I had expected kinder-Garden to be a place where kids
grew. So, I was surprised to see “the criers” on the
first day. My cousin Karen had prepared me for that
sight, and I went into the situation determined not to
be one of them.

I met Brian Rubino that first day crying, “I want my
ma-ah-mm-eee.” Brian and I were friends up through
High School. I saw him two years after graduation. He
told me that, in trying to plot his life’s next step,
he signed up for the Air Force, changed his mind, and
then got high the day before the drug test in order to
fail.

Dawn Treadway was in Ms. Wise’s class too. She had
to get glasses. The first day she had them she was
allowed to sit on the padded spinny teacher’s chair
during story time. I don’t know what wearing glasses
has to do with sitting amongst the huddled masses. I
never saw Dawn after graduation school.

The Letter People were inflatable characters that
represented each letter of the alphabet. Miss O was
Obnoxious. I didn’t know what that word meant. Some
would argue that’s the thing that I’ve brought into my
adulthood.