St Ignatius High School - Ignatian Yearbook (Cleveland, OH)

Page 14 text:

 THE MAGIC BUS U Trudging towards the bus stop, I realized that I was about to be tossed into a pack of pre-pubescent savages. ---------- es. it was true. Mr. Da-vignon. using his creative genius, found yet another way to give me a detention. But that wasn't the worst of it. All my friends had left, and I had to take the freshman bus home—the 55 Special. Trudging toward the bus stop. I realized that I was about to be tossed into a pack of pre-pubescent savages. They were testosterone on the move. Someone save the women and children! As the senior. I was greeted with utmost praise and respect. A welcoming committee consisting of an entourage of high tech, heat-seeking paper projectiles met me even before I put my ticket in the little slot. Dodging the secondary attack. I made my way through the front lines to the fox hole somewhere in the quagmire of cluttered bodies. The view from my seat offered seemingly hundreds of freshmen huddled in the front third of the bus. No freshman dares to infringe on the territorial boundaries set up by the sophomores. Although the sophomores are outnumbered by the freshmen, they are the supreme holders of power on the bus. It seemed to me that nearly all of the horseplay transpiring on the bus was performed by the sophomores and aimed at the freshmen. The paperball fights'' were actually relentless attacks on the freshmen with no apparent retaliation by any of the younger kids. At the end of the ride, it appeared that the passengers occupying the front of the bus were blatant slobs and those in the rear were the neat ones, when actually the opposite was true. The paper balls, teamed with constant verbal and occasional physical abuse, made me think that very possibly the freshmen on the bus didn't have a very enjoyable ride home. As I left the bus. I was treated by the heralded 55 Special salute, the ceremonial rite of raising a solitary finger symbolizing solidarity. To think, they had accepted me as one of their own after only one day. the ultimate compliment. Walking in the general direction of my house, I started thinking profound thoughts about my most recent revelation concerning human behavior. This bus ride was almost exactly as I remembered it from my RTA days. I have sat at both the front and the back of the bus. and I know how inferior and powerful these positions made me feel. These two are just stages all students go through. What I had anticipated to be a vicious, non stop exhibition of chaos resembling a recreation of the savage scene from Lord of the Flies turned out to be just that. 10A Day in the Life

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■v Below The stroke of the guitar drives girls wild. The lead guitarist of Pieces of Eight strums up a hard-driving tune for his faithful entourage of half-crazed teens. Above: It is the end of a long day for this couple who share a precious moment together. Hand in hand, they decide what time to depart the evening's festivities. Left: Dave Zallar experiences a close encounter of the first kind. Breathless, he and Jenny Kassay stand with lips connected and arms embraced. Homecoming 9

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Fur left Dazed and confused, Marcel Mylcn scopes the scene as another war is about to begin. Mr. Flandera and the RTA have combined their forces in an effort to curb paper warfare on the 55 Special by threatening to exterminate bus service to the west side. Left: The hands of a soldier prepare for paper warfare. The 55 Special is notorius for its daily dog-fight with paper wads. Below: The priority scat is reserved only for the handicapped. elderly, and sometimes a surly sophomore. Keith Mahoney dares anyone to throw even one wad of paper in his direction. 55-Special 11