Introduction

Why is the call of nostalgia sometimes so strong?  The older I get the more time I spend looking back at childhood, particularly adolescence.  Maybe that’s just the way we’re wired or at least how I’m programmed.  Maybe it’s having children and rediscovering your experiences through them as they grow.  There are undoubtedly a multitude of factors that contribute to the desire for trips down memory lane.   It’s been 31 years since I was in 8^th grade.  My daughter will finish grammar school in June, just like I did back in 1989.  Watching her navigate her way through junior high has triggered in me the longing to review and reflect on that period of my life.  The ages between 11-14 are an extremely formative period.  Coaching grade school soccer and track has also undoubtedly rekindled my memories of 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade and how massively important sport was in my life.  The retro sneaker culture that has exploded in recent years is also a huge factor in helping me reconnect with my youth.  I was crazy about sneakers in the late 80’s and it was an integral part of my identity and style.  Maybe it’s because the sensations I felt at that age and the experiences I had were so vivid, felt so deeply, so vibrantly, that they engraved themselves in my consciousness forever.

8^th grade for me was to a large degree the last year of childhood, as it is for most adolescents I suppose.  It was also undisputedly, without question, the most fun that I had in school.  Friends, sports, sneakers, girls and music were my world.  I will do my best to take you back to that time, to the school year that was 1988-1989 at Gospel Outreach Christian School on Cullom Street between Ravenswood and Hermitage just off Montrose Avenue in Chicago. Please bear in mind that much of my recollections will be told through the lens of a 14 year old. Maturity and common sense were in short supply 😉

When September 1988 rolled around, I was 13 years old and I had been attending Gospel Outreach or G.O. as we’ll call it going forward for four of the past five years.  The decision to send me to this small, non-denominational, Christian school was largely driven by my sister Ann. She was my elder sister by 17 years and with whom I was living with along with her husband, Greg.  They were born again Christians.  My mother worked as a live-in housekeeper and I would only see her on the weekends.  My father had not been in the picture since the spring of 1980.  My mother was a devout Catholic, so in retrospect it was surprising that she acquiesced to Ann’s decision to send me to G.O.  However, my mother was someone who avoided confrontation at all costs and my sister had a forceful personality.  I was enrolled at G.O initially for 3^rd and 4^th grade.  Then, my mother’s Catholic guilt overcame her and in 5^th grade I attended the Catholic school St Edward’s before returning back to G.O for 6^th grade.  Honestly, St. Edward’s, was a good school and I probably should have stayed there.  But as I remember, I just wanted to go back to G.O to be with the kids who had become my friends in 3^rd and 4^th grade.  Friends were very, very important.  I felt very close to my friends at G.O.  My mother relented to my wishes and so for 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade, vitally important years academically in preparation for high school, I was back at good ol’ G.O.