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May 03, 2007
Visit to Arizona
I grew up in Arizona so a visit home is always an interesting treat. This week I’m doing a bit more nostalgia. Funny how that works. A couple weeks ago I was visiting the schools where I started teaching. This week I’m going even farther back in time.
Phoenix has grown. What an understatement. Phoenix is huge. It just goes and goes and goes. I used the word “amazing” on ths tri more than any other word in my vocabulary.
As usual I found myself drawn to what I remembered and knew well. I visited the house and neighborhood I grew up in. I could just see all the neighborhood kids out in the evenings planning kick-the-can and flashlight tag. None of us was allowed to watch much TV so we found other ways to entertain ourselves.
Next came the schools. I enjoyed school and can’t help but going back to see what they’re like now. Both of my grade schools had grown. Now it could be because I was 6 years old and anything looked huge at that age, but there were more buildings. The district office had moved over to one of the school sites and was sitting on the corner where an old house used to be. All of us kids were scared to death of whoever lived in that house. We had stories and fantasies of witches and scary things. It was probably just a retired woman who’s property they eventually bought, but for us kids it was a mystery house.
I drove by the elementary schools and then on to the high school. West High doesn’t even exist anymore. It’s now a training facility or some such. I’m not sure. Too bad. I remember selling magazines every year I was in school to help build a swimming pool. My brother, 4 years behind me got to use the pool. I’m sure it’s been long covered over. Hope my folks enjoyed all the magazines all those years. I think I sold them life subscriptions to some stuff.
Last on my school list and one I hadn’t planned on was Phoenix Community College. I don’t usually think of that one since it was a quick two year stint, even thought it was a great opportunity, but the streets in Phoenix are really torn up right now. Their putting in a light rail and streets are closed everywhere. I was detoured and rerouted several times and found myself outside the front gates of PCC.
As if that wasn’t enough, I had a meeting scheduled with someone from one of the two districts my mother taught in when I was young. Yes, I came to my interest in education from a long line of teachers. I’ve often said I have chalk dust in my veins.
Mom was in the Murphy School District for a couple of years before she moved to the Alhambra District. It was too far back for any of the folks in the district office to remember her, but it was fun meeting with folks where she’d been. I even went by the other school where she taught in the Alhambra District. She was there for almost 15 years so that was a big part of my growing up years.
Obviously a trip through Arizona for me entails a lot about what I did the most of and what I was most interested in. Schools. Strange, it’s still what I do the most of and am most interested in.
Posted by Dr Joni at May 3, 2007 09:43 AM
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