Being a bit of a history fan I’ve always thought that things like this were fun to see. There’s the inherent difficulty in doing them, though, that whole separation of time thing.
Opportunity recently presented itself!
My son is on the high school robotics team. 2010 was a pretty good year for FRC Team 25 (Raider Robotix) and the team was honored by the Board of Education at their public meeting last week. The BofE administration building is a repurposed school building – the very building where I attended kindergarten through 3rd grade.
The first shot was taken in the spring of 1963, making me a 2nd grader. It had to be morning, before the start of the school day – the long shadows (I’m squinting into the sun) and everyone’s headed toward the entrance not visible around the corner. What do you think of the collared shirt? The corduroy pants? And how ’bout that sweater? Those really aren’t saggy mini-man-boobs; I was a skinny little twerp and nothing ever fit me right. Yeah, Mom really did make me dress that way. The white thing by my left hand could be a bandage on my thumb but I can’t recall.
The second shot was taken May 19, 2010, some 47 years later. The stone/gravel covered playground (a serious no-no these days, so unsafe for the kiddies) is a parking lot, now some 4 inches higher to the building and contributing to run-off and local flooding. You can’t see the area in the earlier shot, but the steel stairs (as well as the door they lead to) are add-ons, as is the electrical conduits and lighting fixtures atop the building. See the lower roof visible on the right of the shot? The ability to kick one of those ubiquitous red inflatable balls onto the rooftop was a right of passage that would get you props from your peers back in 1963 – and a reprimand from an adult. I’ve been shaving the noggin for about 13 years now, and I’m wearing my customary Levi 501s, heavy silver rings and a wallet chained to my belt. That’s not my cracker box car behind me; the tail light of my Ford truck’s partly visible on the right.
The third shot – self explanatory. I wanted to see the faces side by side. And now I understand the look on my face there as a youngster: I wasn’t squinting – I had a flash of future insight and read this post! The tiny voice calls across the ages, “Don’t do it!!!” Too late.
Just remembered, I still have that MM booklet for you, speaking of local history an’ all.
Actually, it is titled to me. The others, too, except for the Deluxe. I made sure they titled that to her. Yup, all she owns – on paper, anyway – is a bike!
Oh, yeah — does Pam know you called that *your* truck? Guess not; you’re still standing upright. :-)
Wait! You’ve been in 2d grade for 47 years? Shouldn’t you get time off for bad behavior and seniority?
Yeah, paved school yards. Seems to me I skidded enough knees off pants and skinned enough knees; why can’t today’s wimpy kids survive that? Oh, yeah — Mommies and Daddies have lawyers to bankrupt the town for hurting their little precious.
Boy, do I relate to the skinny kid that no clothes ever fit right. Now I have an hemispherical impact protector over my six-pack abs, and nothing fits again — only now in the other direction!