Voiceless in high school?

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hi everybody,

Because everyone, I think, should go to a high school reunion sometime in their life—if nothing more, to check to see if what one remembers really happened—I’ve decided to go to my 40th. Here’s the bio that I provided:

“Greetings to all my ex-Walt Whitman High School classmates! I’m sure you don’t remember me because I spent most of my time hiding in the corners of classrooms, behind my locker door, and sometimes even under my desk. You see, I felt like I didn't fit in, and I didn’t know what would happen to me if I sat in my chair. I also recruited two of the most brutish kids in our class—Dave Green and Danny Levin—to look out for me and throw a coat over my head whenever necessary. (Of course sometimes they threw their coats over my head for convenience sake, but that’s another story.) After college, and while in my 20's, I married one of my professors, raised 3 teenagers, had a daughter, and practiced and taught in the Harvard Medical School system. Then, at 30, I suddenly realized what had always eluded me: I was born (and raised) to be a maintenance man. (How could I have not known? Over and over again I had dreams of dear old Mrs. Shea teaching Caesar in Latin class: “Veni, Plungi, Vidi, Vici”--“I came, I plunged, I sawed, I conquered.”) Thankfully, I can now say that I’ve spent my whole adult life fixing things that needed fixing! I’m very proud of this, and currently I’m in training to be a maintenance man in the afterlife—presuming, of course, that I get assigned to a “room with maintenance.” (On the off chance you don't know what a "room with maintenance" is, you can google it along with my name.) I may attend our 40th reunion—but only if Dave and/or Danny agree to come as my protector. If you do spot a tall 57-year-old man with a coat over his head changing a light bulb, chances are it’s me.

Shalom Japan!

RG

P.S. Dave and Danny weren’t really “brutish.” Because of my insecurity, I’m prone to making things up.

P.P.S. “Shalom Japan” – that would be my daughter Micaela's new restaurant in Brooklyn (recently mentioned in the New York Times). If you go, tell her I sent you, but be forewarned: you can't get sushi knishes. At least not yet…

P.P.P.S. Oh my God, did I make all of this up?"

[BonesMS]

LOVE THIS!!!!   

[Hopalong]

That's charming, Doc G -- I hope you have a wonderful time, and please report back!

High school was an extremely voiceless time for me, but it was topped by elementary and middle school,
-- years of anguish, terror, daily fear and grief. And smallness. Being at the bottom of the pecking order in
my small-town schools and going home to my brother each day was a bad place to be. I know other
kids must've had it worse, however. I wasn't beaten.

I'm still frightened of bullying and rejection, but my gregarious chatty personality gets me through.
And I have more courage than I used to.

Only to a few people I utterly trust, can I describe what school was really like. I think it's our
most nightmarish product, followed by prisons and nursing homes.

Thanks for the cheer, sorry to be a bummer!
Hops

[lighter]

Doc G:

That was splendid!

Wouldn't change a thing

I love the humor sooooo much.

Lighter

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Thanks, Bones, Hops, and Lighter!  Just an inch below the comic surface of my bio is the truth--about the school, and about me.  Far from the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius” and “peace and love,” my schooling years had undertones of intolerance and violence (racial, Mafia, and many kids with personality disorders—although in a class of 1000, probably no more personality disorders than the norm.  A couple details:  the most famous graduate (who was a year or two younger than I) was the boxer, Gerry Cooney (at one point, the Great White Hope of Boxing).  Also, one of my old friends, Neal Marlens, was the creator of the TV show, “The Wonder Years,” which I’m sure served (in part) the purpose of freeing himself the demons of those years.  Neal’s brother was beaten by a Mafia kid, and Neal decided later on (like Lighter) to home school his kids.  Luckily, I had a few wonderful friends—one, Dan Levin, who should be the most famous graduate of my high school (I refer to him in my bio above), became the Acting Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. (under Attorney General Gonzales), whereupon he decided to get waterboarded to determine whether this was an ethical/moral/legal way of extracting information.  When he decided, following the ordeal, that it wasn’t he was promptly relieved of his position (no surprise).  (I’ve written about Dan, previously on this Board—when I told him he was my hero for the above, he told me that I was his hero for raising 3 teenagers when I was in my 20’s—in weighing the two now, I suppose he has a point…)

And then me as Maintenance Man, well…you all know enough about who I am to know that’s probably the truest thing one can say about me (raising 3 teenagers in my 20’s is certainly part of that—not to mention running this Board for over a decade, and of course owning an 1895 2-family Victorian for 33 years, and doing everything I could myself [as is my wont] to keep it glued together.)  Of course, my patients also laughed at the image of me as Angelo the Maintenance Man, always ready with the plunger and saw for all their relational “repetition compulsions.”  They readily identified with the importance and specialness of a “room with maintenance”--my office.

But the most important thing as I write this:  Shalom Japan opened a few days ago, and the word of mouth reviews I’ve heard are terrific—the food is unique and delicious.  Here’s the link to the Kickstarter campaign my daughter, Micaela, ran the past month--it's probably the best description of the restaurant to date:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/180997700/help-open-shalom-japan

If you’re in New York City, give it a try—and do tell Micaela I sent you.

Thanks to all on the Board, past and present, for being such an important and meaningful part of my life.

Richard

[BonesMS]

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Richard))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

[Ales2]

 

Well, I left my last high school reunion (20 in 2006) in an ambulance, so probably not going to return to the next one.

Had a "friend" come with me, who turned out to be the rumor generator in my town.

It was a silly incident where I slipped in the bathroom and fell and in order to avoid a potential slip and fall lawsuit, the venue had me escorted out and tried to claim I was intoxicated.  I did have a glass of wine at the dinner, but was not intoxicated. I never lost consciousness but someone told one of the ambulance people that I had a history of suicide attempts (not true) and so I was detained, removed and sent to ER. Insurance paid for the ER visit. I was by muself, so I had no one to advocate for me. I should have sued.

These kind of incidents are the voicelessness this board is about.