Kennedy is in the White House, and Soviet nuclear weapons are 80 miles from our shore. The Cuban missile crisis brings JFK nose-to-nose and eye-to-eye with Nikita Khrushchev, and Nikita blinks.
And in the heat of a discussion in Miss Mannix's English class on personal opinions, Miss Mannix asks again, "Isn't that so, girls?" And in the midst of the chorus of "Yes, Miss Mannix," there is suddenly heard a blasphemous and rather loud "NO!" heard from the back of the room. It is Paula exercising her right to free speech and her own opinion, and immediately she finds herself in Mr. Gately's office waiting for her parents to retrieve her from school. She pays the price, but it is worth it!
John Glenn becomes the first man to orbit the earth.
And Miss Willard's "flower in the crannied wall" that she plucked from its cranny is sent into her own private orbit when she can't find out who is eating the orange and passing it around. (Gayle, I'll never tell, even though I take the blame for you and sit the whole period out in the hall.)
Wilt Chamberlain scores 100 points in a single game; and led by Bob Cousey, Bill Russell, and a first coach called "Red," the legendary Celtics win their fourth NBA Championship.
And Miss Armstrong and Miss Murphy see their dream of Division I Championship go down the tubes when the Haynes girls discover that boys aren't particularly thrilled to see them in gym bloomers.
At the Academy Awards "Lawrence of Arabia" is named Movie of the Year.
And at Girls' Latin School Barbara Goldstein, Florence Aversa, and Liz Straut put their talents to work on a new script for TV entitled "Lunch at Stairwell C"--a '60's version of "Friends," starring Cissy Croati, Jeannie Birmingham, Marilyn Conn, Faith Corwin, Ellie Chansky (the only girl with a starched gym blouse every Tuesday and Thursday), Paula Freed, and a cast of hundreds--who, at the sound of the bell, race up four flights of stairs, only to find Miss Torpey on #6 of the Latin quiz. (I'm waiting for applause.)
Marilyn asks, "Is this when I get to recite verbs that take the dative?" No, but that never stops you! "Favor, help, please, obey, serve, resist, envy, threaten, pardon, spare, indulge, and the like."
A half gallon of milk costs 52 cents, coffee is up to 71 cents a pound, and Thursday's lunch of franks and beans costs a quarter, with a hoodsie chaser for only 5 cents.
And for additional viewing of my lunch, check my gym blouse--the mustard and the beans both show rather visibly, and that's why I never pass a damn gym inspection!
The Space Needle opens in Seattle, Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" warns of DDT's impact, Pop Art depicts soup cans, pop bottles, and comic strips (much to Theon Banos' and Gayle Fishman's chagrin--see Miss Tamizian, I do not know what it means!), Sam Walton opens the first WalMart, and we listen to "The Duke of Earl" and "Roses Are Red, My Love" on the Arnie "Woo, Woo" Ginsburg radio show. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is 652. Babies born this year include Demi Moore, Jodi Foster, and Tom Cruise.
&%#)*^#$@--DAMN!
And during the first week of June, Mr. Gately and Miss Glennon (in one
of her two suits) graduate a class of 149 young women, 56 of whom are
Catholic and are on their way to Regis, 24 of whom are Jewish and are
on their way to either UMass or BU, and Janice Howard, who is on her
way to Radcliffe!
Presented at the 35th Class Reunion in November 1997