Mom and the teacher

It is early Oct 1974 I had just walked out on the 7th grade teacher Miss Lane . She chased me for about 2 blocks before she figured she should get back to the class. I made it about 1/2 way home ,right out side of McGuires Chevy on Kennedy Blvd was where I met up with my mom. She had stated that she had a feeling that something was going on with one of her children . She was not sure what so she headed to the school. I told her what went down in the class and with that we started back to the school. Once back at the school my mom made her way to the 7th grade class room why I was taken to the principle's office. ( this is a place I will become all too familiar with in my high school days) After I received the talk from the principle it was off to the class room where all of my class mates were out in the hall. They all were telling me that my mom had confronted Miss Lane and was having a heated discussion with her about singling me out. This conversation lasted about 1/2 hour. When my mom came out of the room, she took me aside and she told me that I should not have another issue with her. I assured my mom that I did not start this and I will not provoke anything going forward.
Needless to say the truce I had with Miss Lane did not last long. The next week I found myself having my hands tied behind the backrest of the desk. This was because I ( according to the teacher) was not taking notes for my classes in the traditional manner. you see I was a doodler. This is to say that instead of writing the words the teacher was saying my notes consisted of pictures that told the story of what we were learning at the time. She was not happy and this was the way to get back at me. The funny thing was I passed all of the tests she handed me using this method. The joke was on her.

Being in a Catholic school we were always taught to help our fellow students when we could.
We were now close to making our confirmation. Again this required a test be taken about the knowledge we had learns on the subject. I had taken the test and passed. One of my classmates Billy had been out sick the prior week. He had asked me if I could help him out with the test. I gave him the test I had taken the week before. Well Billy , genius that he was decided to take the test with my test in his pocket. Not long after I was called down the principal's office.
There was Billy , The principal and The head priest of the school. They had already questioned Billy and wanted to see if our stories matched. I stated that we were taught to help out our fellow man in need. Billy needed help so........ Well the priest was so taken aback by my answer turned to Billy and me and said for us to get back to class. Turns out he could not think of anything to say. We dodged a bullet there! We have one more year before graduation and we both tried our best to straighten us and fly right.

Next the class of 1976

A cancer survivor's story

As I write this story I will have survived cancer for 18 years. I was diagnosed with small bowel cancer when I was 28. Now at 47 I would like to tell my story so others see that cancer is not the end of it all. My name is Jimi, I was born October 1962 in NYC . I was the sixth child of what would turn out to be a family of seven. We were/are a close family.3 boys and 3 girls.My sister Kathy had passed away at the age of 12 just before I was born. My parents were middle class people. My father was a captian and a pilot in WWII and was working for the NYC transit company. My mom was mostly a stay at home mom.
At the age of 3 my parents moved us to North Bergen NJ. My life was just like any other. Mostly growing up with close friends in the neighborhood . Playing stickball in the school yard and wiffle ball in the street. North Bergen was a town , just like any other town . you could go and hang out with your friends and not have to worry. I attended a catholic school . St John's in Guttenburg. most of my friends attened the local public school, Lincolin school. We as kids mostly played sports most of the year round.
We played football in the streets dodeging cars every few minutes. We even played hockey in the street, this is where I suffered my first knee injury. ( someone for some unknown reason decided to enter the dead end where we were playing. I didnt see it and at full bore skated straight into the metal bumper on the front of the car. Hockey to this day is in my blood. Although with a family and now living in Arizona it is hard to find a place and time to play. Growing up in North Bergen wasnt the worst thing that could happen to me. I graduated from St John's in 1976. some of the highlights/lowlights : Oneday in 7th grade ( mind you I was a bit of a class cut up) We were in class and my teacher Miss Lane must have been having a bad day , for some reason she starting the class and really had it out for me . Her story was that I standing on the top of the desks and reciting the Gettysburg address. This was not true and as she got on my case I proceeded to tell her "where she could get off"! I then decided I had taken enough crap from her and grabbed my coat from the closet and walked right out of class. She chased me for about 2 blocks screaming for me to get back into the class room and I would have none of that.


( Next my Mom meets the teacher)