her new class with the goal of teaching us to read and, maybe more important, teaching us to enjoy reading. When our primer adventurerers Dick and Jane began to produce yawns, she would sit us in a circle and read to us. My favorite was “Alice in Wonderland.” I still try to reread it every now and then. Few things intrigue me more than the wonders Alice encountered down that rabbit hole.
I suppose Alice’s adventures would seem pale today. Could a talking rabbit or a Cheshire cat compare with alien creatures?
Alas, Labor Day no longer offers that special magic for me. School has already been in session for a week or more. I’m told that school starts earlier than September because rules dictate that football practice is allowed only “X” number of days prior to the start of school and, football schedules being what they are, we need more time to get all those games played before the next season, or time change, or snow or whatever brings football season to an end.
Still, as my Best Friend and I head out to the Sports Center these early mornings, it is reassuring to see kids standing out along the streets waiting for the school bus. These days they have a back pack slung over their young shoulders. I no longer know what is inside those back packs. Surely the younger kids still carry crayons, but lots more colors now than when I had a choice of eight or 16 colors. I would guess they have pages of homework too, no doubt a lot more than I had, but then there were never more than about 18 kids in my classes. Wouldn’t that be a dream class for today’s teachers?
I watch those kids as they wait and hope they are looking forward to being back in school. I hope they are eager to learn and I hope they do learn. Maybe, decades from now, they will have a lot of very happy memories of their school years.
Opinion Columns
LIZ CIANCONE: Let's hope pupils still long for school days
- Opinion Columns
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RONN MOTT: Why Syria?
Russia is making a lot of noise in favor of Syria. They are supplying Assad’s army with more armaments and basic things such as ammunition and such.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Another beloved dog goes to heaven
We are short one granddog. This past week, “Indy” could no longer use her back legs and she went to that great dog kennel in the hereafter.
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MAX JONES: For loyal readers, a bit of news from the T-S newsroom
As journalists toiling to create a content-rich, relevant and compelling community newspaper each day, we feel a special bond with our legions of readers across the Wabash Valley and beyond.
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B.J. RILEY: Fathers are an inspiring figure
Ever since I can remember, I wanted to be a salesman. In grade school, I was so excited about selling candy bars or candles or whatever the chosen product.
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RONN MOTT: Kill the Umpire!
I don’t know who appointed Major League Baseball’s umpires “Gods,” but if they have been appointed “Gods,” they have appointed people who cannot see or think very well.
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RONN MOTT: What’s happening?
I know I may have looked at these situations differently when I was in my twenties. The world, my life, my career, and the growth of my family all lay ahead of me. So perhaps now, many years later, I see it differently.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Withdrawn society not very social any more
My Best Friend and I went out for lunch the other day. It was a sit-down place with our own “server” (in my day I was called “a waitress”) and everything offering personal attention. The manager even came over to ask if everything was all right.
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Will you be happy if you win the lottery?
A Psychology Today article titled “What Will You Do if You Win the $550 Million Powerball Lottery?” caught my attention. Helping lottery winners with their money is my long-time gig.
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RONN MOTT: The ‘wilds’ of Collett Park
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RONN MOTT: Continuous War
The President spoke to the nation the other day about being at a continuous war, and he didn’t feel it is a good thing for the country. He is absolutely correct. So what do we do with the Muslim terrorists?
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RONN MOTT: Sexual assaults in the military
The news reports about sexual assault of women in uniform have got to be sickening to those parents who have said goodbye and wished their daughters well in the military.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Technology, new fabrics made ironing much easier
As surely as Tuesday follows Monday on the calendar, ironing day followed wash day on Mom’s housekeeping chart.
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MARK BENNETT: Commencement Advice
Today’s high school commencement speakers should repeat their speeches in hospital delivery rooms in the months ahead.
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RONN MOTT: Reflecting on the costs of war
Memorial Day, which we celebrated Monday, began during the Civil War when women decorated the graves of Union soldiers. Since that time it has become a national holiday set aside for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the country.
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RONN MOTT: Anniversary
This is an anniversary of sorts. I’ve been writing this little bit of business for a year now. I am quite proud to be doing so in the same newspaper I learned to read by the time I was in the second grade. (I’m not bragging about me so much as the wonderful teacher who taught us to read phonetically … Marion Davidson. Learning to read actually started me on my career in the media.)
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RONN MOTT: Decoration Day at my house
As a boy, I had to have an older relative explain to me that Decoration Day and Memorial Day were one and the same. Neither my father or grandfather had been in the military, but it was my mother who carried out the tradition of what she referred to as Decoration Day.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Looking back at memories of ‘history’
I was reading a whodunit the other day. The protagonist was trying to solve the mystery of what had happened to a local citizen soldier who had disappeared during the war.
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MAX JONES: A Memorial Day tribute in boatman’s wake
God bless Bruce Borror.
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MARK BENNETT: American nurses, medics, stranded behind Nazi lines, survived through tenacity, heroism, generosity
A story of survival, perseverance, danger, and extraordinary courage and generosity extended in the midst of war remained untold for decades, but thankfully not forever.
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RONN MOTT: Ernie Pyle
I stepped back in time last week when I visited the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in Dana.
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RONN MOTT: Pyle museum in Dana good way to study WWII
I stepped back in time last week when I visited the Ernie Pyle World War II Museum in Dana.
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RONN MOTT: Frustration
For those who know me well, they can say without contradiction I am not a patient man. But in this hustle and bustle world I’ve been a part of all my adult life, I’ve had to learn a little patience. On occasion, however, I find some experiences extremely frustrating.
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RONN MOTT: Rabid Republicans
The so-called news people at Fox News can hardly sit still long enough to report on the latest gossip or untruth about our sitting President. They can hardly contain themselves.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Smell of fresh air gave way to dryers
Remember when clean clothes smelled like fresh air and sunshine rather than fabric softener and dryer sheets?
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STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Is it regulation that doesn’t make sense or evening the playing field?
I’m not much of a drinker, so I haven’t spent much time thinking about how Indiana’s alcohol laws personally impact me, but that changed last fall when my daughter got married.
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Mark Bennett: High-profile mural connects historical dots from city to river
At 96 feet wide and 2 stories tall, the power, impact and value of the Wabash will be evident.
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RONN MOTT: Mushrooms = Hoosier happiness
Someone wrote or said a few years ago a statement that would define the word “Hoosier.” According to this urban legend, a Hoosier is somebody dribbling a basketball around the Indy 500 while eating a fried, morel mushroom. It did not define me, at the time.
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RONN MOTT: Israel’s Air Force
Recently the Israeli Air Force bombed and rocketed a convoy leaving Syria going to Lebanon with rockets that were going to be used to attack Israel. It did not get there. It was destroyed.
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RONN MOTT: Media merry-go-round
Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows. That isn’t a unique phrase to this writer or to this era in time. But, when it comes to the musical chairs of broadcasting, it certainly applies.
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LIZ CIANCONE: Courts see a different appearance than cops
Have you ever noticed the transformation between the arrest of an accused lawbreaker and the first appearance in court?
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Fans Cheer Dramatic Heat Comeback
Ex-NFL Star Chad Johnson Out of Jail
Raw: Arizona Wildfire Scorches 8 Square Miles
Raw: German President Welcomes President Obama
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Failed Cuba-to-Florida Swimmer Won't Try Again
Tiger on Sergio: 'It's Time to Move On'
Raw: Obama Arrives in Berlin
Raw: Marines Land Osprey on Japanese Ship
Suicide Bombs Target Baghdad Mosque, Killing 29
Obama Welcomes WNBA Champions to White House
Today in History June 19
Obama Seeks G-8 Support on Syria
Rihanna Hits Fan With Microphone During UK Concert
Obama Renews Call for Nuclear Reductions
Miami Heat Wins in Overtime
Fists, chairs fly in restaurant brawl
Journalist Michael Hastings Dies in Fiery Hollywood Crash
Hairy Leg Stockings Aim to Deflect Male Attention
Inside Kim Kardashian's Premature Labor
Three Charged for Enslaving Mother and Daughter
Spurs' Popovich has no problem with Spurs' intensity
RAW: NSA Director Says 50 Plots Foiled
Paige Butcher Scorches on Hawaii Beach
Video: worst way to load cargo onto a plane
Never-before-seen footage of '08 Times Square bomber
Obama: NSA Secret Data Gathering 'Transparent'
WATCH IT: Lil Wayne tramples American flag
Mariah Carey Looks Beautiful in a Tiny Cut-Out Swimsuit
Out of Control Boat Throws Passengers Overboard
See Lindsay Lohan in Rehab
