Moments of Fame

I take ideas for blogging from other people like Christy and Rena, who posted about the times in their youth when they were in the newspaper.

I was in the St. Thomas Daily News (a Pulitzer Prize winning paper) a total of four times.

This is me in 1966 accepting those pearls for catching that barracuda.

In the summer of 1969 I was a volunteer in a summer school program working with elementary kids. The little blurb that went with the pictures reads as follows:
“Caribbean Summer House activities are being enjoyed by 210 children in the Savan area this year, with average attendance of 185. Co-sponsoring the program with the V. I. Youth Commission is Pastor Ronald D. Lokhorst, of St. Thomas [Dutch] Reformed Church. Other scenes show tots and teens happily engaged in courses which emphasized reading, arts and crafts, music, and recreation. Privately supported by gifts, the project received half of funding from the Community Chest. The five-weeks project ends Aug. 15.”

Here’s the group. I am 3rd from the left, front row. Note buffalo sandals. I was the only local volunteer. All the other kids came down from the states.

In this picture I am the white head to the left working with a group of kids in the reading class. That summer was also memorable because all of us went to a house that had a TV and we watched the Moon Landing.

In 1970 there was an inter-scholastic Speech Arts Festival in which five schools competed. I think one of my proudest moments was when I won first place in the poetry reading contest. What, you might ask did I read? Actually I “read” it from memory; “The Stolen Child,” by William Butler Yeats. If you can’t pick me out I’m the one towering over the other two. That’s a little jingle bell around my neck. That little tiny mini-skirt was in shades of orange and was one that my mother made. I’m surprised my school let me wear it since we were hosting the affair.

The fourth time I was in the paper was as part of a group shot with my senior class as we were getting ready to leave on our Senior Class Trip, which I wrote about here, and where a picture has already been posted.

Ahh, trips down memory lane. Ain't they a hoot?

Senior High Picture Challenge

Rena and some other bloggers had put out the challenge to post your senior high picture. I had to scan this out of my 1970 yearbook, that's why it looks so grainy. What you can't see is the acne...which I had pretty bad. (Rhyming not intended.)Those credits next to your name? Mine read:

Girl's Sports I: I was on the winning football team in 9th grade. Granted we only played one game against one school but we won it hands down. The "league" was disbanded because the mother's of the girls from the other participating school decided it was too rough a sport for their girls to be playing.

Miss A. S. P. S 2nd Runner Up I: That stands for All Saints Parish School. Dad always thought it was appropriate that we were called asps. I played my guitar and sang a song. Can't for the life of me remember which one or what possessed me to compete against the popular girls. I remember being terrified. I was surprised to make 2nd Runner Up, but then...there were like only four girls going for the title!

Yearbook III, Copy Editor IV: Which I wrote about recently in A Writer's Journey.

Mixed Chorus II: I should have sung every year in the choir but I didn't.

Student Council II, IV: In my senior year the Student Council was responsible for changing uniform requirements, loosing them up a bit; like being able to wear sneakers or something other than loafers or tie shoes (we were never ever allowed to wear sandals) and no socks. And girls were given the option of wearing solid forest green or green plaid skirts. Unfortunately for us senior girls plaid skirts didn't become an option until the following year.

To this day I have never worn a forest green skirt. That said, I think uniforms would solve a lot of problems in public schools. All the kids in all the public schools in the islands wear uniforms. Each school has its own color. A person can immediately tell where a kid goes to school by the uniform he or she is wearing. Also a uniform eliminates the problem of kids competing for status through their clothes. Rich and poor are wearing the same thing which starts everyone out on a more level playing field. No designer labels, no obvious second-hand/thrift shop clothes. Also, it's cheaper for parents. Three or four pairs of pants/skirts, five or six shirts/blouses and you're set for the school year. Makes sense to me.


PS: The pearls are mine. They are real cultured pears. I won them them in the 1966 Annual Fourth of July Fishing Tournament for "best girl angler." I caught an 11 1/2 pound barracuda. Got my picture in the paper and everything.