You must play
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IympX-lRlyk
One of my favorite sweatshirts in these recent cold days
has been the one I got in Bayfield WI on a vacation
through northern WI some years ago.
....can prevent forest fires.
(chest embroidery. I wore it to the Congo on Xmas eve.)
The Doo Wop Platters song courtesy of the 1950s era
when I went to Waukesha High School
at the old and original WHS,
Below is picture from 1953 yearbook,
The Megaphone.
which is now CENTRAL Middle School
where my friend William from church attends.
That leads today's Raccoon to this poem from
a Writers Almanac offering this week:
Hello Central
I attended a high school whose name was colorless and odorless:
Central
High School. It was called that because it was built in the middle of
town,
so that students could converge on it equidistantly. Then the city
added
other high schools, all named after illustrious men. The students
there
could associate their schools with these figures, but we at Central
could
no longer even associate our school with centrality, since by then
the
city had expanded and become lopsided. The name Central had
become
totally abstract. After sixty years the structure was deemed
inadequate,
and a new Central was built—in the northwest corner of
town—discon-
necting the school's name from its last vestige of
meaning.
In the many times I have returned to my hometown I have never
once
driven out to see the new Central. Instead I cruise past the renovated
old
structure that now is used as an office building. In my mind's eye I
dash
up the steps and into the hallways crowded with students who only
an
hour ago were lost in sleep. I enter room 212 and take my seat at the
back
of the center row and feel the day click into place when the bell rings
and
Miss Quesenbery looks at her roll book, brushes back an errant strand
of
hair, and starts down the alphabet. A rush of anticipation rises in me
as
she approaches my name, and when she says it, I answer "Here" in a
voice
that makes me feel useful, like a brick.
"Hello Central" by Ron Padgett from Collected Poems. ©
Coffee House Press, 2013
BTW,
The class of WHS 1954
is holding its 60th year reunion
later this year!
.......
On Amaryllae
In a recent Raccoon
we commented on a found Amaryllis.
But shortly after that
we got a new and robust Amaryllis
from a friend.
We have that one growing next to
our original bulb.
The original is holding its own
but looks like it will produce
only leaves this year
replenishing iself for maybe blooming
next year.
But wow, now on 1-10-14
the fresh one is about to burst
into bloom!
It has grown rampantly under
the landing skylight.
It looks to me sort of like a
dolphin with an opening mouth.
Within the opening we see red below.
Behind the skyrocketing plant
in our little arboretum area on the landing
is an old enlarged Brownie of me
in my little 'Rosebud' wagon.
My teddy bear rests on his back with me.
Another view.
As we begin a new year
going into our seventh year of raccooning it
we want to recall one of the first Raccoons.
The picture is kind of a museum piece with us
wherever we might go.
Thanks to 1st Cong. church moderator
JO ELLEN MCAVOY
for this dynamic bulb!
(a gift for staffer Dee)
How it looked on 12-24-13!
.......
For my 1954 friends
who read the raccoon,
a bonus tune:
Dig it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSU91SZGvh4
High School. It was called that because it was built in the middle of town,
so that students could converge on it equidistantly. Then the city added
other high schools, all named after illustrious men. The students there
could associate their schools with these figures, but we at Central could
no longer even associate our school with centrality, since by then the
city had expanded and become lopsided. The name Central had become
totally abstract. After sixty years the structure was deemed inadequate,
and a new Central was built—in the northwest corner of town—discon-
necting the school's name from its last vestige of meaning.
In the many times I have returned to my hometown I have never once
driven out to see the new Central. Instead I cruise past the renovated old
structure that now is used as an office building. In my mind's eye I dash
up the steps and into the hallways crowded with students who only an
hour ago were lost in sleep. I enter room 212 and take my seat at the back
of the center row and feel the day click into place when the bell rings and
Miss Quesenbery looks at her roll book, brushes back an errant strand of
hair, and starts down the alphabet. A rush of anticipation rises in me as
she approaches my name, and when she says it, I answer "Here" in a voice
that makes me feel useful, like a brick.
"Hello Central" by Ron Padgett from Collected Poems. ©
Coffee House Press, 2013
BTW,
The class of WHS 1954
is holding its 60th year reunion
later this year!
later this year!
.......
On Amaryllae
In a recent Raccoon
we commented on a found Amaryllis.
But shortly after that
we got a new and robust Amaryllis
from a friend.
We have that one growing next to
our original bulb.
The original is holding its own
but looks like it will produce
only leaves this year
replenishing iself for maybe blooming
next year.
But wow, now on 1-10-14
the fresh one is about to burst
into bloom!
It has grown rampantly under
the landing skylight.
It looks to me sort of like a
dolphin with an opening mouth.
Within the opening we see red below.
Within the opening we see red below.
Behind the skyrocketing plant
in our little arboretum area on the landing
is an old enlarged Brownie of me
in my little 'Rosebud' wagon.
My teddy bear rests on his back with me.
Another view.
As we begin a new year
going into our seventh year of raccooning it
we want to recall one of the first Raccoons.
The picture is kind of a museum piece with us
wherever we might go.
Thanks to 1st Cong. church moderator
JO ELLEN MCAVOY
for this dynamic bulb!
(a gift for staffer Dee)
How it looked on 12-24-13!
.......
For my 1954 friends
who read the raccoon,
a bonus tune:
Dig it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSU91SZGvh4
who read the raccoon,
a bonus tune:
Dig it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSU91SZGvh4
