LUXTON

(orginally posted January 2010…it was in all caps then and it stays that way now…if the caps bother you so much that you don’t absorb what’s being said by them, please leave this place. There are plenty of sites that will welcome you and your “netiquette”)

GOT A VERY ELOQUENT, MATURE PM ASKING WOULD I RECALL AS BEST I COULD SOME VERY EARLY, PRE TELEVISION PORTIONS OF MY LIFE…SO I THOUGHT ABOUT LUXTON SCHOOL…SO MUCH OF THE WORLD SANK IN FOR ME AT LUXTON…

LUXTON…YEAH…LUXTON…THE START OF EVERYTHING…KINDERGARTEN THROUGH GRADE NINE…THE WHOLE THING ON A PLATTER, FROM SMALL TO VERY LARGE. FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN MY MOTHER ARRANGED FOR JOAN CHRISTIENS TO TAKE ME. JOAN LIVED UP THE STREET ABOUT SEVEN HOUSES. SHE WAS A BIT OLDER THAN ME, MAYBE TWO YEARS. SO THERE IT WAS…I WAS TERRIFIED AND MOST KIDS HAD THEIR PARENTS TAKING THEM TO THAT BIG BUILDING FOR THE FIRST DAY BUT MY MOM HAD TO WORK. SO JOAN TOOK ME. ERRIFIED-TAY. CAME HOME CRYING MY EYES OUT AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR…CAN’T REMEMBER EXACTLY WHO WALKED ME HOME, BUT IT HAPPENED. NEXT DAY I TOUGHED IT OUT AND STAYED AND AFTER THAT THINGS SETTLED DOWN. THAT ROOM, WITH ALL THAT BEAUTIFUL YELLOW SUNLIGHT AND THOSE LARGE WINDOWS AND THAT OLD WOODEN UPRIGHT PIANO AND MISS RZAZA…GENTLE, PATIENT, FUN TIME MISS RZAZA (PRONOUNCED CHA-ZA). AND WE HAD SMALL MATS AND WE HAD NAP TIME AND WE HAD SING TIME AND SHE PLAYED THE PIANO AND THERE WERE BOOKS, BUT MOST KIDS COULDN’T READ YET…I COULD, AND I WAS THE ONLY ONE REALLY READING THESE LITTLE THINGS ABOUT BEING A POLICEMAN OR BEING A FIREMAN OR BEING A MAILMAN…NONE OF US HAD EVER SEEN TELEVISION. THIS WAS EITHER 1952 OR 1953. AS GOOD AS MY MEMORY IS, I’LL HAVE TO CHECK THE REPORT CARDS. THE DATES ARE ALL THERE. I’M CURIOUS MYSELF, BECAUSE BEING DRAWN TO TYPE THIS, I’M NOW CURIOUS AS TO HOW MY INTERESTS DEVELOPED DURING THAT CUSP OF THE LAST DAYS EVER WITHOUT TELEVISION. IF YOU’RE MUCH YOUNGER THAN ME, TELEVISION HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN YOUR HOUSE OR YOUR LIFE. WHEN I WAS A LITTLE KID, IT WASN’T. I PLAYED RING TOSS WITH MY MOTHER AND GRANDMOTHER ON AN OLD METAL BOARD IN OUR KITCHEN. WE LISTENED TO THINGS ON THE RADIO…BOMBER GAMES AND ACTUAL RADIO “STORIES”. MY GRANDMOTHER FOLLOWED SOME SERIES ON THE RADIO ABOUT “MA PERKINS”… IT ALL TOOK PLACE IN A BOARDING HOUSE AND MY GRANDMA TOTALLY IDENTIFIED WITH THE OLDER LADY CHARACTER IN THE SERIES…HOW SHE “LOOKED AFTER THE YOUNG ONES IN HER HOUSE”…

WE LISTENED TO THE BLUE BOMBERS ON A LITTLE OLD RADIO IN A SMALL BACK SHED SOMETIMES HEATED BEAUTIFULLY BY AN ACTUAL WOOD BURNING STOVE. EVEN IN FORTY BELOW, THAT HOUSE AND THAT LITTLE BACK SHED WERE WARM AND ALWAYS SEEMED JUST PERFECT TO ME. FOR A LONG TIME I THOUGHT WE WERE CHURCHMOUSE-POOR…WHEN I GREW UP A BIT MENTALLY, I REALIZED HOW GOOD THINGS HAD BEEN FOR ME AS A LITTLE KID WITHOUT A DAD…IT ALL SEEMS PERFECT NOW AS I RECALL. I KNOW BAD THINGS HAPPENED THROUGH THE YEARS, BUT SOMEHOW I’M DEVELOPING A VERY LOVELY SELECTIVE MEMORY WHICH KIND OF FILTERS OUT ALL THINGS UNHOLY AND ALLOWS ME TO FOCUS ON THE INCREDIBLE GIFTS I’VE BEEN TOSSED THIS TIME ROUND. THAT IN ITSELF IS A PLUS SIDE OF AGING. IT’S NOT ALL BAD CHOCKING UP THE YEARS.

KINDERGARTEN WAS OKAY AFTER ABOUT A WEEK. GREAT FRIENDS, SOME OF WHOM I KNEW WELL INTO MY TEENS…PRETTY SOLID WHEN YOU DON’T MOVE AND THE SAME KIDS ARE AROUND YOU EVERY YEAR AT THE SAME BIG BUILDING. PRETTY SOLID, EVEN WITHOUT A DAD.

AND I WASN’T THE ONLY ONE WITH NO DAD. JIMMY FOSTER ON INKSTER DIDN’T HAVE ON EITHER. WE TALKED ABOUT THAT AND OTHER THINGS LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE.

LUXTON.

I LOOKED AT MY KINDERGARTEN PICTURE NOT LONG AGO AND I NAMED EVERY KID BUT THREE…AND I’VE SEEN SEVERAL OF THEM AS ADULTS…MATTER OF FACT, I DID A FEW SONGS AT A BIG LUXTON REUNION A FEW YEARS AGO AND SOME OF THOSE PEOPLE WERE THERE. ONE OF THE GIRLS FROM MISS RZAZA’S KINDERGARTEN CLASS AND HER OLDER SISTER SHOWED UP. (never did find out if they thought I was any good or not…)

THAT KINDERGARTEN YEAR WAS JUST A BUNCH OF FUN AND GAMES AS I CALL IT BACK NOW FOR SCRUTINY…JUST A LOVELY ROOM FULL OF KIDS AND MISS RZAZA AND THAT PIANO AND THOSE MATS AND THOSE BOOKS AND THAT PRAIRIE SUNSHINE…

SO ON I WENT TO GRADE ONE…AND AT THAT POINT IN TIME, ABOUT NINETY PER CENT OF THE GRADE ONE YEAR CONSISTED OF LEARNING HOW TO READ AND PRINT AND WRITE. WELL RHODA HAD TAUGHT ME TO DO ALL OF THAT LONG BEFORE THIS POINT IN TIME, SO AFTER ABOUT TEN DAYS IN GRADE ONE, THEY DECIDED TO PUT ME IN GRADE TWO. AND I HAD TO LEAVE LOVELY MISS HANEY WHO WAS JUST A SWEETHEART OF A GENTLE YOUNG LADY TO GO TO MISS WILKES…GOOD GRIEF…MISS WILKES…WHAT A TOAD…SHE WAS EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRONG WITH THE SCHOOL SYSTEM AND THE MORES OF THAT ERA. SOME FRUSTRATED OLD SPINSTER WHO LOOKED LIKE THE WITCH IN LITTLE LULU COMICS AND THOROUGHLY ENJOYED HER REIGN OF POWER AND TERROR OVER HER LITTLE FLOCK OF INNOCENTS.

GRANTED, WE WEREN’T ALL “INNOCENTS” ENTIRELY, BUT THIS WOMAN WAS MEAN…JUST PLAINLY PUT…MEAN…THAT’S NOT FAIR TO LITTLE KIDS…(especially to one who’s suddenly a year younger than everyone else in class).

YEAH, WILKES…SHE’S LONG GONE, BUT SHE JUST DIDN’T PLAY WITH A FAIR DECK…JUST PLAIN MEAN…

I TOLD YA BEFORE HOW SHE MERCILESSLY STRAPPED MY FRIEND NORMAN, WHILE WE ALL LISTENED…SHE DRAGGED HIM TO THE BACK INTO THE CLOAKROOM WHERE ALL OUR WINTER COATS WERE AND WHIPPED HIM WITH THIS HUGE RUBBER STRAP AND HE CRIED AND SHRIEKED AND SHE CAME OUTA THERE LIKE THE FUCKIN’ GUY IN MIDNIGHT EXPRESS WHEN HE BEATS WILLIAM HAYES’ BARE FEET AND LOVES EVERY SECOND OF IT. THIS WOMAN SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER HAVE BEEN IN CHARGE OF LITTLE KIDS. TODAY SHE WOULD BE DRAGGED INTO COURT. AHH, WELL…MAYBE SHE’LL COME BACK AS A TERRIBLE ACTRESS WHO NEVER GETS ANY PARTS BUT REALLY BELIEVES WITH ALL HER HEART THAT SHE’S JUST TREMENDOUS CONSEQUENTLY SPENDING HER EVERY WAKING MOMENT IN WANTON REGRET…

LUXTON WAS EVERYTHING. THE BOOKS WE READ IN THOSE FIRST FEW YEARS RESONATE SO MUCH MORE STRONGLY THAN A BOOK TODAY WOULD. WE WERE READING WITHOUT EVER HAVING SEEN TELEVISION. OUR SYNAPS BANKS WEREN’T ALREADY OVER FILLED WITH VISUAL IMAGES. THE ONLY MOVING PICTURES I WAS EVER SEEING WERE AT THE DELUXE THEATRE ON MAIN BETWEEN LANSDOWNE AND MATHESON.

GRADE THREE IS A LITTLE FUZZY. I THINK IT WAS MISS SHELLEY, WHO GOT MARRIED HALFWAY THROUGH AND BECAME MRS BAZANN…YES, THAT’S IT…WE WERE DOWN IN THE BASEMENT THAT YEAR…THAT WAS THE YEAR THEY ASKED ME TO MAJOR WORK CLASSES. I WENT AND ACED THE TESTS, BUT I WOULD HAVE HAD TO GO WAY FAR AWAY TO SOME OTHER SCHOOL. I WANTED TO STAY AT LUXTON, SO I NEVER BOTHERED.

GRADE FOUR WAS MISS HOROSKO. RED HAIR, FAIRLY SOFT VOICE, ALL BUSINESS AS FAR AS TEACHING, BUT NO TERROR…ONCE I SURVIVED OLD LADY WILKES, EVERY OTHER TEACHER WAS LIKE AN ANGEL.

GOOD GRIEF…DON’T GET ME STARTED LIKE THIS…SEE WHAT HAPPENS…?

YOU KNOW, FOLKS, WHEN I SOMETIMES CALL YOU NAMES IN JEST IT’S ONLY FOR COLLOQUIAL EFFECT. I SINCERELY WISH SOME OF YOU WEREN’T SO EASILY MADE UNCOMFORTABLE. IN THIS AGE OF WHO KNOWS WHAT, I REALLY DON’T SEE WHY MY OCCASIONAL CHOICE OF COLLOQUIALISMS SHOULD MAKE ANYONE UNCOMFORTABLE. ANYHOW, I THOUGHT MY LANGUAGE HAD BEEN PRETTY “ON DECK” AS OF LATE…SO DON’T FRET…

AND HERE WE ARE NOW IN TWENNY-TENN, AND THE CLUBHOUSE HAS TRAFFIC COMIN’ AND GOIN’ AT ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT…

THINGS COULD BE A LOT WORSE…

I LIKE THIS PLACE…IT MAKES ME THINK…

PEACE AND COMFORT TO ALL CREATURES…

BLC