STORYTIME

So, when I was in Middle School, there was a teacher we're going to call Mr. M. He was a stout, balding man in maybe his early forties or perhaps his late thirties. He had a beer pot belly and seemed to always be bathed in either axe body spray or something equivalent. He taught computer science and wood working.

Yes, having a class titled “computer science” dates me – for those of you younger than me, that class was a basic “how to computer work” course where we learned things like typing without looking at the keyboard, what MS Paint is and how to use it, how to set up a printer, how to make power points with Microsoft software, and how to use the ~internet~ to research things. Wood working was also called “shop” and was what it says – you learned how to make things with wood and power tools. Not saws or anything with a blade, mostly just nails, screws, and hammers, but even that came with a BOOK of permission slips that had to be signed before you were allowed in the class.

For those of you not familiar with American school ages, middle school for us is usually the grades 6 through 8; though depending on the district it can also be grades 7 and 8 only. In my case, this middle school was only grades 7 and 8, which is ages 12 and 13; depending on birthdays and individual schooling choices, we could have children as young as 11 and children that just turned 14 in my middle school as well.

Please keep in mind that the children I am talking about are at the oldest just 14 and the youngest 11, almost 12.

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