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01/18/2005: "Bitter memories part 1"
Does anyone ever look back on their elementary school days and wonder about things?
One memory I have that leaves me scratching my head is from the first grade. I've always been more comfortable sitting with my legs curled up under my body instead of with my feet flat on the floor; I'm not sure what it is, but I feel restless unless I'm curled up like a cat. Back in elementary school, we had desks that were adjustable in height; the teacher had to turn the desk upside down and use a metal tool to move the desk legs to different notches. Kids were always competitive about the height of their desk and bragged when they shot up in height and got to have their desk adjusted.
One day, my teacher noticed that I was sitting with my legs under my butt. For some reason, she decided that A) this was a bad thing, and B) this meant that my desk was too high for me. She proceeded to make my desk much shorter, which pissed me off. Not only was I now lacking in bragging rights, but I could no longer fit my legs under my body since the desk was so low.
What was that all about? Was there really anything wrong with me sitting that way? This is the same teacher who pissed me off by announcing that for our Thanksgiving celebration, girls would dress as pilgrims and boys would dress as Indians. At the time, I was obsessed with Tiger Lily from Peter Pan (my parents had the Broadway production on tape for me, and I watched it over and over - I was most disappointed when I saw the Disney version where Tiger Lily was silent and very not cool) so I was determined that I should be an Indian too. I still have the campaign letter that I wrote the teacher explaining that I would not, in any way, be a pilgrim. She eventually let me, but I think my defiance confused her.
I can't be too mad at that teacher though, since she was my ally in getting books from the library - which is another story for another time.
Replies: 1 Comment
I can so picture that. :D Do you have pictures of this? I must see! hehehemelantha, Tuesday, January 18th