In a
changing American demographic from white to moca, from urban to suburban, from
blue collar to white collar and or pajama (work from home), the boomers have
been on a ride of a lifetime.
Saint Joan
of Arc in Harrowgate Philly is defunct. It as a building designed by famed
British architect George A. Audsley as his last project, in his eighties, the
building still functions as a “charter” school, whatever that is.
The church,
the parish was officially dissolved in 2013, merged with 3 or 4 other ethnic
enclave churches, just as much for lack of attendance and or interest in the
ancient Christ myth as the fact that celibacy and a lack of numbers in the
priesthood make serving in the sheep with good shepherds impossible. That and the AD of Philly had
millions to pay for decades of corrupt buggery hidden from view etc. Needed to sell a lot of R/E.
In looking
back this photo is the first grade class of boys circa 1957 and there is 62 kids
reporting this day for the photo, probably the official - take your kids photo
day marketing thing. The nuns, the catholics were always nickeling and dime-ing
the inmates in order to finance and survive, getting their cut on the promotions, Chocolate Bars, Half and Half lottery tickets on Bingo night, even shoes at one point but rather unsuccessfully I might add. The Nuns, women married to Christ and their faith,
devoted their lives to us children. For that I am grateful but somehow the
picture looks strange to me. It came into view the other day on some Facebook page
and the comments there reflected re-awaking to memories, of childhood connections
reconnected across the vastness of America now where many of these children and
their sisters, siblings now live.
There are
probably ten or so kids not present, out sick with sniffles etc. in this photo.
My first
grade class numbered in the nineties for students, the baby boom yet to peak,
in a latter first grade class, my own.
They used to
bolt two of these old cast iron and wood desks together and sit three of us
across. If you took a few sick days, you lost your place in the three across
temporary daily seating thing. Lost your pencils and boxes of cardboard letters
and numbers used as a teaching aide too etc. Lost in the shuffle of life.
Have to
wonder in retrospect what was the effect of the baby boom on class size in the local
public schools. But for us factory working, Irish Catholics and Italians mostly
in this photo, parochial school was the only way to go.
No PTA meetings and you
did what you were told. And if you got out of line with a little ADHD? That was
what the wooden ruler, wooden chalk board pointer was for - to crack over your knuckles on break over
your back to get your attention – to focus. That did happen once with the chalk board pointer but at a higher grade level, bigger boys etc., but luckily not to me. Sounds terrible. LOL. But
considering the memories I see mentioned in comments on Facebook, few remember
the discipline.
The only
thing I notice greatly between then and now, besides the numbers thing, size of the class, physical size of the room, was how white lower middle factory working class Harrowgate was in 1957.
The demographics, they are a changin’.
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