Ruffled Feathers

I was taking pictures of grackles the other day when I snapped this one ruffling his feathers. "Ruffled Feathers, I thought. That has a familiar ring." Then I remembered it as being the title of a column from our high school paper, The Smoke Signal.

No wonder it sounded familiar - I wrote the column my senior year when I took journalism. The title wasn't original to me, however, it had been used by the preceding year's journalism class, too.

It was a column of short observances meant to get as many student names mentioned as possible: "Doors have a funny way of getting in the way, don't they Short Simmons and Virgil Gaskill?" (Black eyes maybe?)

"Mr. Boston seems to be a very popular teacher. His first hour American History class gave him a valentine for Valentine's Day. His third hour history class far outdid them by presenting him with a live white Easter Bunny. The plan was instituted by "Percy" Fleming." (Shouldn't I have said "instigated"?)

"Several girls found that playing basketball can be rough. During the recent girls' phys.ed. tournaments, Pat Herbert and Sibyl Roberts sustained sprained ankles while Ramona Lynam received a jammed finger for her efforts. Bruises and floor burns were also the order of the day." etc. etc. etc. Not exactly world class journalism, huh? But at the time I'm sure I thought I was pretty 'cute'.

My friend Ellen also had a column. The title of her's was original to herself. As was the one by Kari & Preston's one-day-to-be father:

Denny wrote a sports column. I wonder if the kids ever knew he had once been known as "Percy"?

Oh the fun of tripping down memory lane and remembering some bygone ruffled feathers.