Monday's a Bitch

Old Skool

1. What book were you forced to read in English class that made you want to gouge your eyes out?
Only one? I was a lit minor, after all. OK, working backwards:

American Lit in college: Moby Dick and Last of the Mohicans, neither of which I finished, though I came closer to finishing MD. The only authors I enjoyed in that class were Hawthorne and Poe.
Freshman English: Invisible Man by Ellison. There was no context given, just "read it and explain it." I should reread it now, but giving it to a white-bread (and -bred) 18-year-old from a sheltered suburb with no warm-up...folly, pure and simple. I also struggled with Crime and Punishment, but ended up enjoying it in spite of the class.
AP English: Madame Bovary, another one I never finished. Borrrring. The rest of the class was wonderful, however. I had to read The Octopus by Frank Norris for history that year and very nearly killed myself, my teacher, the book and everything affiliated. I still know nothing about the robber barons of the early Californian railroad age.
Junior year: The Grapes of Wrath. I should try that one again, too, since I discovered later that I like Steinbeck's writing. I'd just skip every other chapter; you know, the ones where he talks about the land shifting and moving and...generally being boring.
I don't remember which year I had to read Cry, the Beloved Country, but it was the nadir of my high school experience. The class as a whole boycotted that book and drove the teacher out of teaching (at our school anyway). I've since tried to read it about 4 other times, to no avail.

2. What was your best elementary school science project?
I don't remember ever doing a science fair, or a science project. The nearest I can come up with is putting a couple of cups of sugar in a coffee can and cooking it on the stove at home until it was burnt. Not sure what the point of that was....

3. What was your favourite thing to do at recess?
Totally depends on the year. Early on, it was hopscotch, swinging and climbing on "the barrels" (chunks of concrete under-road pipes). Later on, there was four-square and tetherball. I loved tetherball. In the middle, and throughout, was jump rope. Jumping doubles was so much fun; I miss that.

4. Did you ever participate in a school play?
Yes, I was a rat in the Pied Piper of Hamelin in my stage debut, and final acting performance. Oh, the nerves I had. Horrible.

5. Describe your most embarrassing school photo or early fashion faux pas. (Bonus points if you have a picture to post ;))
All of my school photos were horrible: bad hair, bad glasses, bad braces...just bad. The exception is my senior photo, in which I look (typical of me) 5-10 years older than the rest of my classmates. To date the era perfectly, I had a Lady Di haircut.