This is an engagement photo of Nicholas II and Alexandra of Russia. She looks less than thrilled. I’m not sure what it was about teaching history/civics/government, but we went through history teachers rapidly. After my first year, the man who'd been teaching history left. Then Sammi was let go, then a woman came who left to get married, then a man came who had a nervous breakdown in the middle of class. Finally, we got Jennie, and life got better on so many levels. She was a graduate of Bob Jones University, so she was conservative, acceptable to the administration. She was also on her way to the mission field, but she stayed with us for several years. At least one of those years she lived alone in a place she called “the cave.” None of us was ever invited to visit or permitted to enter. Some of the time, off and on, she lived with Alicia and me, adding New England astringent humor to our Midwest sensibilities. Language was sometimes an issue. Her accent was thick—it took me a long time to understand her one day in her quest for creematata, which turned out to be cream of tartar. And one Thursday night after visitation when as she got out of the car, she said she was going inside to read before bed. "Are you still reading Roots?" I asked, with a Midwest accent, pronouncing the oo like a u. “Roots? Roots? No, I am going to read Roots (long o sound). Roots is like roof, which is what a dog says,” she replied as exited the car and stalked inside. Alicia and I were laughing so hard we couldn’t get out of the car. No one could make me laugh like Jennie. Generally easygoing, Jennie warned us: "Don't mess with my man, don't mess with my food." None of us had a steady man, but the second prohibition was valid. She had a stash of junk food; we never dared trespass. True but now embarrassing: Jennie and I went through a period when we passed notes during our study halls, which met concurrently and were separated only by the science lab. We were playing a game with it, because Jennie was obsessed at the time with Nicholas and Alexandra, the last czar and czarina of Russia. If memory serves, Jennie signed her notes Nicholas, and I signed mine as General Foch. [Foch was a French general; I have no idea why I chose his name, but I wrote messages from the front.] We used students as couriers. They included the Swedish ambassador (a big, blond football player), the Spanish minister (a Cuban-born student), and Private Howdy, who always did his duty. We were young; we were bored; we thought ourselves very clever.
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Baptist GirlI was a conservative Baptist girl who grew up to become a career Christian, working first in a Baptist school and then in a Baptist college. For about three decades, it was very good until it wasn’t, and I had to leave. But the Baptists formed me. This is my homage to the good times and good people of the world I left, finally, at forty-three, when I became an Episcopalian. These are my memories; others might disagree with my recollections. So be it. Archives
January 2024
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