Tabishland

Also- who was your favorite non-Tabish teacher? Irene doesn't count!!! (even if her name was Smith at the time)
 

Boy. The old S&D. That distinct musty smell of old books by the yard. The incongruity of the printed word in all its forms (poetry, theater, fiction, non-fiction, art) and the guns. the military uniforms. the patches. The helmets. I probably bought half the books I currently own there. Every so often I pull out a book and note the black magic marker line on the bottom - the sign that it was a "used" book and not a "new" book. Frankly sometimes it was hard to tell. I think I was in there a couple times a month from seventh grade until he closed. I remember the rumor was that the reason he had those stupid hours (7-9 m-f?) was that he had a trust fund that required him to maintain a business in order to receive it, so he did the used bookstore that was open 10 hours a week.

Chip and I used to go together a lot of Friday nights. I guess because we never had dates in junior high. We used to run into the Haldeman's there frequently. That's where I got to know Gene's Mom Linda -- I remember standing around talking about various science fiction and fantasy authors with her. For some reason a conversation about me reading Lord of the Rings and why I should next read T.H.White sticks in my mind . What a lovely woman she was. I'm pretty sure she was the first cancer survivor I ever knew. It seemed so completely tragic and unbelievable then, that a junior high classmate's Mom could have cancer.

My favorite non-Tabish teacher? Sadly, no one else really comes to mind and in fact, I can't even remember the names of most of my teachers from back then. Maybe after others chime in I'll be able to identify someone.
 

That whole family was SOOO cool. My brother Lance was friends with Lee, and Nathan, too. They were all sort of cool and it seemed like the parents were hip, and Lance said they all swore all the time. Funny what we define as cool in our teens!
But I thought they were great.

Brook was just a blast, we sat together in French class. He called me a few years ago but his message was garbled and I couldn't get his number. I remember his message said something like, "I had your number in my briefcase" and I thought, Brook Duer carries a briefcase? Ian, please give him my number or give me his, I'd love to talk to him. What a hoot.
 

I spent the evening of the senior prom with Chip & Joe at S&D. We were brandishing wooden swords we had pilfered from somewhere (props storage). There was some talk early on of crashing the prom- but we hadn't that much nerve.

When I collected comic books, I used to get old crappy used ones from S&D. Then, I think I bought a whole bunch of show business books. I think I still have a few S&D purchases in my packed boxes of books (I've been without my library for three years- you know, as I'm trying to decide what to do with my life!!)

Boy the military surplus there was weird. Kind of perfect in a weird sort of Holden Caufield meets Western PA small town kind of way. Instead of the Goddamn Lunts- we had Jim and Velma George and empty bomb casings from Porkchop Hill.

I also remember there was a pinball arcade across the street- Northeast corner of 11th & Philadelphia st that Jim Gordon and I would brave- because they had the last remaining nickel pinball machine in Indiana- Buckaroo I think it was called. After that, we had to go to Hoagie Heaven to play pinball. (When we were in college, we called Hoagie Heaven "The Purg"- as in Hoagie Purgatory)

The rumor was the Uncle Bill's Amusements (who owned all the pinball machines and cigarette machines and pool tables in town) was somehow connected to the mob. I learned later in life that vending machine companies often were as it was a super-cinchy way to launder small amounts of money.

Of course, not as good as the rumor about Francis DeFabo's Uncle who lived in Greensburg or somewhere.

Of course none of this was nearly as odd as the strange pictures of genitalia featured in the odd pamphlets provided by Tim's Dad.

It was all as if David Lynch has directed an After School Special- but with the distinct odor of Italian dressing and fresh hoagie rolls.
 

I had the awesome opportunity to teach side-by-side with Mrs. Kubala during my first couple of years at Eisenhower. What a privilege!

Gretchen Kunst Barbor had an amazing influence on me, so I have to mention her in our comments on top IHS teacher memories. She is now directing the IHS productions, and is a wonderful friend to me.