Stay as cool as you are now!
I just unearthed my elementary school and junior high yearbooks, and they have proven to be a treasure trove of amusement. I have an autograph from Heidi in kindergarten (she is officially my oldest "active" friend) but it's not in my kindergarten yearbook - it's on a sheet of manilla paper somewhere else. The autographs really don't get interesting until second grade. That was the year everybody exchanged phone numbers. Also, for whatever reason, every single year starting in second grade we had our teacher's autograph ... and the autographs of all the lunch ladies. Mmmkay.
My third grade yearbook has a page at the back entitled "My Year." Under accomplishments I listed "Leaned to Divid Fractions." Ummm, too bad I didn't also lean to spell.
It's also fun to follow the autographs of certain people through the years. My elementary school best friend, Allison, signed only her name in the corner that year. Most of the 3rd grade autographs had a certain grammatically incorrect charm. "Your cool!" "Hope your in my class next year." "Your a great person." Nick C. went for the simple pithiness of "Whoa!!"
Fourth grade was more of the same, with subtle differences. Bryan drew me a "marshoon alien." Mandy wished me a "Funcky funcky summer." Some shades of personalization and inside jokery began to emerge - Lissy called me "Bree Bree Gun," and Allison's autograph read "Ally Cat - Hypadeemicnerdle." (I could explain that, but ... nah.) Most amusingly, in the memories section I wrote two memories: "When Rachael barfed on Bryan's spelling test" and "When we went to the Domes and had a cool bus driver who let us turn on the radio." Man, fourth grade was a great year!
By fifth grade, we had come into our own. The inside cover proclaims the yearbook my property, with proof sheet photos of Allison and myself labelled "Al Bundi" and "Bree-Bree Gun, or occasionally Hip Cat." Tragically, I have a "Your a great young artist" autograph on the second page ... from the art teacher. Candy wished me a "nice fun wacky summer." I can't remember if it delivered. I was also wished a great summer, a cool rad & fun summer, and a wild summer. Katie wished me "the coolest summer EVER!" though, so I think she won. Nathan signed off as "Mr. Handwriting," and Allison had a longer, rather dramatic autograph:
Bree,
Friends 4-ever.
The fights, the fun,
The fear, the hope.
The tears, the laughs.
Does it get any better?
(1841-1843) (Hip Cat)
Allison
Yeah, a bit melodramatic for 11-year-olds. Still, a couple of things must be noted - that year we'd shattered the school record for longest fight between two people (we were enemies for three months, while the whole fifth grade and various teachers avidly followed our fight's progress) and also ... we're still friends, fourteen years later. The memories section of the yearbook lists: "Ally and I's fight, our reunion (courtesy of Amy), Mrs. Johnson (2cool 2be 4gotten), kidnapping B.G. (Big Gal), and great times! (And whipping Mr. Somers in kickball.)"
Last but not least, 6th grade. In the back are the longest autographs thus far from friends - we actually have something to say now; imagine that. Ryan drew me a small and complex killer robot. The funniest autographs are from the student teacher, Mr. Glinski, and a girl named Shonda. Mr. Glinski subtitled his autograph "the crossing guard" and drew his signature smiley face. I can't quite remember why the "crossing guard" thing was funny ... but trust me, it was. The smiley face also reminds me of the most hilarious Glinski story ever, but I'll save that for another time. Shonda, with comical innocence, wrote the following:
Shonda
2 Lovers
2 gather
_________
4 ever
(652-****)
call me.
Ha! Shonda had older sisters, and I'm sure just she thought she was being cool, but that equation, combined with the phone number and "call me" ... oh man. I'm still giggling. Junior high autographs (in which I'm instructed to have "a lot of unsafe sex," and the science teacher sweats on my yearbook!) coming soon.
My third grade yearbook has a page at the back entitled "My Year." Under accomplishments I listed "Leaned to Divid Fractions." Ummm, too bad I didn't also lean to spell.
It's also fun to follow the autographs of certain people through the years. My elementary school best friend, Allison, signed only her name in the corner that year. Most of the 3rd grade autographs had a certain grammatically incorrect charm. "Your cool!" "Hope your in my class next year." "Your a great person." Nick C. went for the simple pithiness of "Whoa!!"
Fourth grade was more of the same, with subtle differences. Bryan drew me a "marshoon alien." Mandy wished me a "Funcky funcky summer." Some shades of personalization and inside jokery began to emerge - Lissy called me "Bree Bree Gun," and Allison's autograph read "Ally Cat - Hypadeemicnerdle." (I could explain that, but ... nah.) Most amusingly, in the memories section I wrote two memories: "When Rachael barfed on Bryan's spelling test" and "When we went to the Domes and had a cool bus driver who let us turn on the radio." Man, fourth grade was a great year!
By fifth grade, we had come into our own. The inside cover proclaims the yearbook my property, with proof sheet photos of Allison and myself labelled "Al Bundi" and "Bree-Bree Gun, or occasionally Hip Cat." Tragically, I have a "Your a great young artist" autograph on the second page ... from the art teacher. Candy wished me a "nice fun wacky summer." I can't remember if it delivered. I was also wished a great summer, a cool rad & fun summer, and a wild summer. Katie wished me "the coolest summer EVER!" though, so I think she won. Nathan signed off as "Mr. Handwriting," and Allison had a longer, rather dramatic autograph:
Bree,
Friends 4-ever.
The fights, the fun,
The fear, the hope.
The tears, the laughs.
Does it get any better?
(1841-1843) (Hip Cat)
Allison
Yeah, a bit melodramatic for 11-year-olds. Still, a couple of things must be noted - that year we'd shattered the school record for longest fight between two people (we were enemies for three months, while the whole fifth grade and various teachers avidly followed our fight's progress) and also ... we're still friends, fourteen years later. The memories section of the yearbook lists: "Ally and I's fight, our reunion (courtesy of Amy), Mrs. Johnson (2cool 2be 4gotten), kidnapping B.G. (Big Gal), and great times! (And whipping Mr. Somers in kickball.)"
Last but not least, 6th grade. In the back are the longest autographs thus far from friends - we actually have something to say now; imagine that. Ryan drew me a small and complex killer robot. The funniest autographs are from the student teacher, Mr. Glinski, and a girl named Shonda. Mr. Glinski subtitled his autograph "the crossing guard" and drew his signature smiley face. I can't quite remember why the "crossing guard" thing was funny ... but trust me, it was. The smiley face also reminds me of the most hilarious Glinski story ever, but I'll save that for another time. Shonda, with comical innocence, wrote the following:
Shonda
2 Lovers
2 gather
_________
4 ever
(652-****)
call me.
Ha! Shonda had older sisters, and I'm sure just she thought she was being cool, but that equation, combined with the phone number and "call me" ... oh man. I'm still giggling. Junior high autographs (in which I'm instructed to have "a lot of unsafe sex," and the science teacher sweats on my yearbook!) coming soon.
Labels: elementary school
posted by BeeKay at 7:47 PM
5 Comments:
Biggest Depeche Mode fan in the world? Nice, Kate! Oddly, we didn't get autographs in our high school yearbooks. They never came out until early the following school year, so maybe that's why.
This is my favorite post that you've ever done.
Sheer genius!
I seriously believe that you should consider calling some of those old numbers. Off hand, for some odd reason, I totally remember Shannon Spencer's #
652-0850.
I'm actually not anonymous, I'm Heidi's sister. I happened across this post and found it great fun to try and remember who all those people were who signed your yearbook, as I'm sure most of them were Heidi's friends, too. This totally makes me want to dig out my lincoln and grewenow yearbooks, even though I don't think grewenow started yearbooks until I was in 4th grade or something. I do remember the time Kirk wrote "have a kick ass summer" and I actually scribbled out the "ass" and wrote "butt" before I brought it home because I knew my mom would see it. Ahh... the good old days. I'm pretty sure my summer wasn't kick ass. I think I was depressed because my boyfriend Grant was going to Lance and I was going to Lincoln. Tragic
have you stayed as cool?
Good question ... HAVE I stayed as cool? That was a tall order.
Oh, and hi Laura! I love elementary school and junior high memories, so even though the people who signed your yearbooks would be older than me, I'd love to read anything you happen to find. Speaking of Lincoln vs,. Lance, I actually lived in Lance district, just barely. But I lobbied so hard to go to Lincoln that my parents gave in.
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