Time Flies...When You're Introverted

Here in 2014, I have heard a lot about some momentous anniversaries about the Beatles' first arrival on the Ed Sullivan Show, O.J. Simpson's infamous Bronco run, Ghostbusters, Tiananmen Square and others. Well, everyone, I just happen to have an anniversary to commemorate this coming Sunday, June 15th. What happened that commemorative day? Easy. Yours truly graduated from Milwaukee Washington High School 25 years ago this coming Sunday! Damn, just thinking about a memory like that has made me grow a few extra gray hairs! We all know how much life has changed since that Thursday evening in 1989. Yes, I had all of my teeth back then! My hair was jet black (and short),and transitioning was nowhere in my mind. All I cared about was going to college outside the Midwest. Maybe even finding a girl to knock boots with. That was answered before the month was over by getting my acceptance letter from Dillard University in New Orleans. 

Some of you are probably wondering what I looked like in my high school days. Trust me, none of my high school pics would've granted me any possible modeling contracts, so I didn't worry about that. I was a normal kid, just portly. Music lover, originally wanted to get into radio communications because I thought being a disc jockey was kind fun.  Unsuccessfully ran for sargeant-at-arms in my senior class. No worries. Was on the senior prom court with a girl named Tanya Conner. She later dissed me by leaving me at during the prom's theme song for no reason. Some classmates told me to get over it after all these years. NEVER!!! That was a night I wanted to get lucky like Chucky, baby! That didn't happen until college. Had a part-time gig at a local department store. Made a few bucks, nothing special to write home about. My dad, laid off from his gig at Allis-Chalmers in suburban West Allis since 1982, kept things running in the house by doing part-time labor jobs like house painting, carpeting, plumbing, adding siding to houses, etc. I was forced to come with him during the summer months,because he needed the help. Besides, with few kids my age in my neighborhood at the time, all I did was watch a ton of TV and eat whatever was in the cupboards. 

Prior to my graduation, I got to receive (as well as the rest of the class) a 34oz thermos from SuperAmerica with the words "CLASS OF '89"on it. Still proudly have that cup today after all these years. I also ordered a few things to remember my high school days: a necklace with a "'89" shield (since discarded), a personalized mug via those catalogs that shows not just the class year but the entire class that graduated along with you (still have that, too), and what's remembering your high school without a letterman's jacket? I paid almost $100 for mine. Nice white leather sleeves, purple body with "Washington Purgolders" patch stitched on the back. I keep forgetting to add the patch with the high school seal on it. Oh well.  This is one piece of clothing I will be buried in, even if it no longer fits!

We had a weird thing here. Each graduate received only 5 tickets for who they wish to attend their graduation. Unlike here in Rockford, where most of the high school's auditoriums are too small to hold their commencements on campus and usually have them at a downtown arena, Washington High's auditorium sat close to 1,700, meaning there was plenty of space to hold it right there. My alma mater is over 100 years old, and they put some additions onto the school prior to my arrival in 1985. The gym only seats about 600 people,and it got quite stuffy when the boys basketball team were playing big games versus their city rivals. Lucky for me, I was also the team mascot, Willie the Wildcat, in my junior & senior years. That suit was comfy during those cold-as-hell evenings in January and February. I will say looking back at it that damn mascot's head must have been constructed of chicken wire or something because it kept scratching my face! Hell, I didn't give a shit about being anonymous in that damn outfit. So, after Washington beat city rival Rufus King one chilly Friday evening in January 1988, I took off the mascot's head and revealed myself to the crowd. Surprise!!!

In case you were wondering, the name "purgolder" doesn't mean anything.  It's just a combination of purple and gold together. That's it! Do not ask me why the school came up with a name like that. This is how it was explained to me during freshman orientation in 1985....by a pom pon cheerleader named Jayleah Caldwell. Go figure. I wind up taking her name years later and making it mine! On that graduating night, nothing happened. Everybody went their separate ways, as expected. My dad and my nephew Jovan wound up seeing me graduate in person. My English teacher, Mrs. Hattie Chavis, drove me home. I did feel a bit embarrassed that I didn't celebrate a night like this the way I wanted. After she dropped me off at home , she hugged me,wished me the best of luck, and made myself a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. She was the one who recommended that I attend a historically Black college instead of staying close to home like Wisconsin, Wisconsin-Milwaukee or Marquette.  I only applied to one of those schools to follow one of my fellow colleagues...both girls. One of them did get accepted by Jackson State University in Mississippi, where my dad's family originated. I just wanted to go somewhere where I wanted to see how life evolves in another city other than Milwaukee. I got my wish. 

Songs like Buffalo Stance, We Didn't Start The Fire and The End of the Innocence will always bring me memories leading up to the end of my high school days. It gets me choked up a little, too. I have visited the "Wash House" a few times since to pay my respects and reminisce on the good ol' days. Plenty has changed at my school as well. I got to wonder why all of this happened AFTER I left? Do you know how when you leave high school, everything changes? That realization came to me on the morning of Friday, June 16th, 1989.