Back to School

DEBORAH CROMBIE: My little granddaughter started kindergarten last week. Oh, my, what a rite of passage that is! Do you remember your very first day of school? For me it was first grade, as we didn't have public kindergarten in my town in those days. I was an anxious kid anyway, so I was terrified. But it was exciting, too, and the most exciting part was getting school supplies. Number two pencils. Ruler. Scissors with blunt tips. Elmer's Glue and a box of crayons with that lovely waxy smell. Big Chief tablets and colored construction paper. A pencil case, oh joy, and art gum erasers. And last but not least, the lunchbox! (Branding was already underway.) We were ready to conquer the world!

 

 

Wren's school supply list was a lot more complicated, and her lunch box is a bento box, not a metal one with The Flintstones. But I'm sure she felt the same sense of promise and adventure, and I"m convinced that geeky kids who love school supplies never grow out of it. Some of us may even have grown up to be writers.

What about you, REDS? Any first day of school recollections? And what was your favorite part of the school supplies?

JENN McKINLAY: Fall was always my favorite season growing up in New England, because even though I was no scholar, I LOVED the social aspect of school. Uber extrovert - that’s me. School supplies are awesome! I still love buying a fresh clean notebook to jot down ideas and I love pencils and erasers. I was a weirdo when it came to the lunchbox, however. I passed over the Scooby Doo and Wonder Woman plastic boxes in favor of a metal red plaid lunch box. I still love plaid and I would still love that lunchbox if i had it. 

 

DEBS: I love plaid, too, Jenn, and would have coveted that lunch box. I saw one just like you described on Pinterest--maybe you could find one! 

HALLIE EPHRON: Oh my goodness do I remember the annual visit to the stationery store - an extinct creature today? Or Woolworths. See extinct. Buying such useful items as reinforcements. To be sure those precious pages would never come loose from my notebook. 

And that first day coming home after school making subject labels for the notebook dividers. Though I don’t think lunchboxes had been invented yet (no memory of anybody having book bags or backpacks, either), or at least I never had one. Just brought my lunch in a paper bag and bought milk (chocolate please) at school. 

The big deal for me was what to wear. Usually it was a plaid pleated skirt and white blouse (tucked in, of course) and shoes, oh the shoes had to be black flats or penny loafers with white socks. Oh, and where to sit. My favored spot , second row from the left, third seat back.

 

DEBS: Woolworth, Hallie! And we had M. E. Moses Five and Dime here in Texas, too. And as for the clothes, here's a photo I found of a class in 1959--

 

 Look at the shoes, and the dresses! And here's Wren's classroom on her first day--

 

I would certainly choose the modern classroom! And the clothes! Wren is wearing jeans and tennis shoes.

RHYS BOWEN: having grown up in England I never experienced the joys of shopping for school supplies or new clothes. Uniforms. And the school supplied all notebooks etc. And we ate in the dining hall   But Hallie reminded me of arriving early that first day to make sure I got the best seat. Second from the back, row beside the window! I could look out AND it was beside the radiator! ( my school was freezing cold). 

 

I remember being excited each year because each year came with more privileges: this table at lunch, use this play area etc until one day I was a prefect with a study. Privacy. Brilliant.

 

DEBS: So interesting, Rhys, and so different.

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh I loved school and I loved going back to school every year. Like you Debs, I was an anxious girl, not an outgoing socialite like our Jenn! So I’m sure I was nervous too, but I only remember the excitement of the teacher assignments. Did we get someone whom everyone loved? That’s what I mostly remember. And I can remember some cute dresses like a dropped waist brown plaid dress with a white collar, that I’d still love today LOL. There was some angst my first year because my parents wanted to be sure that I knew how to spell my name. So either it had to be Bobbie, which was easier but not very accurate, or learn how to spell Roberta. I always had my older sister Sue on the bus with me, so I’m sure that helped all along the way. Our grandchildren seem to love nursery school and pre-K, so that is great news. It would be hard to know how to help a child who did not like school!

 

And PS, I suspect my seat was always up front because I couldn’t see very well. I think I finally got my glasses in fifth grade and suddenly things were much clearer!

 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I had a lot of first-day-at-the-new-school moments, since we were in the military and moved around a lot from post to post. I think I really began to enjoy the start of the school year after we got out - I only went to two high schools, the last for three years, so I felt I belonged. 

 

My sister and I always got new outfits as teens, and I can remember spending what feels retrospectively like weeks going from sale to sale in August. My mother had a set budget, and the more things you could find that had been marked down, the more shirts/shoes/sweaters you could have! Like everyone else, I still love the new school supplies - paper and notebooks and organizers and pencils and pens. Honestly, September feels as much like a fresh start as January does.  

 

Oh, and Rhys, I'm sorry you didn't get the fun of new clothes, but as the mother of three kids who went to parochial schools, I say, "Thank God for uniforms!" They make it so easy for parents... 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:I loved going back to school. With three ring binders, and yes, reinforcements which you had to lick, and I’m not quite sure why they mattered, but it seemed so organized. What to wear, yikes, so critical, I remember in eighth grade or so...a black and white wool houndstooth skirt and a red crewneck sweater,which looked great, but the first day of school it was like, 80 degrees and I insisted on wearing it anyway. Oh, and whether your tennis shoes had to be shoe-polished white or completely scuffy--the cool people decided that, and we all followed. Same with whether you put a penny or a dime in your loafers--one way was acceptable, the other was a signal that you were out of it.

 

Then there was the first day when I was almost late because the night before, our cat Mrs. Purdy had kittens in my closet.

 

And sign of the horrible times, my grandson had his first day at college Friday, and turned out his roommate was NOT VACCINATED! His parents went politely nuts, and he got moved. (And yes, the school has a vaccine mandate.)

 

DEBS: Oh, Hank, that's terrible. But at least his school has a mask mandate. Wren's does not, and she is the only child in her class (and one of the few kids in her school) wearing one. Teacher is not masked either. 

 

A last hug from Mom on Wren's first day!
 

READERS, what are your first day of school memories? And are you still school supply geeks?

Try to Remember The Kind of September

"To the uneducated, an A is just three sticks."
***A. A. Milne



HANK: It's that time again! Don't you long to buy some pencils? And perfect, clean notebooks? Dividers and folders and things with tabs and maybe a protractor or two?

New school supplies was always such a treat for me. A new notebook, with the three-hole-punched paper all put in and ready to go, always felt like there were endless possibilities for wonderful things to come. And new school clothes! Wonderful.

I went to grade school in fairly rural Indiana. We took a big yellow school bus, and had to wait for it at the end of our driveway.

I remember one year, back to school was after Labor Day, not like now. And though it was September, it could stll be really hot. Nevertheless, I had a new beautiful red sweater and a new beautiful black and white houndstooth skirt. And I insisted on wearing it.

No, Mom said. It's too hot. NO, I said, it isn't! So I decided to sneak wearing it, not come out of the bathroom til the very last moment so there wouldn't be time to change. I was so clever at age 12 or so.

SO I put my plan into action. The first bad news, I brushed my teeth with the sweater on, and got toothpaste on the front. Grr. I dabbed it off, leaving a washcloth-y damp spot onthe red. It'll dry, it'll dry, I told myself.

Then Mom yelled--the bus is here! It's EARLY! RUN!

So I leaped out the door, hightailing it down our gravel driveway. And, I splatted. Big time.

The bus pulled away. Mom (VERY UNHAPPY) had to drive me and my bloody knees to school in the car. Late on day one. My skirt was shredded, so I had to change clothes.

Sigh. Where did you go to grade school? Any memorable first days?

RHYS: Not the greatest memories of my early school years. I went to five schools by the age of ten, because my parents couldn't make up their minds which was best for me. I was a sickly kid (little wonder with two parents who smoked and coal fires that I had bronchitis all the time. Duh!) so they sent me to outdoorsy schools they'd heard about. But it's hard always being new. I went to boarding school, loved it, but my parents missed me.

Came home. Went to outdoorsy school. The cook's daughter was allowed to attend free. We were eight she was twelve and she bossed us around. Nobody thought to say, "Hey, you're the cook's daughter. Shut up." So she made my life miserable because I was new. Then I went to local school. Big rough farm kids used to challenge me to all kinds of physical activities. I lost, of course. They laughed.

And the worst first day of all. The teacher lost her cool and said nobody may leave their seat for any reason. I needed to pee, badly, but I was a good little girl and sat there until I wet my pants. Everyone laughed.

So you see all the angst that has to come out in my writing!

JAN: Ah, Hank the days of protractors are no more. My most recent back-to -school shopping memories are of having to spring for a $200 plus calculator, yet again, because one of my kids lost it the year before. My daughter feels the way you do about school supplies though, Hank, and she gets excited every September buying those fresh notebooks and starting with that new slate.

I went to School #2 in Clifton, New Jersey, which was about a block and a half from my house. My aunt Clare had been a teacher there, so I had an "in" with some of the teachers! My favorite was 3rd grade: Mrs. Payson! I wanted Mrs. Lemkeul for fourth grade because she was one of my aunts best friends - but I got Mrs. Adams instead and we spent half the school year making paper mache puppets and putting on Punch and Judy. I got to be Judy (I told you I had an in with the teachers!!)

ROBERTA: I loved school, once I got the hang of it. My parents told me I had to be able to print my name before I started, so I learned BOBBIE because no one ever thought I'd manage Roberta. So that I stayed until after college.

HANK: I was thinking--that's odd. Roberta is only one letter longer. Then I realized, oh. Different letters. So cute to think of our Roberta learning letters!

ROBERTA: I also remember going up to the first grade teacher to ask how you spelled "alot." It took 3 tries before I understood it was two words. Now why would that memory stick with me so long? The underlying humiliation is all I can guess. But Rhys, you sure had it worse! My family did move when I was starting 6th grade--that was traumatic, so I can't imagine all the moves you made! I had a brand new pair of saddle shoes, which were totally out of style in Michigan. The kids called me "the cow".

ROSEMARY: School supplies - still love them. They're so full of possibilities.

In first grade I went to Sacred Heart in Brooklyn for two months and then we moved and I was unable to start another parochial school midstream. Thank goodness. They were the worst two months of my academic life. I remember them vividly. I hated the nuns, got smacked on my hands with a ruler for snitching that the kid next to me stole my cookies (!) and was generally miserable. Plus, those uniforms - pleats that start at your waist?

HANK: Who designed those things? The same poeple who thought up the red gyms jumpsuits with the snaps. Auggh.

ROSEMARY: After we moved, I went to PS 119 where my first grade teacher was the lovely Mrs. Martha Jaffee. She couldn't possibly have smoked in our classroom but she was very slim, frequently stood with her hand on her hip and the only thing missing was a cigarette or a cocktail shaker. She looked thoroughly louche and I imagined her going home to her husband and saying things like "I'd love to kiss you but I just washed my hair." Even at a young age I had quite an imagination. I loved public school.

HALLIE: This is fascinating. Bobbie?! Who knew? And Hank in elementary school (and stll!) in a black-white-red ensemble. Ro at parochial school? Now there's an image. Rhys, breaking my heart. And Jan, the last one I'd ever thought would have been a goody-goody teachers' pet.

Yes, I confess to a deep passion for school supplies (it's why I love going to Staples). I adored that first day, writing labels on the notebook dividers and putting paper between them in my three-ring binder. Day one, super organized. By day two, couldn't find a thing.

What I remember is meeting Leland Moss on the first day at El Rodeo elementary school and going home with him to play boss (him) and secretary (me). What can I tell you? How things have changed! Later we put on plays in his backyard that he wrote and directed (with help from his mother Thelma (Schnee) Moss, a screenwriter). Lee went on to be a huge talent as a writer, director, and actor, and died young of AIDS, one of a lost generation of theater talent.

HANK: Boss and secretary???? That is incredibly--well, we grew up in Mad Men days, right? Roberta and Rhys...wow. So, Reds, where did you go to grade school? Did you love it? Any first day stories?

ON BACK TO SCHOOL

When the student is ready, the master appears.

~Buddhist Proverb

HANK: Sigh. With September approaching, and Labor Day, for heaven's sake., I keep thinking I should be out buying new notebooks (after finding out via Linda Katzenberger whether this year the cool ones are spiral bound with three rings, or five rings, or separate folders)

and new penny loafers (after finding out from Sue Marling whether they're supposed to be shiny and with a penny in the slot, or scuffy and with no penny.).

Linda Barnes described this week how she sent her son off to college--another turning point at summer's end.

I remember my first day as a freshman in High School. I was so excited. Here's a picture of me--but this might have the next year. Hard to tell. Post-Vidal Sassoon, obviously, anyway.

I really wanted to wear my new black and white hound's-tooth wool skirt, and my new red crewneck sweater with a white oxford underneath. It was a great outfit.My Momn said I couldn't wear it--with the absurd reason that it was 90 degrees outside. (Indiana in September.)

I insisted. It was my new school outfit, and this was my new school. I was going to wear it, come hell or high water.

What came, was something else. The alarm went off Tuesday morning. But then, I heard another weird sound. My cat, Mrs. Purdy, chose that moment to give birth to kittens. In my closet!

No, that wasn't foreshadowing. It was weird and goopy in there, but my skirt was fine. (The kittens were fine, too. F Scott and Zelda. Another story.)

But I didn't remember to brush my teeth until after I got dressed. And my red sweater soon had

a big slash of white Crest dribbled down the front.

I changed clothes. Mom wins again.

Your first day of high school? College? Can you remember?