DeWitt Clinton High School - Clintonian Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

Page 24 text:

LUNCH- ROOM OFFICERS i I I SERVICE LEAGUE OFFICERS Quivering, coId, afraid, and dressed in baggy Icnickers . . . trudging up to tbe main entrance tbat bIistery, snow a-foot-deep-bigb day in February 55... Xvbat wiII it bep XViII tbey IiIce meI7 I'Iow sIiouId I act7 . . . grown up, brave, donyt Iet tbem see bow scared . . . ready to Iet tbe tears stream out . . . Ilve got to bite my Iip and IioId tbem in: even if it bteeds, tbey Iiave to see not a bawIing Icid, but one tbat bas tbe guts to bite off I1aIt a Iip to Iceep from sobbing . . . A Iaerd of cattIe . . . IittIe men . . . stubfed into a room. Tbis is it. CIinton . . . rigbt smacIq in tbe midst of it . . . :Stop tI1attaII4ingIU . . . 'Tbis is bigb scbooI, not a nurseryIn . . . :Fro- gram., I... Vxfberef . . . Wbatp . . . Yvbenp . . . I'Iow7 . . . numbers danc- ing before my eyes . . . ist period . . . 1, 2, 5, 4, 5, 6 . . . a Iiundred miIIion names, noises, teacbers . . . notebooIc . . . HG.Q.H cut rate . . . Frencb . . . Civics . . . Science . . . tbe wboIe worIcs tumbIing, crasbing down . . . DeIaney Cards . . . music . . . RT .... uniform, sneaIcers, IocIc, pants, socIcs . . . a wI1irI- ing, maddened jumbIe screaming into time and space .... Tbe montbs ride by on swift wings . . . system sIowIy . . . smootbing . . . caIming . . . Do I Icnow wbat it,s aII aboutp . . . Senior, tbat,s tbe great tbing . . . Vxfiii I ever get tberep . . . montb: Marcb . . . cIean, crisped, windy, tbe grass tuII-bIown, waving down tI1e Iengtb of IVIosboIu . . . ApriI: mid-terms . . . cramming . . , burning tbat midnigbt oiI . . . Easter, a rest, Iong bours out of it aII . . . IVIay: days Hitting witb sun-sbadows pIaying against tbe sIate waIIs of CIinton . . . June: warm, Ianguid, poIisI'1ing off tIie subjects witb jqnesse, tbe Ineat and smeII and eIectric rumbIi,ng of tbe eI. Tbe Iast days ot scbool, witb two montbs abead of tbe cooI green waterg tennis: basebaII: out in tbe Iresb bot sun: Icnowing, IeeIing, boping, as swarms of tbougbt wbirI inside my brain . . . .Iune ends: IiIce a sbeet of steeI bIocIcing off tbe rest: tbrowing sparIcs on tbe sbimmering bot unknown future ....

Page 23 text:

FOUR YEARS NEVER BEFORE IN THE ANNALS OF THE CLINTONIAN HAS AN ATTEMPT BEEN MADE BY A BOY, NOXV A SENIOR, TO SET DOXVN HIS FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS THROUGH FOUR YEARS. NVE OFFER IT TO YOU AS AN HONEST, SINCERE EFFORT TO DESCRIBE THE EFFECTS AND INFLUENCES CLINTON HAS HAD ON ONE OF US.

Page 25 text:

Fourteen years of being alive. A boy alive: a million of them in eirery country, of every race, creect, religion, anct I am one. Ii is all flung wide anrf far taut is still a mystery to me. Deatti. Xvtiat is ity Beyond, is ttiere onep I ctieg years from now, crustiect by a car, Heart, tang, liver, wtty cto I have to cliep Fourteen years of life. Parties . . . girts, tbe Weenie roast, ping-pong, back, back, sitting on tbe steps ttie First tong, rainy, fog-btactc day .... HFigt1t team tigbt., 7...6 KDe Witt C., ,... tbe tootbatt team cractcs tbrougb . . . no time to tbintc . . . in scboot and out: day upon ctay upon ctay . . . martcs . . . wortc, work, work . . . swinging tbrougti witb time, bard, tougb, btoctcing out everytbing but tbe pen and smett ot text-bootc paper . . . Tben: Armistice, Tbantfsgiving, a stretcb ot Hat grinct . . . Ctiristmas . . . Nbfterry New Yeart, ,... Two parties . . . rigbt bactc . . . A buttet sbot ttirougb tbe tbirct term . . . mecbanicatt, tve ctone it, every minute, tiour, steacty, pounding, pouring, beating, ink anct ruters, ptung- ing it into me, Engtisb, Frencb, Bio, tearning, ctritting, exptocting tbe otct tbougbt, rivers ot tbe new one stream- ing ctown into my brain, a cross-current ot mittions ot minutes, atoms, numbers, I am spinning in a roaring stream .... June cties suctctenty at tbis gictcty pace: tbe tast ctay, tbe tast nigbt, ctanc- ing, parties, girts, cigarettes on tbe sicte: tbe twetttb . . . sixteentb . . . August, smacking time in tbe face .... September, spinning into tbe two- year martc . . . a ctactcing routette ot tcateictoscopic speect anct cotor . . . Wttbe Rest-anct-Btactct, ,... SL. men . . . footbatt practice . . , eating ctirt . . . bitting tbem down into tbe cteat-ground green . . . Spirit . . . Drive . . . Burning . . . sweating your guts away two bours in tbe cotct, rain-soatcect afternoons . . . ctasses tumbting into one: tbintc wbat itys att about, a stop, time to matte it ctear, to uncterstanct, but no, not now, youtve got to keep soctiing, ptugging, tearing, no rest, itts just one, two. tbree, tour, up anct clown, titce a robot .... LATE SQUAD LIBRARY SQUAD