passive resistance
In 1979, near the beginning of Kindergarten, we were given a coloring worksheet which contained a drawing of a pack of gum, and the word "green." 1) Because the green crayons were suddenly in high demand, and 2) because I couldn't understand why the teacher would have wanted 30 identical pictures of a pack of Wrigley's Doublemint, I settled on yellow instead and made mine a picture of Juicy Fruit gum. I colored the word "green" green, still, because I couldn't figure out a way around it. I was reprimanded by the teacher for using the "wrong colors."
Friends from down the street went to lunch with me, my brother, and my mom after kindergarten let out at noon. We went to McDonalds. They'd never been. When they started eating their hamburgers, they both recoiled in shock, and started pulling the pickles off, asking what they were, and saying they'd never heard of pickles before. I was already shocked that they had never been to McDonalds, but was utterly dumbfounded at the pickle revelation.
We had an activity board which was a utility pegboard, with varying numbers of pegs under different categories. The idea was that you'd find an empty peg to hang your name tag from, and you could then participate in that activity. One day I joined a friend of mine in the "trucks and blocks" area (my favorite). The teacher told me I couldn't do that, because "trucks and blocks" had 2 pegs, so there was no room for a third person. The next day, I pulled a peg out from under the "reading circle" category, put it in the board under "trucks and blocks," hung my name tage from it, and resumed building with the blocks. My teacher failed to respect the ingenuity of my plan.
A friend Katrina came home with me after school one day. We watched the firemen clean out the fire hydrant in front of my house. I decided it would be fun to convince her our house had ghosts. She believed me, got scared, and didn't want to come inside. I don't know why I remember this.
I never could remember the difference between "collar" and "sleeve", and often got the two confused as a little kid. I commented on the extra long "sleeves" on a classmate's very 1979 looking shirt, and received an endless lecture from the teacher on various parts of clothing. I knew what a damn pocket was, though, and buttons, and a shirttail — I just thought "sleeve" sounded more like the things at the top of a shirt.
Friends from down the street went to lunch with me, my brother, and my mom after kindergarten let out at noon. We went to McDonalds. They'd never been. When they started eating their hamburgers, they both recoiled in shock, and started pulling the pickles off, asking what they were, and saying they'd never heard of pickles before. I was already shocked that they had never been to McDonalds, but was utterly dumbfounded at the pickle revelation.
We had an activity board which was a utility pegboard, with varying numbers of pegs under different categories. The idea was that you'd find an empty peg to hang your name tag from, and you could then participate in that activity. One day I joined a friend of mine in the "trucks and blocks" area (my favorite). The teacher told me I couldn't do that, because "trucks and blocks" had 2 pegs, so there was no room for a third person. The next day, I pulled a peg out from under the "reading circle" category, put it in the board under "trucks and blocks," hung my name tage from it, and resumed building with the blocks. My teacher failed to respect the ingenuity of my plan.
A friend Katrina came home with me after school one day. We watched the firemen clean out the fire hydrant in front of my house. I decided it would be fun to convince her our house had ghosts. She believed me, got scared, and didn't want to come inside. I don't know why I remember this.
I never could remember the difference between "collar" and "sleeve", and often got the two confused as a little kid. I commented on the extra long "sleeves" on a classmate's very 1979 looking shirt, and received an endless lecture from the teacher on various parts of clothing. I knew what a damn pocket was, though, and buttons, and a shirttail — I just thought "sleeve" sounded more like the things at the top of a shirt.