Getting paddled in front of big spiders

Okay, I couldn’t resist posting this early 80s memorabilia. It’s my 6th grade class. Someone put this up on Facebook recently, and I laughed ’til it hurt. Can you guess which one is me? Red shirt, standing in front of the left column. Yes, that’s totally Morgan Fairchild feathered hair and a rolled-up pink bandanna around my neck. So classy. I’m pretty sure I was into Def Leppard and Van Halen (Diamond Dave era) at this point, so that might’ve been my attempt at looking all Rocker Chick at age 11. The best part about seeing this? I remember sooooo many of these kids (including one of my favorite people in the world, still to this day, Alyce).

A few of the kids in this photo (who, like  me, certainly aren’t kids anymore) recalled that the principal (who wasn’t much of a “pal”) not only kept a pet tarantuala named Hawkeye in his office, but also possessed a big wooden paddle with air holes. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up. And for the record? Oh yeah: I got paddled. I think my little brother did, too. Some other kids I knew got it more than once. I’m pretty sure that if you sneezed, you got paddled. Crazy how that was totally normal back then. Ah, good times…