Manzano High School - Scepter Yearbook (Albuquerque, NM)

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Typical Sunday Afternoon Game james lazily sits down in front of the 25-inch diagonal- ly measured Magnavox color television set. His small blue eyes twinkle into his beer. As the announcer comes on, james sits his overweight posterior end not two inch- es from the boob tube. Ready for the kill, his under-de- veloped mind fades into the set as the announcer says: Ladies and gentlemen, Kate Smooch will now sing our national anthem. Will everyone please stand? james sits up and sourly pours out, Ooh say can yoo seee. The players fall out on the field in matching T- shirts. The shirts are all too big for the players, so they have padded them to make them seem better fitting. Growling, they face their life-or-death competitors, the Redskins. Come on 'Too Tall', he screams at the picture. Show 'em who's boss. He sits down as the players line up to kick the little brown piece of leather into the faces of the other play- ers, but alas, it goes over their heads, right off the little green patch of grass with stripes on it, past the poles shaped like an H, and into the area where C-O-W- B-O-Y-S is lettered on the grass. lust as , it hits the ground, an over-padded fink grabs it and falls on it, mashing it into the ground, and poof! The ball is auto- matically carried out twenty yards by a little dwarf in a black-and white-striped shirt, while all the players run af- ter him. They all line up again, some standing, some touching their toes. No one seems to be paying any at- tention tothe ball, they're all bent on killing each other. The dwarf runs around throwing little red and yellow flags at the ogres' feet and waving his arms. All this time, james and all the little ants in the stands are trying des- perately to figure out what time it is, because the clock on the field keeps running backwards. There are two dif- ferent temperatures, each changing as one group of slobs runs over the others' out-of-bounds line. Finally, the players run off the field as hundreds of young virgins in white hotpants, obviously the prize, strut onto the field. They are doing some sort of mystical spell dance, for james sits enthralled at the very sight of them. Final- ly, they retreat to the edges as the huge men start to run after them. After more running around every which way, the little man in the black and white shirt gets mad and shoots off a gun, but he misses everyone to his obvious disappointment. The fans scream and leave in a fury. The men in their haste, run in different directions to the nearest exit, slapping each other to the point of falling over. See you all next week, the announcer announces. james shuts off the set, sits down in the midst of his beer cans, and stares off into the blankness. ' ...LAURA ABARR THE MAN IN THE MOON SMILED SLEEPILY UPON ME AND THE STARS ALL SNORED. ...Valerie White Loneliness conquers, Leaving in its wake only Memories gone by. ...Mary McCrossen As my footprints in the sand so shall I exist for moments only. ...Bettina Manz a world forgotten trees cling to stone ledges barely able to find the supporting soil. life is so delicately perched on these rocks. so feeble. they toil all their lives just to live. cold, clear, fast rushing streams. flow quickly into silent pools of black tranquil waters. some trees still golden, stand silently watching. not daring to move for fear they too would lose their covering and stand naked before the world. icicles hang from branches long since stripped of their foliage. all leaves have now fallen. the grass is brown. all seems dead. and yet, something now is here. snow is falling to make all things pure. God is still here, He's just smiling in a different way. Mike Mills

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Castles In the Sand Fallen Emprres can feel no empathy The golden castles have turned to dust And long abandoned cars have turned to rust The frozen faces paint the tragedy Of srlent screams and helpless agony The dreams they had ofa world good and just Destroyed by those who have betrayed lrfe s trust All that has loved slnks Into apathy But there beside a sparkling turquoise sea An endless stretch of trees and sandy beach And a long forgotten chrld slts alone Slowly making a sand castle or three There s sun and sky as far as he can reach And he s building an empire of hrs own Ann Scherbner 'YS' f?f Tw R Soft feathers of snow Gently reach out for the ground Quench the thrrsty earth Valerle Whrte Look beneath the faults of my character fragile glance beneath my smrle Karen Trlley I crawled rnsrde a daydream and relrshed a but of my hurried youth Bettrna Manz Phaethon 66 Enveloped ln the musty fog of your stormrng hatred I too walked the parrallel lrnes of prejudice Karen Talley TIFIIIE SCIFIQILAIRSIFIIIP The pungent smell of poverty that soiled draper boiled cabbage frying fat smell pervaded the alr and as sarled Marcys sensrtrve nostrils as she came Into the squalid room Pauslng at the door gazrng at the cheap furmture and grrmy floor she wrstfully envrsroned com Ing home to a luxurrous and servant frlled house Reluctantly shaklng the thought from her mlnd the way a fat woman on a dret refuses a hot fudge sundae she attacked the pale of laundry resembling Moham med s legendary mountarn and began to rron Her whole lrfe she thought brtterly had been exactly like the sorled and torn lrnoleum floor dark drab and dreary wrth no polrshed smoothness or brrght patches The drudgery and routine of her everyday lrfe cooking cleanlng washmg mendrng mrndlng her lrttle brothers on top of school and homework was makrng rt harder and harder for Marcy to face each day wrth zest and energy The only thing that kept her going was the thought of the scholar shrp Her thoughts drifted back to that wonderful day last year when her counselor Mrs Hrnes had called her In to the offrce and Informed her that rf she remained at the top of her class untll she graduated she would recelve a full four year college scholarshrp And here rt was mud january with only four months to go Four short months and she would leave her flea brtten mrsery behind and go off Into the world Shaken out of her reverre by the gratlng sound of a key rn the lock she looked up In wrde eyed surprise as her mother her young old face haggard came rn Mom? Why are you home from work so early? Her mother crumpled onto a drngy charr lrke a lrmp rag doll and quletly sand Marcy I Dr Fowler found a malignant tumor rn my breast I m gomg to have to qurt work and go to the hospital Oh honey I m afraid you re gorng to have to qurt school and get a job Torrents of anger mrsery desparr rebellron whrrled around rn the black cesspool of Marcy s mrnd She want ed to scream to cry to frght to drown herself rn the bloody ocean of her sorrow Instead she replied Yes Mom I ll go apply tomorrow Leslre McCarthy . , . I . r . , . , . I 1 I.- r , . . . . 1 . . . I , - . , . . . . - 1 I - Y 1 I ,rf . . , . . rx WI . . . . . 1 I N 1 I 1 4' '- , f . . . . . ' ' .------x-ffl EAA QQ R I , I 1 1 - 1 ' 1 1 ' - 1 ' . , D I - 1 ' 1 - n rf ' - ' ll , , ......... . . . , . . . . . D I . , - 1 1 . . . ,, ' - 1 1 1 f . , . ' 1 1 1 . , ....... ll 1 ll . , , . .. . .

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Manzano Murky green water Footsteps tmprtnted tn mud Ctgarette butt soup lohn Flowers YOU The ntght brtngs me peace calmness and rest The day brtngs me happtness and warmth Love gtves me the reason for ltvtng And you gtve me the reason to love Pam Lewts E F lhlll Q The orange cresent moon hung low agatnst the ebony blackness of the ntght sky casttng eerte shadows agatnst the garbage cluttered alley formed by the stde of a crumbltng graffttted tenement wall The stench of steely grey trash cans overflowtng wtth rubbtsh mtngled wtth the humtd summer and made the atr thtck At the end of the alley on a chtpped cement step lead tng to a spltntered door huddled tn a trembltng mass was the netghborhood drunk Hts legs were folded awk wardly under htm caustng hts baggy brown pants legs to be pushed up to hts knees expostng hts grtmy bare legs and tattered grey army boots Hts arms were crossed loosely tn front of htm and hts red cotton shtrt was wrtn kled and motst wtth ltquor and sweat Hts stubby chtn rested agatnst hts sopped chest and hts grtzzly hatr fell tn dtsheveled clumps Phaethon In the dtstance the sound of young male votces was heard above the muted ctty notses In one of the small ground floor tenement dwelltngs a flat labeled 'IA on a battered red dtvan sat an elderly couple watchtng the snowy ptcture on thetr anctent T V thetr only other ptece of furntture Above them tn ZA a mtddle aged man and hts wtfe sat on ptcntc benches around a patnted black table eattng wtth thetr four chtl dren Next to them tn 2B a young woman paced the floor holdtng a ttny blanketed bundle tn attempts to put the tnfant to sleep Below tn the alley the drunk sttrred and wheezed Neartng footsteps whtspered tn the empttness of the ntght thetr echo becomtng louder and louder Two long hatred male adolescents clad tn blue jeans and t shtrts paused at the entrance to the alley mumbled and turned and sauntered toward the tnebrtated man They stopped tn front of htm and sntckered Whtle one boy drew hts booted foot back and shoved the drunk on hts stde the other clapped hts hands over the man s blub bertng mouth A ftst dove tnto hts flabby belly and he moaned as he vomtted tn the ftlth Hts crtes for help pterced the atr In 1A the old man glanced toward the alley stood walked to hts T V and turned the volume control htgher In 2A all fell stlent the chtldren paused tn thetr eattng and ltstened only to feel the tmpasstve stare of thetr par ents unttl they resumed eattng In 2B the young woman s eyes grew wtld as she clenched her baby to her chest and checked the double lock on her door In the alley the drunk lay sttll across the cement step as two boys raced tnto the ntght each clasptng a dollar btll tn thetr sweaty palm Carole Fluke One out of endless teardrops rematned statned on the face of loneltness janet Scully I I I 1 1 . ., - 1 r I - . . . , I I ' I 1 1 1 - , . I - ' I 1 . . . , . . I - 1 I , , . . . . . . I I I . I I I - I . . , ' I . 1 1 1 1 1 F 1 t ' lf l C 3 sewn I I , . I - 1 I I I 1 - . I . .