>>>>>Sometimes, that can be a blessing!
>>>
>>>>In our case ("The Terrible Ten") it was. That was the number in my senior graduating class.
>>>
>>>What was the prom like? Did you go to a private school?
>>
>>There wasn't one. This was the mid-1960s (1965). Normally, the prom was held at the South Shore Country Club. However, the club had a "whites" only policy. Since we had a couple of black guys in the class (the first ones at the school), this infuriated us and we said, if they can't go there, we won't either, so no prom. And yes, it was a private school. When I started there in the 8th grade, it was the Harvard School for Boys. In my sophomore year, we merged with another private school and became the Harvard-St. George School. Since then, they've gone back to just Harvard School. The school's is still located at 4731 S. Ellis (just north of Hyde Park). Among its more noted alumni are Edgar Rice Burroughs and either Leopold or Loeb (I can't remember which) from the Bobby Sacks murder ("Complusion").
>
>I remember hearing a bit about the school when I was in Hyde Park, but I don't recall it.

Not surprising. I didn't know anything about it when I was 12 either, and I lived less than 10 blocks from it. All of a sudden my parents sent me there.

>I'm sure that was a prom (or non-prom) to remember. When you think back, it's pretty incredible the kinds of ruptures we went thru at that time. I followed you by 5 years. Vietnam was more the topic of our day. I remember having a passionate discussion with adults after the Democratic National Convention of 68 in Chicago. At the time, I was visiting relatives in New Jersey. It was really a frightening experience to see militia dressed in riot gear in beloved Chicago tear gassing and beating people who were only a couple years older than I, who had, ostensibly, come in the name of peace.

I remember those days well. Can even recall smelling the tear gas on folks that had been at Grant Park. Hyde Park was pretty unusual for the time. The PBS show "Making Sense of the '60's" stated that the counter-culture and the political activists of the time didn't mix. In Hyde Park they did.

I used to hang around and work at a place called the Medici Coffeehouse, which was located in the back of the Green Door Bookstore on 57th St. between Blackstone and Harper. I guess I don't have to tell you my political views at the time.< s >

>The thought just occured to me how television was an influence, and I think largely a positive one, in all that. We were the first generation that took our moral clues not only from our parents and community, but the values -- simplistic as they may seem today -- from the likes of Ozzie and Harriet, Dick Van Dyke, and so on.

Not only that, but we got to see a real, live war on TV.
>>
>>>>>My best lit teacher in grammar and high school was in 7th grade. She was an incredible motivator. She was big on working in groups. In one of her sections, she had us reading 19th and 20th century lit. My group got "existentialism." <g> I made it thru Camus' Plague. One of my friends had Kafka's Castle -- never did finish it, I think he got lost in the labyrinth. We each presented a book report on our assigned book. Of course, our favorite project was doing a newspaper. My team did "The Mafia Informer" and had a lot of fun with that.
>>>
>>>>Mine was the lit teacher, headmaster and senior advisor. We first got him for lit in my sophomore year (and had him for junior and senior years as well). The only way I can describe him is as an existential ex-Green Beret (which he was). He was the one that introduced all of this literature: Satre, Kafka, Dostoyesky (sp?), Kant, Gide, Camus, Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, etc. In retrospect, I find it hard to believe that we read all that we did.
>>>
>>>And we wonder why the 60's happened???
>>
>>Weren't they both wonderful and horrible at the same time?< s >
>>
>
>Yeah. And, I wouldn't miss a second if I had to do it over again.
>

Neither would I.

>>>>>>>You know, I've heard that stream of unconsciousness of Bill Faulkner, too, so, there you go in that Southern novelist mode. <g>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>Hopefully, not in "As I Lay Dying."< bg >
>>>>>
>>>>>Sound and Fury?
>>>>
>>>>Much better.:-)
>>>
>>>As you like it!
>>>
>>Don't shake that spear at me!:-)
>
>Oh, it's only a flesh wound %)
>
Shouldn't that be a # of flesh wound.:-)