Blogger set up

Guys, I'm relatively new to blogging. However, I will mention one thing that is important. Don't write anything that you don't want to memorialize on the web. There are search engines that capture everything on the internet including blog entries. I advise my students to not submit items to Facebook or MySpace that they wouldn't want their family or employer to see and I suggest the same for any of you. That said, I won't edit your submittals unless they're in extremely poor taste.

If you would like to set up your own blog, feel free to do so, let me know and I can put a link to it on this blog. Google owns blogger.com where I've set this up and they give away the software and disk storage for the right to include the content in their searches (probably page 432,798 of someone's search, but it could be surfaced).

Lastly, if you note at the very bottom, you can subscribe to the posts, meaning that you can set it up so that you are emailed whenever a post is added. That way, you don't have to come to this site every day unless I/we add something.

Wally

8th grade (1967-1968)

Eighth grade - THE BIG year for the military in the middle school. I wound up as staff sergeant on Major Doug Ross' staff. Scott Spier was the Captain Adjutant. The great thing about that position was that I didn't have to do any specific drills which anyone assigned to a company or the band had to do.

8th grade teachers - Bart Harrison, English; Fritz Maisel, Science; Chip Giardina, Algebra I

Notable events: The snack bar (Brass Eagle) opened.

New boarders in 8th grade: Melvin "Joe" Hoffman; Frank Zanti; Jim "Shorty" Long; Hugh Wilde; Jerry Landsman

Working on the Week

I didn't write for the Middle School paper. Most of the regular writers for the Middle School paper (who remembers the name of the Middle School paper?) had been students at McDonogh for years (I think Roger Weinberg may have been the editor of the Middle School newspaper). When I entered the Upper School, Ted Miller '71 asked me if I would like to write for The Week. I'm not sure who the Editors were in 1968-1969, but McDonogh would know since there are archived editions of every year. I think I started as a frosh-soph football reporter and typist, became Index Editor (one job, tracking all the names mentioned in every Week all year long for the end of the year bound index of Weeks; if you did it week by week, it was an easy job.), moved up to Associate Editor or Features Editor, and was Co-Editor-in-Chief my senior year with Steve Tucker. By then, writing for the week was more than just an activity. It was much of my lifestyle. In order to publish a newspaper each week, there were regular assignments each night. Sunday night was a late night, receiving articles from various people, typing them, and sometimes writing additional articles if someone missed an assignment or submitted a poorly written article. The typed articles would be inserted in an envelope and left in a tray for one of the school's drivers to drop off at the printer in Parkville. By Monday afternoon, the galleys would be back and Monday night was spent laying out the issue, figuring out which articles went where and the captions and size and typefont. Tuesday night would be another review night for any final changes. Wednesday morning we would review the galleys with our advisor, Mr. Tom Harper, make any final changes if necessary, send them back to the printer and then the press run would begin. Friday mornings, the work detail would fold The Week's in the Upper School study hall. All parents and alums received copies in those days. Later on, during the tumultuous last days of the military, the alumni subscriptions were cancelled or substantially reduced. Sunday night, the cycle would start up again.

Crazy Things That We Did

Trooper Walsh was an 8th grader in 1966-67 who, it was rumored, had an uncle who was the Commandant of the United States Marine Corps. Trooper and Terry Victor and a few others would spend time in the woods near the duck pond searching for salamanders and the occasional snake; blacksnake, hognose, garter snake, etc. Sometime during the winter of 1967, I switched rooms from room 21 to room 20 and left Paul Ellis' reign as room officer to Gibby Gahan's. The bell that rang at 9:30 for Middle School lights out was a long bell and you weren't in trouble unless you weren't in bed with the lights out by the time that the bell stopped ringing. I had a habit of dashing from across the hall to my top bunk where I jumped into bed and turned off the light switch at the same time. I lost that habit when one night as I jumped into bed, something coiled around my leg and I quickly knew it was a snake, one that either Terry or Trooper had caught in the woods. Somehow, no one got in trouble, but I've hated snakes ever since.

Favorite teachers

I enjoyed many of my McDonogh teachers. So, I'm going to try to write a blurb about the ones that I enjoyed, starting with 7th grade. For those of you who are classmates, please understand that the first few you may read about are not the only ones I thought to be great teachers, but are simply the ones I started writing about.

Mrs. Barbara Smoot - 7th grade math
I don't remember exactly what they called the version of math that Mrs. Smoot taught us in 7th grade. What I do remember, is that it was vastly different than the 'rithmatic that I had learned back on the Eastern Shore. Mrs. Smoot was very patient and willing to answer every one of my questions, no matter how dumb the question. If she hadn't been willing to do that, I don't think I would have been able to handle the material the following year.

Mr. Salvatore "Chip" Giardina - 8th grade math
Chip Giardina was young, cool, and a McDonogh grad when he arrived on the scene to teach us 8th grade algebra. At the height of the Middle School hormone ooze, this guy took our best shots and dished them back in very creative ways. Chip could teach, but he could also crack up the class of guys with his jokes. I still remember his joke about the 'golden toilet seat". I also remember the time that he sent Nollie Wood out for a lap around the track that he timed with his stopwatch. Class rumor was that no one ever beat Nollie's record.

Mr. Guenther Sonntag - German I, II, III (9th, 10th, and 11th grades)
Guenther Sonntag was a great language instructor. The class of 1972 was the first class where freshmen were allowed to take German I. We shared the class with members of the class of 1971. German was reputed to be the harder language to master and the middle school had not allowed 8th graders to sign up for it. Guenther promised us that we'd have to work hard for three years but our fourth year would be a piece of cake. Unfortunately, he left after year three and our new teacher didn't get the note that German IV was to be easy. Guenther had emigrated from Germany after World War II and was not too fond of "the little corporal" as he referred to Hitler.

7th grade (1966-1967)

As a brand-new, wet-behind-the-ears McDonogh cadet, the memories of this year are burnished into my brain. Where do I start? Day 1 - Arrive on the hill with all the other new kids, dressed in a uniform that I had never worn before. Find out that I'm in Room 21, the little wing of Alan Building. Paul Ellis was my room officer. Chris Illardi was a fellow newbie, but he seemed to have it more together than I did. I was from the Eastern Shore (Princess Anne) and had a typical Eastern Shore accent. My classmates thought I was from North Carolina or someplace so deep in the woods that electricity hadn't yet been installed. In 1966, the drill was that boarders did not go home for the first two weekends. The purpose of keeping us at McDonogh was to let the homesick boys adjust. It also allowed us to spend our time polishing our belt buckles, brass on our dress cap, and spit-shining our shoes (for those of us not fortunate enough to be able to afford Corfam shoes). Reveille was at 6:45 am (and remained at 6:45 for all six years). A cannon was fired on the quad and was usually pointed at Room 21. A bugler was assigned to blow the Reveille call while the flag was being raised. If the weather was sketchy, you looked out your window to see if the red flag was up instead of the American flag. We formed in our platoons and companies on the bus parking lot behind Lyle building. Company C was the Middle School boarders. Company A was the Upper School Boarders. The Cavalry and The Band were separate groups at breakfast and were the only organizations that consisted of boarders and dayhops. Formation was called at 7:00am and we marched to Lamborn Hall, the dining facility, just 200 feet away.

The military had its unique terms: Blitz cloth, caddy cloth, spit-shine, spiffy, four-in-hand, Windsor, campus jacket, overcoat, dress jacket, etc. Our meals were served family style and that meant that there were two biddies at every table. The first biddy had the responsibility of waiting in line by the double doors at parade rest until after the officer-of-the day said a prayer. If you were good, you were in line first and that meant your table received its food first. The second biddy had the job of clearing the dishes and getting seconds once the food ran out. If you had the misfortune of drawing a table of seniors for your first biddy assignment as a Middle Schooler (as I did), you had to get used to remaining at the table forever and cleaning up everything and anything. I still remember my breakfast table head, Mike Weiland. A lot of the guys at his table were in the Cavalry.

After breakfast was morning work detail. In the seventh grade, I drew the worst work detail of all. I had policing duty around Finney Building. Near the playground area, there were usually popsicle sticks to pick up. Near the back corner where Mr. White's classroom was, there were usually cigarette butts to pick up. Middle Schoolers didn't seem to observe Major Levy's rules of picking up trash whenever you walked past it.

If you were unfortunate enough to draw a tough morning work assignment, you couldn't work after the bell rang at 8:15. From that point until 8:35, you had to change clothes and prepare your room for morning inspection. Usually, the Teacher in Charge (TIC) came by and inspected your room. Unless they happened to be McDonogh graduates, they were usually fairly lenient. Sometimes the officer of the day (OID) would come by. They weren't as lenient.

Classes began at 9:00am and ended around 2:35. Activities period was after class and most Middle Schoolers were required to sign up for a couple of activities. I signed up for the fishing club with Mr. Diehl (Lee "Pop" Diehl). I also signed up for the Drama Club with Mrs. Coblentz.

I think this post is about long enough for now. If you care to comment or add to it, feel free.