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Dear
Matt,
Thank you so much for writing all of your wonderful memories
for the rest of us to share! I truly look forward to each new chapter!
The latest entry, regarding school assemblies, really
hit close to home. I attended P.S. 39 and later P.S. 104. It is the Friday
assemblies that I most remember. We also had to wear white. As we filtered
into the auditorium, there were people who inspected us to see whether
we were properly attired. If not, you were pulled out of line and sent
to the office. It was regarded as close to committing a sin, if you didn't
dress correctly. There were always extra clothes that were lent out and
a parent was notified. How embarrassing!
Also, I got in trouble for talking to my friend during
assembly. To this day, I remember how we were yanked out of our seats
and put on opposite sides of the last row of the auditorium. How humiliating!
My friend Anna and I argued over the whole thing all the way home.
Once again, thank you for taking us on a trip through
our past.
Roz Cohn (FRHS class of 1969)
July 16, 2010
Hello Roz,
Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me and sharing some
of your own personal recollections of your youth.
You spoke of assembly-code dress inspections and if I remember correctly,
my age group was also subjected to that visual examination. We had to
line up outside of the classrooms on Wednesday mornings (our assembly
day) and the teachers walked up and down the hall, determining whether
or not any individual student was "up to par." However, back
in those days in P. S. 215, we were not given the option of donning "borrowed"
apparel -- but if incorrect dressed, we were sent to the the library for
that particular segment of the day. I was the type of kid who "simply
gave-in" to the system and I was always dressed appropriately so
I would not know if the school called parents to inform them that their
offspring were not prepared on assembly day.
Frankly, even though the assembly period was an ungraded time in the weekly
program, and although I appreciated the fact that for even that brief
a moment I didn't have to "think of schoolwork" -- I never looked
forward to Wednesday mornings. I had an incident in fifth grade which
kinda soured me on the whole process. I was the shortest in my grade and
my teacher decided I would be perfect for a part in a play which she had
been assigned (for her class) to present to an assembly. The topic was
"Young George Washington" and it was supposed to be a dream
sequence. I was suppose to be a little boy sitting in bed and dreaming;
my mother (played by yet another fifth grade student) would be reading
me a story about the American Revolution and then I would "fall asleep"
and the characters would appear on stage before me. Of course, it was
mostly speeches.
I had never been in a school play before and I didn't know what "stage
fright" was -- but this teacher was so relentless in her dedication
to this project that she soon had me humiliated in my own performance
and that was during early rehearsals and so I finally "quit"
the play before final presentation and she had to replace me with a much
more mature-appearing child -- and that teacher never allowed me to forget
how I had "let her down." And it is incidents like this that
somehow seem to shape our lives!
So, I understand completly how you felt about being "singled out"
in your own auditorium experience and made to sit in an assigned seat
at the rear -- much to the amusement of the others. Children can be so
cruel!!
Thanks again for writing! If you continue to read the chapters of my autobiography,
I DO hope you continue to enjoy what I relate.
Matthew Bashie
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