Daze at LHS

Oh, yeah those Bulldogs can't be beat!

A few surviving misc. photos...

And now the movie, folks... White and blue... white and blue... let your spirit guide you through... As president of the Lakeview High (Cortland, Ohio) senior class of 1970, I thought it might be good to touch upon the subject of my school daze on my site. The class of '70 was an interesting bunch of people that had to deal with a lot of changing social norms and attitudes. Our school and class was a fair cross-section of American society during that era, and the various blendings and evolutions of friendships between various classmates made for some interesting and rewarding moments. In the long run, our school years would teach us valuable lessons about humility, compassion, dealing with others in general and tend to prove that, despite our tendency to consider stereotypes, most human beings naturally tend to resist neat catagorization.

Exciting times Mixed emotions swirled midst the great expectations for an as-yet-to-be-lived life. Climbing on the bus in the September morning air for the first school day of the year meant facing both the dread of the new challenges of mental discipline as well as the excitement about what everything was going to be like THAT year. The school bus ride situations were little social integration experiences themselves. The school day was divided into time segments spent in various rooms that would feature various combinations of friends and acquaintences, with some teacher / randum member of society setting the "tone". Seating arrangements in classes generally dictated what the daily attitude toward that class would be, especially if you got to sit next to a friend or a cute member of the opposite sex. Sometimes you just had to sit there and pay attention. I recall one class that I made an effort NOT to pay attention in, which some others may recall. Plane geometry rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn't the teacher, it was just that I somehow resented the whole notion of the thing. People were astounded that I got an honerable mention in some aptitude test about it. I couldn't change the class for some reason and was stuck in it, and it was all a bad scene. I missed getting a "D" by some fraction of points and it was the only class I ever failed. The few minutes allowed for changing classes were another phase of things, as you came to know almost exactly when this or that person was going to pass by, and maybe you had the chance to get a word in edgewise. Lunch period was a great social time that often provided an opportunity to associate with those you didn't see at any other time during the day.

Politics Directing the "campaign" to elect pal Ray to the position of senior student council president was educational regarding the nature of "public opinion". We just thought we'd see if anyone could really change anything from being as it normally was. We focused on issues like the hair length aspects of the "dress code" at the time, and finding a solution for problems related to "smoking in the boys' room". Little really changed on our "watch" as we were plenty distracted by having the "time of our lives" with Freeman Sound and otherwise kept busy with making plans for graduation, but it began a reconsideration of some things that affected the school for years to come. Perhaps we at least created an opportunity for people to stop and consider why some things in society had traditionally been looked at as they were. We felt that what you believe in should be a matter of personal understanding, not a casual acceptance or rejection of something because someone happens to say "that's the way it's supposed to be". There were a couple / few classmates whom by our influence were prevented from holding "positions of honor and recognition" that year that probably would have, otherwise, that were certainly about as "right on" of guys and as charming of girls as this world has to offer. I'd like to state that what happened was nothing personal, we were simply experimenting with how one could "change" the normal course of anything however one could during that time, and so it all just sort of came to pass.

Things we should have said As presumedly some carry-over effect from my managing Ray's campaign, I was elected senior class president, and as such, I had to make a speech after the graduation dinner. I didn't like having to sit at a table in front of everybody with school officials, and as I was in a stage of rebellion against socially "set-up" situations of all types, anyway, my off-the-top-of-my-head dissertation was but a few sentences about school experiences and people resolving their differences. It did, however, seem to be a well received little speech. As I look back, it was a tremendous opportunity to express any number of things, to challenge everyone's imagination, to "roast" any facets of the school "establishment" I might have wished to. Instead I uttered my short, humble presentation and it was "OK, good enough, everybody can get on with the party". I had to leave shortly thereafter because of an engagement with my rock band. Even if I hadn't, it wouldn't have been any longer of a speech than it was, and in retrospect, my leaving the party kind of represented my generally not having had the wherewithall to engage in things "normally" with many of the people I had come to know and love during my school years. Maybe at least my teenage sweetheart from the other side of Warren being present succeeded as an explanation of why I didn't more vigorously pursue some of the ladies I found attractive at Lakeview. (I've often thought of making a gallery of them from the yearbooks, but besides the fact that some of that photography does not reproduce well if you try to zero in on them with the computer, I'd perhaps be best off not chancing creating any domestic discord that might result). It's kind of a tragic thing to me now, perhaps due to what was my somewhat often introverted character, that I had never really felt "popular" (in spite of the fact that I may have often tried to act like I might have been), intelligent, good looking, or like I was really part of the "mainstream" of anything that I might have been. In reality, besides for a few "bullies" and people with "impossible" attitudes (and we'll forget any episodes about "hair"), I generally got along with most everybody and had my times of being good friends with a number of people across the "social spectrum".

Time I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to have lived in the same area throughout my school years. I graduated with some people I had attended kindergarten with. As one goes through life, one realizes it is the experiences shared with people over a period of time in the course of natural occurring events that produce the most meaningful relationships. Even if one doesn't have much in common with a person, one has to develop at least some degree of special compassion for them as individuals after watching them go through 6 to 13 years worth of changes. Later in life one begins to realize that each personality contributed something to one's own understanding of human nature, if not one's own personality. Perhaps you picked up an attitude, a laugh, a smile, an expression or a tone of voice along the line and it became part of you. As we encounter an often cold and deceptive world and deal with strangers and liars, we may come to appreciate the fact that there are those on the face of the earth that learned to care about us despite our faults, weaknesses and shortcomings. We can look back and realize we were all playing our cards according to the bits and pieces of life we felt we seemed to understand, and though there were gaps in our understanding, most were doing their best to express themselves while coping with the influences and turmoil of a society in the midst of serious changes.

Lasting Images I treasure the school yearbooks I have. I'm sure we all have school pictures of ourselves which were taken through the years that we wish we could go back and have redone. Some of them display precious expressions that we may not even remember having seen before on various classmates' faces, while some of them did capture the smiles and general characteristics that were familiar to us. My own senior picture features my Beatle style "hair helmet" and purposely-protruding-in-sensitive-rebellion to the harsh world lip. I didn't want to smile because of being self-conscious about my chipped tooth (since repaired, somewhat), the result of my plunging head-first into the gym wall during a foot race during phys-ed class in gradeschool (evident in early school pictures), but probably would have gone the "serious" pose look route anyhow, and was also self-conscious about the gap between my front teeth. The tie was not me, something dug out of the drawer from past church days, but, there are some customs we automatically tend to honor (I could speculate why, but I won't go there again with considering what's "supposed" to be). It's fun to get into the mental time-machine and get lost in the more simple and innocent considerations that pictures can bring to mind. Of course, some may stir sorrow or cause one to consider the things you wish you would have had the presence of mind to say or things you wish you would have done differently. "That's life, that's what all the people say". Some pictures are doubtlessly "inside" jokes and some seem to carry their own little ambiguous messages that lurk just beyond the realm of comprehension. It's interesting to note the various things that schoolmates were involved in that may reveal interesting dimensions of personal spirit one never got to know of. My own favorite school involvements were the concert and "pep" bands. I was in the drum section and band period was always a welcome break from sitting at a desk and doing whatever (except for the time Mr Core lost his patience with me). We always seemed to do well at the regional band contests, and being involved with the marching band was its own little world. The visions of lugging a marching drum around a muddy football field in the midst of various forms of precipitation are forever etched upon my mind. I had my periods of both sympathy and animosity toward "school spirit", in general. I had a Lakeview jacket with my initials on the front and the bulldog on the back, and considered the junior high scene with the Cortland and Bazetta elementary "grads" coming together at the "new" high school to be quite a grand event. Maybe mostly because of the girls, of course. In later years, as I grew more suspicious about anything "conventional", I tended to look at "school spirit" as representing the potential of being "hyped" or "brainwashed" into this or that by the "establishment". I pondered the meanings of various exhibitons of aggressive behavior and cases of school bus damage at interschool athletic events. Most of us would eventually learn that patience and calm, logical thought must prevail if the issues of life are to be successfully dealt with. The world in general may finally get around to looking past the pot and what may have seemed to have been some encouragement of promiscuity to see that the "peace and love" generation actually had some worthwhile ideas about being unified as a people, regarding personal freedoms, honoring social equality and making their government responsible for its actions. Being a bit more familiar with the teachings of the "Prince of Peace" Himself might have enabled some of us to have followed through a bit better in any efforts to "change the world". Today, the "one world" what-have-you is bound and determined to change us, and it will all have to play itself out as we approach the "end times". Today, considering things like the friendships that were special to many of us, the internet provides a unique opportunity to find out what some of us are up to today. Of course, some of us may not be real excited about sharing how "life turned out" for us, perhaps as we may fear that the various things we've encountered may somehow "define us" as something other than who we always really intended to be. Some of us may just wish to leave the past behind and leave "well enough alone". Perhaps there is some regard for the fact that we're not kids anymore, and we may be aware that the mirror shows we have endured the years. Such things may affect how some regard the notion of class reunions. Yet it comes to mind that since we all have to grin and bear it, that we may still be able to learn something from those we trusted and depended on in a pinch for homework answers, a piece of paper, or a pencil ("with an eraser on it?") in the old days. Such is as it may be... Hey, save me a seat, will ya? lj40a@webtv.net