today's sunset
yesterday's dream
where do they go
after dark
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
50 YEARS AGO TODAY - JFK
A DAY OF FORMIDABLE CHANGE
by Stevie Strang
It was Friday morning, church day
for the ninth and tenth graders, and we were on our way to Mass. Down the
dreaded steps to the lower field, across the volleyball court and then up
another steep set of stairs to the campus chapel. It was a weary trail of
exercise just before lunch and too soon after the morning gym class. We
couldn’t wait to be Seniors and then we would be able to walk across the
coveted ramp that ran beside the library windows on the second floor. The
ramp was a straight walk from the classrooms to the chapel but was also a
privilege, earned and reserved, only for the Senior class.
Three months into the new school
year and already two tenth graders were expelled for smoking marijuana in The
Cave under the Senior ramp. As we filed into the little European style
chapel, Sr. Ursula stood at the foot of the alter, arms sternly folded at her
chest and hidden under the bib of her black habit, waiting to reprimand both
classes and warn us of the perils of cannabis and mortal sin.
Gabby, Yvette and I sat on the
ninth grader’s side, in the back pew next to the stained-glass window that had
the most purple in it. The morning sun filtered through the windows on
the other side of the chapel and beamed their brilliant colours over to us,
making rainbow fairies on the wall just above Elaine Bronson’s ratted Bubble
hairdo. Why we thought that was so funny, I don’t know, but we sat there
and giggled about it until Elaine turned around and told us to shush. She
was holier than we were, silently kneeling and praying for forgiveness before
she would receive communion, so we followed her example and knelt down.
innocence
even the rainbow fairies
laughed
Pat Crumley came in late, as
usual, and sat in the pew in front of us next to Elaine. She was detained
in Sr. Leo’s office with a verbal warning about her skirt being too
short…again. Sr. Leo did not know that Patricia was with the two tenth
graders in The Cave, under the ramp; Pat gave us a quick glance of relief as
she knelt down in prayer. The first year at the Academy, a prestigious all-girl college prep school, was a filter. If you
were called into the office three times you were expelled, never to
return. That was Patricia’s second offense.
It was almost eleven o’clock and
Mass had not yet started. Sr. Ursula told us to read our prayer books or
quietly say the rosary while she went to see what was delaying Father
Booth. As soon as she was out the door both classes started accusing each
other of snitching about the marijuana incident.
“You should be expelled
too!” A tenth grader from the front pew stood up and pointed a finger
towards Pat.
“Shut-up candy-ass or you’re
gonna get pants’d during lunch.” Pat shouted back.
Blame was echoing all the way up
to the exposed wooden beams of the tiny chapel when Sr. Sheila, the principal,
finally came in and slowly walked up to the podium.
“You’re a goner now, Pat,”
Yvette whispered and then made the sign of the cross and sat back in the pew.
Sr. Ursula and Sr. Sheila
scanned the chapel from front to back with solemn faces of disbelief, seemingly
searching for someone to blame, something to scream at. Gads, had we been
that loud?
The chapel went completely
silent.
“I have some disturbing news...”
Sr. Sheila hesitantly said.
The pause was almost unbearable
for Patricia. She closed her eyes and bit down on her lower lip.
regret
remembering the moment
just before
“The President…our
President…”
Patricia opened her eyes.
“President Kennedy…has been shot
and killed.”
Pat turned her head towards us
and let out a scream then quickly covered her mouth. Yvette’s face went pale as
Gabby gathered our three bodies together and cried. Two boarder students from
Venezuela fell to their knees and started praying the Hail Mary out loud.
Elizabeth from Connecticut fainted. One by one bursts of tears and
gasping screams emerged from each pew and flooded the chapel as tenth grade
girls comforted ninth grade girls. Elaine Bronson threw up.
Sr. Sheila tapped the
microphone. “Girls, girls…now girls, we have to be strong and pray for
the departed soul of our fallen President, for his wife, his children, and our
saddened country. Father Booth will not be available for Mass at this
time so please return to your homerooms for further instruction and
information.”
She then excused herself, her
black veil rhythmically flying up in an angry breeze that was powered by her
hurried exit back to the privacy of her office.
Stunned into silent weeps, we
filed out of the chapel, past the nurse who was tending to the bump on
Elizabeth’s head, back down the stairs to the lower court and up the second set
of stairs, without complaint, holding hands and comforting each other as we
returned to our homerooms to listen on the PA system to the sparse details of
what had gone so wrong in Texas.
The mundane childishness of
ninth and tenth grade bantering and silliness seemed pointless. The purity of
innocence was shattered. We were thrown into the grown up world, by
tragedy, by default, by necessity.
We did not know it then but we
were changed in many ways; many ways that we had yet to discover and fully
understand.
November 22nd
how green the grassy knoll
was
Published in SIMPLY
HAIKU, Winter 2011, Vol.8 No. 3
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Veterans Day - for my brother Fred
I remember the day we drove you
To the airport that dreary morn
All of us bravely smiling at you,
Young and somber in your uniform
Young and somber in your uniform
We knew the one-way ticket ride
Was a crap-shoot you were attending
All in the name of Freedom
With the outcome terrifyingly pending
Did I ever tell you, “Thank you”
Did I ever say I’m sorry
When you came home such a different man
When your eyes looked haunted and weary
From the things you saw and experienced
Those few years that you were away
It made a difference in all of us
For the price that you had to pay
Every day we thank our lucky stars
That you are with us still
Unlike the boys we grew up with
Who never made it over the hill
They will forever be in our thoughts
As we think of their families
And give thanks to you and all of our Troops
That we live in a Country that’s free
Did I ever tell you, “Thank you”
Did I ever say I’m sorry
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 01, 2013
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Monday, July 22, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Saturday, May 04, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
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