Thursday, July 17, 2014

Throwback Thursday

Sherman, set the WABAC machine to 1971. Here I am in the sixth grade class photo at P.S. 16 in Albany. I was sitting on the floor to the far left in the first row with four other boys. We were the short guys. Behind us, eight girls were seated. Standing (of course) behind the girls were two rows of the taller kids (three girls and thirteen boys).

A wry smile.

This is the year I started taking French in school. I was a year behind because I had just moved into the city school district in fifth grade, then placed into an "advanced" class for sixth grade. The "advanced" kids had started French the year before. I had some catching up to do and one of the kids was assigned to tutor me in French. We would meet on the school steps in the morning before class started and he'd run the alphabet and numbers with me.

The whole class. My French tutor is the kid in dark-rimmed glasses with the glasses case in his shirt pocket.

I'm impressed by how the photographer set this up more or less symmetrically. Boys and girls are grouped, not random, by height, and to the extent possible by hair color and style. For example, the two seated girls in the middle each have their long hair tied in tails. And the two long-haired girls behind them, on either side of a curly-haired girl, are each wearing a headband. I don't remember the photo session and I'm sure we weren't aware of what the photographer was doing.

12 comments:

  1. I'm always impressed by how little you have changed - I'm sure I could have picked you out if you hadn't said!
    Your French tutor looks a very serious type.

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  2. Incroyable! Jean, ci-dessus, a raison! You've hardly changed one jot!

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  3. the french tutor is the class nerd. in 1971 I was a junior in high school. I loathed that institution.

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  4. Sympa, la photo ! Ton tuteur a le "look" du bon élève ;-) Etait-il gentil ?
    Il fait beau depuis hier, ouf !
    Bises
    Mary

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  5. Nice photo and memories.

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  6. Learning French when the brain cells are receptive... what a concept. Where is your friend when I need him now? And, yes, I think I could have picked you out of the class photo.

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  7. More proof, you were always a cutie!

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  8. Aaah, those grade-school class photos are wonderful! Your class certainly had an abundance of males. So you started off with an affinity for french, no wonder you've ended up living in France! Were there other languages available to study? Albany was pretty advanced. Lucky for you.

    Mary in Oregon

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  9. Instantly recognizable and still adorable!

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  10. You look so well behaved, I bet your teachers loved you!

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