Bob Jingle's and Rain Delay's hometown reminiscences prompted me to check in with my old elementary school. Greeting visitors upon arrival was once a sound clip of their school anthem. It's low-fi, off-key, and yet hauntingly beautiful. But how could it not be, with lyrics like:The symbol of the school we loveYet there are traces of brainwashing throughout, with lines like:
Is a little scallop shell
And everyday you'll hear him say
"In school you must do well!"
Now let us sing 'til echoes ringDid they really need us to pledge loyalty? After all, where you went to school was dictated by your neighborhood. A mass defection to Lillie B. Haynes was not possible, even though their playground ran circles around our tetherball-less tetherball pole.
And pledge our loyalty
So why the Stalin-esque loyalty oath? And why is the little scallop shell talking to me?
1 comment:
I liked Niantic Center a lot more before they started putting huge mutant mollusks all over it. Their colorful tendrils frighten me as they must scare the bejesus out of any five-year-old who must pass under them to go to school.
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