louise crawford elementary school

i dreamt about elementary school last night. although i don't recall many specifics about the dream, the picture of the school in my mind is clear.

the red brick rectangle where i spent my k-6 tenure from 1979-1986 sat juxtaposition the obligatory blacktop playground and grassy lot. countless hours of socialization were impressed upon me during those years.

how to sit, how to raise your hand, how to remain orderly, one person to the bathroom at a time, no running in the halls...

and more importantly, the socialization of meeting other schoolmates. at the time, it was all that i knew and everyone seemed pretty normal. i had a great collection of friends and we seemed to laugh and play a lot. my elementary school experience was most joyful. however, looking back now at some of the odd things that some of them chose to do--it makes me raise an eyebrow and wonder what ever became of them. highlights of odd behavior i witnessed in those years include the following:

-in 2nd grade, a boy took off his shorts in the spring and walked home in his underwear

-in 3rd grade, a quiet kid slipped on the ice during recess in the winter and managed to get a laugh out of a few people. the quiet boy proceeded to jump up into the air and put is feet out straight, repeatedly doing this and landing smack on his ass on the snowy pavement for continued laughter. even at that age, i looked on in worry as to why someone would do this.

-in 5th grade, in the fall, a boy peed into an electric heater in the bathroom--when the weather got cold enough to turn on the heat, we all quickly became aware of the pee incident as a musty urine smell wafted through the halls.

now, these are not the challenges of knives and guns that some elementary schools face, but these are the strange oddities of behavior that i recall from a little 2-story school house in the middle of iowa.