So… here I am in eighth grade at
the old Antioch Junior High
School. I
survived seventh grade the year before, enduring considerable bullying and even
some petty blackmail by the big time ninth graders (Karma fell upon them when
they became freshmen in high school the next year).
I had always wanted to learn to
sing, so I signed up for eighth grade glee club. I had never sung before in any
organized fashion, but I really wanted to learn. The sad end of my first
semester was that the teacher actually asked me not to come back for the second
semester. She not very kindly informed me that I could not carry a tune in a
bucket. I was the only one (that I am aware of) she removed from glee club –
very embarrassing, and it resulted in a mostly lifelong assumption that I could
not sing.
