My 20th college reunion is this May, but I remember very, very little of my college experience. I don’t remember many people, professors, or classes. I have to reach deep to remember names, even with the professors and students I truly liked. Most of the time I draw a blank. I don’t know why this is, but my token excuse is that I had a serious college boyfriend all four years. Too serious, not good for me. I remember three friends from college, and one of them is planning the 20 year reunion.
The boyfriend excuse seems solid, because high school is equally a blur once I hit senior year, the year I was finally allowed to wear makeup and have a boyfriend. But, unlike college, I remember a lot of it and have loads of friends from high school–at least on Facebook. I planned our 20th high school reunion with one of my closest friends, and in doing that connected with people I was once too shy to even look in the eyes. If any of you think I’m a socially awkward hermit now…well. You don’t even know!
Elementary school is an entirely different story. People often cringe when I mention that I went to a Catholic school up until college. “I’m so sorry,” they say. They ask me if the uniforms bothered me, if the nuns beat me, if the priests attacked the children, if I always felt guilty, and if my education suffered.
No. No to all of it. I loved my Catholic school education. I loved that the uniforms made us all the same, down to the shoes, and took away the stress of fitting in. Nowadays, the kids express themselves with their shoes. You can tell a lot about a child’s socioeconomic status just by looking at their feet, but back then, we all wore Buster Brown Mary Janes or Oxfords. By the mid 80s we were super cool in our Keds.
The nuns, especially my principal, Sr. Celeste, were all wonderful. The priests were nice, but I was always too shy to pay them much attention and back then, they were much more formal. Confession was stressful, but mostly it was a time to place bets to see how many Our Father’s and Hail Mary’s John M. would get. Not enough, apparently, because I just spent 30 minutes Googling him and I think he’s in jail. These days, Mikey and Nico joke around with their school priests and I sometimes pick them up Starbucks. We text.
I never felt guilty about anything–though the Catholic guilt joke is fun–and my education was fine, thanks. Maybe I lucked out with my Catholic school? If so, I’m glad.
Unlike college and high school, I remember the teachers from elementary school. That’s my librarian, Mrs. Green, standing fourth from the left. She always wore dress suits with pumps and nude nylons. Always. There was sometimes a broach on her lapel. Her hair was blonde and wispy, and in my head I remember it tall, like a beehive, but I think it was just Aqua-Netted to a crispy finish. She was serious, somewhat stern, and never let us check out books above our reading level. Silence was absolutely golden. Her name was Mrs. Green but she always, and I mean always, wrote in a red pen. There are still cards in the library with her precise, Palmer Method cursive in red.
My 1st and 4th grade teacher were one and the same, which was great for me because she loved me to bits. My 3rd grade teacher taught us how to sing the alphabet backwards, which I can still do to this day. I consider that and my ability to raise one eyebrow my crowning achievements in life. My 5th grade teacher gave me a hug every morning because I was so anxious about school. My 7th grade teacher pushed me to work to my potential and my 8th grade teacher was the first one to ever say out loud what I would one day discover for myself: it’s possible to achieve at everything except maintaining a healthy weight. I don’t remember much about my 2nd grade teacher and I would not be surprised in the least if you told me my 6th grade teacher answered to the name Screwtape. Nothing is perfect.
I went to the funeral of my kindergarten aide in January and wasn’t surprised to hear her two daughters were teachers. Teaching seems to be a career choice that passes through families like brown eyes or red hair. What surprised me is when the oldest daughter asked those of us who remembered their 1st teacher to stand. Everyone stood up, of course. She said, “You always remember your first teacher and your best teacher.” You remember your worst, too, but that’s besides the point. (Screwtape!)
That thought has stuck with me ever since. I remember my first teacher and I remember my best teacher and I remember my librarian with her teal knit dress suits, nude nylons, and ever-present red pen. When people ask me why I am willing to volunteer so much of my time and money to the school, I can admit that at least a little part of me wants to be remembered. The idea that I could make a small difference to even one child keeps me showing up. Well, that and the books. I doubt I’d be Super Volunteer if I was the lunch lady.
I’m shameless in my quest to insert myself in the memories of the kids. Remembering Mrs. Green’s red pens, I started asking the Mister to bring back tourist pens from everywhere he traveled. He has, and they’re what the kids use in the library. Dallas, Texas; Arizona; Denmark; New York; Las Vegas–and Monica recently sent me two from Germany! I have them out next to the globe (Target) and when the little ones check out their books I say, “Where do you want to go today?” and they pick a pen. Then, I have them look for the state/country on the globe. A lot of the kids pick Las Vegas, which kills me.
Years from now, a guy will tell his kids a cautionary tale about the librarian who loved books and kids more than anything–except gambling. She had a desk full of Las Vegas pens, so obviously she had a problem.
Would you like me to send you some pens from Ireland?
I would love that, thank you!! I have a PO Box you can use. I’ll email you right now! :)
I’m based in Kuwait and travel the region for work. I’d love to send you pens from around the Middle East.
Btw, I’m almost amazed by how gripping your writing is considering how different our lives are. (Childfree, living in short-term rentals, of a completely different religious/cultural background.)
Ooooh, I would love, love, love that! I’ll email you my mailing information. :)
p.s. Thank you for the nice words on my writing. I’m glad we can connect, even though our lives are different right now. :)
Brace yourself–I see we’re all thinking the same thing . . . ‘let’s see, from whence can we send a pen to Jules.’ It’s going to be AWESOME! On that note, let me know if there’s anywhere in particular you’re looking for–I’m pretty sure your readers have you covered, but I do have friends/family in far flung corners.
Years from now you’ll easily be a favorite and for good reason–I love it! :)
I’d love an Idaho pen!! I should probably ask Helena to send me one, now that I think about it!
I don’t know . . . if you had an Idaho pen the kids would probably fight over it and things could get ugly. ;)
Tell me the address we can send you pens–I travel a ton! (and I think Amy’s right. You’re going to get a deluge :))
I would love a deluge, and I’m emailing you my address right now. :)
When I moved to Las Vegas last June, I discovered that the public libraries are open all day Sunday and became a regular customer. (Not like Los Angeles, where it’s hard to determine exactly when the local branch is open.)
At my daughter’s school I’m just a book-shelver, not the Library Lady, and most of my task is performed when the children are in their classrooms. I do drive the eight high schoolers regularly and that’s going to have to make my place in history. (It’s a new school, and only has 9th & 10th grade so far with four in each grade.)
Only one of our libraries is open on Sunday. And you’re right–in southern CA it’s impossible to know when a library will be open or not.
Your daughters school sounds awesome. They’ll form a tight bond from being such a small class.
OK – first I have to say that raising one eyebrow and signing the alphabet backwards are also my two greatest achievements! I taught the both to myself – the alphabet thanks to my first child. She was difficult to get to sleep and I’d rock her for hours and hours singing. She had an alphabet poster in her room and I was so bored with myself and what I was singing I learned it backwards. She’s 24 now but I can still do it.
I also barely remember college – maybe you’re right, it was the boyfriends. I was a serial monogamist so there were quite a few but (generally) only one at a time. I also remember my elementary school teachers. My third grade teacher accused me of lying – in front of the whole class – because she didn’t believe I’d finished my individualized reading so quickly. I read fast now but back then, reading at many grade levels lower than I could have been, it probably did seem too fast. But I can’t believe, even now, that she did that.
Oops – signing not signing. Signing the alphabet backwards would also be a very cool thing to do!
I just can’t win today! SINGING – I WAS SINGING!!
Hahahahahaha!!!! I’ve totally done this on instagram. REPEATEDLY.
I had a teacher in college accuse me of cheating. She said I wasn’t smart enough to write what I did, and she, too, did it in front of the whole class. Bitch.
My HS senior year AP English teacher accused me of not reading a book in front of the class and ironically, it was the only book I had read cover to cover.
Next semester I changed classes. Extra work AND harassment, no thank you.
I keep meaning to ask if you made a Battle of the Kids books bracket? Fun for a library lady. :)
http://blogs.slj.com/battleofthebooks/2014/03/28/round-3-match-2-p-s-be-eleven-vs-the-thing-about-luck/
Oh, this is great! I need to read through all the posts and figure out how to do it for the library!
I so, so very much love your posts like these. I love the reminiscing, the library updates, and especially your writing. I’m so glad that you decided to continue blogging. :)
Thank you, Missy. :) Me, too.
As someone who cried when I said farewell to my grammar school librarian, I get it!
That library was my refuge; I still remember the excitement I felt when I’d walk through the doors for our weekly library period!
The kids at your school are blessed to have you there. I love the little things you do to make it a warm, exciting place for them. The pens and the globe are just brilliant!
Last year I wrote a letter to my favorite teacher of all time, Mrs. Kurtz.
Her daughter said she sobbed when she read it. There is something so incredibly valuable about a teacher who connects with their students, who ignites their passion for learning, and, who tells them, that one day the church will smarten up and allow female altar servers. Mrs Kurtz, you were right!
Oh, I wish I had written a letter to my favorite teacher. I don’t even know if she is still alive! I should ask administration at school. They would know.
Not self-promoting, just think you might like this: http://www.thissortaoldlife.com/2011/11/14/on-the-70s-teaching-and-fame/
Sounds like you’re on your way to becoming famous in the ways that matter most.
I loved this post. Thank you for thinking I’m going to be famous–in a good way. ;)
I HAVE to send you pens from Australia now, you know that right?
Do you have a PO box?
Jo
I sure do! I’m going to email it to you! :)
Often the librarian is over looked: we don’t spend all day with the kids and middle school students don’t always come in, so I totally get wanting to be remembered. I remember my elementary librarians, my middle school librarians, and even my high school librarians. My husband still sees the public librarians that were there when he was little (the same librarians my daughter is getting to know!) but I LOVED the library as a kid, so it is no surprise. I have former students who don’t remember me after a year and some who forget after two, so at graduation time I feel so honored to get announcements and invitations. I am grateful that I got to play a part in a students education and that they still come and visit. I had a very large group of girls that spent a lot of time in my library and they are graduating high school this spring and I can’t wait to see who sends me an announcement! One has already asked if I can go to college with her :) gosh I love being a librarian! And I am so happy your students have someone who loves it too!
Sigh. This is so great. When I read comments like this I wonder what I was thinking when I chose law over library science.
I fell into library on accident–my kindergarten position was cut and the only jobs available were librarians. My parents offered to pay for my endorsement (that I got online). Fast forward to two years ago: with declining enrollment my middle school library position was cut to part time so I taught other classes. This year I ended up in half time library, half time math. I love math too so it was pretty awesome. I found out that my math position will be cut and I will go back to full time librarian, but this time half a day at the middle school and half a day at the 3-5 building. I am sad to be be losing my math classes and sad to be leaving my awesome building, but a little excited to be back to being all books all the time. All this is to say, library science is awesome! Your students are lucky to have you–caring librarians are a safe haven for so many kids who don’t have a place in school. Keep up the good work :)
I remember my secondary school librarian- I became a library prefect. I don’t remember her pens, but her children were called Cressida and Roderick when everyone else was called Vicky, Debbie and Mark.
And I was thinking the same as everybody else- tell me where to send it and I’ll send you a pen from Oxford.
BTW, thank you for your advice on my daughter’s reading. I wrote a (very) long comment, only for something to go wrong and it never posted. The general gist was that I’m not quite as relentless about it as I made myself sound. I do worry about her reading, but I don’t nag her incessantly. In fact, your post made me feel I ought to be trying harder. The ‘assignment’ on her Easter present was really that she might have to acknowledge that she’d read it to the author. Like the other commenter, I was put off maths by being repeatedly told I was rubbish at it, so I do sympathise.
Anyway, thank you. Unsolicited advice more than welcome, and I’m going to look into more of your other suggestions.
The local author isLinda Newbery , who has written some lovely books for adults and children.
My 10 year old recommends Polly’s March and my son loves Lob.
Oh, gosh! It’s never my intention for people to think they aren’t doing enough or doing something right. I’ll have to look over that post and see where I screwed up. :/
I would love, love, love a pen from Oxford!! I’ll email you my contact info.
No, please don’t think you did something wrong, I didn’t mean that at all. It was just that you tried so hard to find the right book for one of hundreds(?) of students and I haven’t found it for one child. Your post inspired me to try harder might have been a better way of phrasing it! ;-)
I’m certain you will leave your mark, Jules – and lucky, lucky students! My children are fortunate to have a wonderful, warm librarian as well. I can’t recall if my elementary school even HAD a library, which is a shame, though my junior high and high schools did, of course – but I remember only a couple of rather punitive librarians, not kind and caring ones like you. Thankfully, our home “library” (read: bookshelves) was well-stocked with everything from Jane Austen to Walt Whitman, and we were regulars at the local public library.
As to the Catholic school reaction, after moving to California I learned that there are different makes and models of Catholicism. I grew up with a bit of the Irish kind (a sort of “rough and tough” brand – think “The Quiet Man”) – my father always defended his ‘g-dmnits’ by referencing the many priests he knew who did the same – and the stoic, rather rigid Midwestern/German kind (you could not miss Mass EVER, under ANY circumstances – well, near death situations might be considered – and a focus on our sins/imperfections versus forgiveness of them). I do recall a couple of really cool priests, one of whom played tennis (!) and lent me his Franciscan robe for a play I was in. The second was a young, gorgeous Italian priest who was placed at my all-girls high school (the diocese putting his celibacy vow to the test?); we never had so many girls volunteer for the liturgical committee (myself included). At any rate, I was rather shocked to discover that my Latino Catholic and Filipino Catholic friends frequently had far differing experiences from my own, and that they had even (gasp) missed a Mass or two growing up.
Ah, yes. We’re called California Catholics. ;) We’re very liberal, easy going, and like to have fun. Our priest in elementary school was, frankly, very good looking and went surfing several times per week!
Oh me too (for the addy)! NYC and Hawaii… and perhaps Aruba?
Oh – I can send you a pen from Florida if you send me your PO bix.
This post really resonated with me for multiple reasons.
It makes me so happy that you have found your light at the library. Shocking- Working with books!
Many people find it strange that I am friends on FB with some of my favorite teachers from JR & SR high school, 20+ years later. Can only remember a few college professors but I became really close friends with a philosophy prof from a community college class (we were close in age) and still remain close friends.
Strange reasons and ways teachers and librarians touch and shape our lives.
PS- Send me your address again and I’ll send some pens from DC and possibly Texas.
Want a Thailand pen? :)
Just catching up on my reading. You have started a pen movement! I love how you are using them. I can hear the chisels carving you into their memories Mrs. Kendall.