My formal education began in Madison, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. The war was over. We lived in a cookie-cutter house in a cookie-cutter subdivision hastily build for returning service men who had fought the Germans or Japanese or both. My first grade class and all other classes were totally segregated as were all schools in the South and probably the North as well, though at the time I knew little about life outside of middle Tennessee.
All schools were "neighborhood" schools which meant we could easily walk to school and back home each day without fear of anything but neighborhood dogs. Cool for a boy was wearing high top canvas tennis shoes and jeans and no shoes during the summers. Don't remember what was cool for girls 'cause I was afraid of them and avoided them as much as possible. There were two in my class that I liked to look at though.
We started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance, a short Bible reading and the Lord's Prayer. Did this warp my id? No it did not. Did it violate my civil rights? Not at all. Did some parents get their underwear in a wad? Not that I know of. Did the ACLU step in to protect our young minds? Never heard of the ACLU then. Life was so simple and fun.
One could purchase a six pack of Coke for 25 cents. A loaf of bread was 15 cents and a movie ticket was 50 cents. One soft drink from a vending machine was 7 cents (those pennies were still useful).
I had one brother five years younger than me. My dad worked for a car dealership in Nashville and life seemed pretty good. Mom was a typical housewife of the time. She had never learned to drive a car, so travel around town for errands was by city bus. Could ride just about anywhere for a nickle. Yes, the buses were segregated as well with blacks having to sit on the long bench seat in the back. If it was full, they had to stand in the back even if there were empty seats elsewhere. I never gave such a thought then as that's just the way things were.
My mother was an only child. My dad had three brothers and two sisters. They were all tobacco farmers. I would spend at least two weeks each summer at one of my uncles' farms. There were many cousins. But those summers were not always fun and games. I was introduced to chopping, suckering, cutting and hanging tobacco in the barn, along with riding a wheat combine, baling hay and milking a cow. Those big, green tobacco worms were nasty.
Being from the big city I did not enjoy using the 'outhouse' and taking a bath only once a week. Bedtime on the farm was not long after nightfall. There was no tv, in fact no electricity. Talking, reading and playing checkers were done with the illumination of kerosene lamps. The days started early with the milking of usually only three cows. The buckets of milk were strained through a cloth when brought into the house. It sat for a while to allow the cream to rise to the top. The cream was ladled off and both were stored in the cellar to cool. One acquired a taste for unpasteurized milk and the cream poured over store-bought cereal was a taste of heaven.
Many hens provided fresh eggs. Hogs were raised for bacon, ham and chitlins. Cows for milk and beef. One never got emotionally attached to a farm animal. A politician should never get too attached to his (her) ego.
"Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it." -Ronald Reagan
'Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases : If it moves,tax it.If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it' -R. Reagan
