Our high school years. Looking back to 1970, 1971 - I see myself hanging out at the wall on Hermance Place (in front of RHS) smoking, talking with friends - planning what I would do that weekend. I see that scene every time I go back to visit RHS. When I went back with my kids a couple of years ago I saw so many things that made up my life in high school - where I started to become who I am now - things that gave me understanding as a parent.
Above, the view from the home side of the football field looking at the wall where so many of us hung out, waited for the bus, waited for a ride.
Walking through the RHS cafeteria today - I see myself sitting in study hall with a cast of characters - daydreaming - unable to study my history, my biology - hungry for Renato's or reminding myself to stop at Lyons for cigarettes after school - maybe not taking the bus home that day, heading instead uptown to hang out and hitch home later - might be working at DQ or Baskin-Robbins that night or daydreaming about my girlfriend - a Paramus girl.
The RHS cafeteria today. Seems so small now. We ate lunch here and had study hall here too! The last time I was there as a student I was getting my yearbook signed.
Above the RHS cafeteria well before our time - circa 1950's!
Checking out the student center today, I see myself meeting with friends and getting coffee or soda or hot chocolate from the vending machine or stopping by the student store.
Above the student center from the courtyard. The student store would be found here as well as beverages and a place to do some quiet study or hang with friends. Doesn't look like this anymore.
Roaming the halls today I see myself and others trying to get to class on time after getting into a conversation at somebody's locker. I spy John Wescott negotiating with a teacher about a test grade. I see girls I had crushes on. I see Mr Bloss wearing that silly army helmet. I see myself borrowing history notes. I see me and others - Flo, Boots, etc - getting chased out of the boy's room for smoking though not getting officially caught doing it. I see the pep rally posters for the coming weekend's game - Clobber the Cutters, Pickle Paramus or Petirfy Passaic Valley. I see teachers breaking up the kissing couples on the way to class. I see Constance Ehrgott, Miss Wells, Miss Muster, Miss Bell, Mr. Ahearn, Miss Pinder, John Lee, Mr. Barkocy, Mr. Long, Mr. Reck, Fern Gomez, Mr. Rousseau, Anita Crivelli, Mr Vallone, Sweeney, Fleichtner, Tom LeBlanc, Mr Albano, Mr. Palmisano, Mr. Grifone, Dave Vanderbush, Mr. Perkins, Mr. Coyle and of course Mr. McCutcheon among so many others.
The RHS hallways today. Walking them, it all comes back like it was yesterday!
I see myself as a sophomore - Fall 1970. Completely unsure yet trying to develop my own identity - Army jacket, ugly bell-bottoms, purple Henley shirt - even a bead choker around my neck that I purchased at a surf / head shop at the Jersey Shore that summer 1970 - I'm carrying my books, my Ridgewood binder from Drapkin's (gosh they must have sold 1,000's of those!?) What the hec was I thinking or trying to be I ask myself as I peer into the past of sophomore year not unlike Scrooge with the ghost of Christmas past!
Above is my sophomore year student id - wow can you say 28 wiast!
I see my bedroom - filled with posters - Bardot on a motorcycle, Goldie Hawn, The Beatles, The Stones, Zeppelin, black light stuff, Peter Max - lots of great albums - my upstairs world - and still some of my toys around that I struggled to hold onto - you know, that battle between being a child and attempting to come of age?
I loved the art of Peter Max.
I also had this poster of Bridgette Bardot too! My mom just shook her head.................!
Looking at this past of myself, I know I - Ricky - am under all of that crazy persona somewhere - I know despite all this "new" stuff in my life at 14 I'm still me - teachers still thought a lot of me as did my friends - they looked beyond some things and knew I was still there. I was 14 years old when I started my sophomore year. When you're that age you're trying to be yourself but you're trying to be something to others as well, to be accepted - I definitely wasn't one of those that purposely tried to be cool (it would not have worked anyway!) - being cool requires nothing which is why some people from the Class of 1973 were so cool! At the same time it's difficult I think, trying to be one's self at the age of 14 surrounded by so many peers who seemed well past all the things I worried about - they seemed so focused on what their future plans would be, they had it seemingly together - Cara! But I continued on - smoked my first pot that year. Snuck some of the worst liquor I ever tasted to the dances! School was tough but only because I made it that way - cutting classes - falling asleep in class. Poor Miss Pinder tried desperately to get the most out of me - moving me around from desk to desk in an effort to motivate me and keep me awake (not to punish me - she did like me) - nothing worked - my history notes were filled with long ink lines caused by my dozing off - my pen straying to the bottom of the paper - unable to finish writing a sentence and then getting behind on my note taking! And so my notes were incomplete or worse, illegible. The teachers always went out of their way to save my butt - thank you!!!!!
So high school sophomore year - 1970-71 - was kind of my John Lennon "lost weekend" only it seemed the better part of a year!
By the time summer 1971 rolled around, it was back to the Shore again (I love and still love the beach - I always seem to find myself at the beach or on the slopes!) There's an expression (could very well be a Corona advertising tag) "Find your beach!" - find that special state of mind. The summer - summer always brought the best out in me - that special state of mind that always made feel me so good. Even in junior high school (BF) I met a girl on vacation - me the guy who could barely talk to a girl at BF - you're away from those who knew you or thought they knew you and here you were with a new canvas to a paint a new self! You're sun-tanned, you feel rejuvenated. I was ready to take on another school year when I returned and as I have said in another post somewhere it was the summer "me" that I liked a lot!
I began to feel better about the coming junior year at RHS - a little older, not so much wiser - but a little more focused, a little more responsible and it didn't even take a "Ward Cleaver" moment in the study to get a little more on track! My dad was shaking his head at this different world than when he grew up - trusting me and allowing me to find my way (my mom too!). I had a great deal of respect for my father - what a wonderful man and father and husband. He was a former semi-pro football player - I so wanted to make him proud and play football but so lacked the confidence for it at the time. But I mention this because here's a father who was more than confident himself, tough, unafraid of anything including the ALS that would later take his life - and he was willing to let me wade uneasily through those first years of high school. I still doubt that I would ever have the kind of courage my father had.........
It would be an auspicious start to my Junior year that September - full of promise - still full of that summer confidence. But it would take a job that Fall of 1971 at Dairy Queen in Paramus (later called Dairy Barn) which led to a girlfriend who would give me a major shot of confidence! Working and a girlfriend at the same time - who would have thought that would change things?!
Suddenly I found myself in a whole different situation - one I found rather favorable. Going to parties, discovering even more good music, concerts - um drinking, being with a girl.
Above the summer "me" meets the all season "me"! I begin dating - the hair gets longer - look out!
Taking my first serious girlfriend out to dinner just as I would turn 16 would give me new things to worry about. Man, do you remember those situations? You're worried about how you look - brush your teeth twice - tie or no tie? - Aramis or Musk - where to go for dinner - let her sit first - order for her, don't order for her? Take control of the date or just let it happen? Kiss hello? Worse, kiss goodnight or really kiss goodnight? Will I be able to keep the conversation going? I was just so psyched about it that it worked out fine in the end! We went to Charlie Brown's. It was a great first date! Being told "Don't let her know you're too psyched to be with her - its a game" - what? I've never been able to hide my feelings - I've always worn my heart on my sleeve - my enthusiasm, my "Psyched-ness" always seem to get in the way of a lot of things sometimes.
Looking back as I made it through RHS - and all the things I over-worried about - I had so much fun and was glad that before I graduated I didn't over-analyze my own situation anymore. I still cut class - I say that not so much because its a badge of honor or something - believe me! I made my teachers laugh - I loved life at RHS and the only regret I have is not getting even more out of my years at RHS - as one teacher remarked to me once (Muster): "Ricky, you have the gift of gab and thanks for the ice cream!!" - (I always gave Miss Muster free ice cream!).
I hope I was a good friend - I do wish I had been a better person in some cases.
Clearly my thoughts are that I wouldn't change anything because I'm happy with who I became but in reality there are things that I would - I would want to be more involved in RHS - I would want to go back to tell myself not to press so much as a freshman and a sophomore. It is difficult to be yourself at that age - even at this age but what a thrill to see old friends again - re-meet people you always wanted to get to know in high school - it is delightfully easy to be friends - to become friends - with those from the Class of 1973!
I'm a sap for the Class of '73!
Watch for a look at Jeff Lockhart "Ridgewood's Mr. Everything!"....................................
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