Something both painful and laughable at the same time: my 6th grade class photo. I was 11 years old. My best friend was Claire (red dress, upper left) and we were both boy-crazy. Problem was... SHE pretty much always got the boys! There were two in our class she liked that year (I won't point out which ones and they ALL have bad hair, but then again that was the 70's). I remember she had one boy's ID bracelet (the 6th grade 1970's equivalent of "going steady") and one day she and I went for a walk in the alfalfa field near our house. She picked some alfalfa and then tossed it away, sort of absentmindedly -- and the ID bracelet went FLYING in the air, landing yards away in a sea of green vegetation. We trampled half the alfalfa field looking for it until the farmer saw us and came out to yell at us and chase us away (he asked for our names so he could call our parents, and we gave him fake ones!) We never did find that ID bracelet and she had to explain it to her boyfriend.
On the other hand while I rarely "got" the boy I wanted (a pattern that started when I was 10 and continued until I was, uh, like 46) I think I TOTALLY had the cutest outfit in this picture... and the best footwear. Another thing I recall about this time in my life at school was that this was the first year the school ALLOWED girls to wear PANTS to school. But they had to be nice pants, and no blue jeans.
Only I look a little like Wednesday Addams in this photo; jeez, did they tell us NOT to smile and say "cheese"? Most of us look clinically depressed.
At least I remember really liking my teacher that year. It must be a tough job, corralling 24 pre-pubescent brats with attitude problems, but Mr. Janon seemed to know how to do it and still keep a smile on his face most of the time. FYI my sister now teaches 1st grade at this same school; and I'll bet that wall in the school entrance is still painted that same institutional green.
Photo scan courtesy of former classmate Sean D., middle row, 4th from the left.
