My Junior High School

I went to junior high school in Somerville, Mass. from 1968 to 1971, and it was a barrel of fun. Male substitute teachers would claim to be crazed Vietnam vets so that kids wouldn't start any crap in class. The student body was once shown an anti-marijuana documentary narrated by Sonny Bono, a laugh riot in which a kid tries pot for the first time and hallucinates as if he's eaten acid. Of couse, this led to a spike in cannabis use.

I was one of the little four-eyed kids who took Latin. Our tribe was subjected to extortion attempts by boys who later went to the vocational high so that they could have access to burglary tools. "All I find, all I keep," they used to say during shakedowns. I was kicked in the shin by one of them once, but I never coughed up any dough. Although being without funds would have been a good excuse to decline the American Chop Suey that seemed to be served every day in the cafeteria.

One morning our phys-ed teacher, a locally famous ex-jock, sat us in the gymnasium bleachers and sang his own cover of, "Is That All There Is?" I don't know if he was stoned or channeling Peggy Lee, but it was precious.