2079 : THE PAPER BOY : Part VIII
• Growing up poor, we didn’t know we were poor
Growing up in Porterville was awesome. When we were little we had a baby sitter before we were big enough to be latch keys kids. That was back before Zalud Park. Zalud Park was just a drainage ditch with bike trails.
Our small town was so cool. Back then we were latch key kids and that meant we had some responsibility to keep the house locked up and safe. It also meant we had to get to and from school on our own and fend for ourselves in the afternoon.
We all loved to watch the Adams Family on TV for laughs but the sentiment on TV back then even in satire was about family values. The Adams Family in real life was awesome. The real Adams family were block parents and we had our own version of little rascals. Even if the TV was black and white we sat together and laughed together when Popeye the sailor ate his spinach and took care of the Bully Bluto.
Growing Up In Porterville Was Awesome
• • We were taught to protect each other and any others who were being bullied. • •
We were taught to protect each other and any others who were being bullied. We also learned that we all had a spinach point when we “had all we can stands and can’t stands no more.” At some point we all eat the spinach and whether its mama bear protecting her cubs or Herman Munster taking matters into his own hands it was about restoring what was good right and just. We were raised with family values and the Adams’ were a second family to us and kids respected adults and authority properly.
We spent the after school hours at the Adams’ house where many fond memories were made. I went to West Putnam School at the time but I had to take a bus to Belleview then walk to baby sitters. Mom would pick us up later after work.
When we moved to the east side of Porterville we still had to make our way to Belleview for a couple of years before we transferred to Roche Ave. I went to Bartlett Jr High and then Porterville High. It was cool in High School because I went to three different elementary schools so I knew quite a few kids at Monache from my younger years. It was great to compete with childhood friends in High school that I had not seen in years.
•
Life in Porterville was phenomenal competing in sports in all the schools
Life in Porterville was phenomenal competing in sports in all the schools. Back in those days there were fully furnished and staffed metal shops and wood shops in Jr high where many of us made things that turned into Birthday and Christmas gifts.
It was an idyllic time. We enjoyed school, mostly because of sports and friends not necessarily academics. To be socialized in School in that time was to learn skills that you could use when you grew up.
I met “Dollar Bill” in the 5th grade at Roche Avenue, we were both outcasts and didn’t fit in with the class at first. But we learned to study together and helped each other sounding out words and then acing the spelling tests. We had this method (phonics) where we sounded out all of the letters so we could remember how to spell the words. BO-LOG-NA the Oscar Meyer commercial helped a lot too, as we sang the jingle about our bologna having a first name.
What words are they getting our kids to spell today? Do they teach the theory of sexual pronouns now and reject the original pronouns like Mr. and Mrs? Are terms like Ladies and Gentlemen still considered honorable ways to address a crowd? How did we get to where we treat grown-ups like kids, and kids like grownups? Lord help us, we have slowly succumbed to the inversion of our culture over the years.
In Junior high started a chess club after the urging of Hans Borm. What a great teacher he was. He was a war vet and he taught us a lot of great lessons from his experience. His wisdom about life proved invaluable and we launched a chess club in the back of his large math room.
Not to be outdone Mr. Sewell had an elective course we thoroughly enjoyed about Wars. We watched old black and white news reels and learned history through the lense of wars. It was awesome. Arguably one of the best classes of my educational career.
We did a bunch of fundraisers that helped us travel to tournaments and purchase speed chess sets for the club. We sold sodas at lunch and played chess on the first computers with floppy disks. The Apple II computers were only green screen and small monitors but to a bunch of kids that grew up with corded phones and UHF that was big technology back then.
•
We were always trying to figure out how to earn money in those days
We were always trying to figure out how to earn money in those days in a small town with limited opportunities you have to get creative. It was a great time, we met a lot of kids from schools large and small in our tournaments.
Some of the chess competitors we met through “Math Superbowl” where several of us would compete in advance math. We liked math and excelled at it and competing as a team in the city a time or two in the finals. We were geeks and nerds.
I remember I got my picture in the paper back in Jr High in the Bartlett library after beating a 3200 rated chess player. I was the only student who beat him but he was playing all 32 kids in the club tournament at the same time. It was great bragging rights and I later became the president of the Chess Club.
Dollar Bill became vice president and my brother Brian was the secretary. We were kings (nerds - geeks) in Jr High and the sky was the limit. Being poor never held us back we were hopeful resilient and creative. We figured out that we could buy a case of bubble gum at the store and sell the pieces for a quarter and triple our money in a week.
Being Poor Never Held Us Back
We Were Hopeful Resilient and Creative
That was super cool because the gum was banned in school that made it more lucrative and we were providing a service and making friends through bubble gum who we also sold chocolates and sodas at the chess room every day at lunch.
Dollar Bill lived on 3rd street a couple doors down from Eddie Harris. Later in High School Eddie played varsity Basketball and then later he played for the Pirates at PC. We were all poor but it didn’t matter we figured it out and we were more family centered back then. We were always making things and bartering or selling things to get by. It was normal to make your own refried beans and homemade butter pickles.
Big Jerry Bill’s dad had a little wood shop at the house and we made all kinds of things to sell at the swap meet to make ends meet. I remember hearing stories about a little side job for Ed Hood repossessing cars which was crazy dangerous. It was always an adventure. Years Later Bill opened a Car lot in Visalia and became Dollar Bill.
•
Years Later Bill opened a Car lot in Visalia and became Dollar Bill.
This was the time that kids would make fun of each other if they wore clothes from Kmart. It was also a time when kids would make fun of us for bringing our own lunch. So when we were able to make some money and buy lunch it was a treat.
Convincing my mom to give the whole weeks lunch money at once took some wrangling and promises to clean my room. We used that money to get the bubble gum business going so we could play video games. Throwing newspapers was just another in the wide variety of things we would do to earn money.
The Latch Key kids had to be resourceful. We had to figure out how to get to school. We had to figure out how to get home. We had to look out for ourselves. We had to look out for others. We had to make sure we were on-time. We had to make sure our home was secure when we got home. We had to make our own food.
We all had responsibilities at home which made us accountable and self-reliant. Most of the time our parents worked so if we wanted to do something we had to do it on our own because they were exhausted when they got home.
Kids Today Are So Coddled
They Have Little Chance To Learn Basic Skills
Kids today are so coddled they have little chance to learn these basic skills. We had to be rugged individuals who had to think critically and be creative. We were more self-reliant, responsible and accountable as a result.
We had to be creative to get things done because things were not done for us like today. We matured early as a result. The result was kids were ready to move out on their own even as teenagers and we were all driving by age 16 and some of us before that. We had to grow up and mature at a young age and it was a good thing.
•
We had to grow up and mature at a young age and it was a good thing.
I used to think that kids in my generation were more self-reliant than kids in the current generation. However I have changed my thinking on this somewhat. Kids are still self-reliant they are just self-reliant on more useless things. Kids today are very good at things with screens and eating junk food. Versus having some responsibility that required exercise and physical skills.
Kids in my generation were more apt to learn how to cook than kids today that live on packaged food and microwaves. Packaged food is likely not good for them as evidenced by the obesity epidemic. Why do poor kids have higher rates of obesity? Why do we have some children with carpal tunnel type injuries at very young ages? Yes kids today are self-reliant but more often than not on many unhealthy things.
Contrast that with today where kids don’t grow up until they are in the mid 20’s if ever. Kids are not driving until they are in their 20’s and kids are still living at home at a very high rate. Despite being more poor back then because of inflation kids have a harder time moving out because they can’t afford it. Can you say Infantilism?
Kids are now likely living off the equity in their parents’ house to go to college to earn a degree. Most degrees will not translate to a job good enough to even pay back the loan for the education. Parents are stuck with the bill in other cases. There are many contrasts between generations.
•
I’m glad I grew up in a time where kids were more mature at a young age.
I’m glad I grew up in a time where kids were more mature at a young age. Boys new they were boys and girls knew they were girls. The ones that were confused sorted it out eventually. We all had empathy for the underdogs if they were bullied, we protected them. We seldom ran to a teacher and complained about sticks and stones or being offended. I look at today’s generation as a self-seeking, narcissistic unreliable, unengaged and unaccountable for the most part.
Most of my friends that did not go to college became very successful. We were raised with more critical thinking and more hands on trades and shop classes. Necessity is the mother of invention and we learned to be resourceful, reliable and dependable. In short we had to do more with less.
Family values are full of meaning and purpose and real value had less to do with how much money you had. That did not make us poor in spirit it made us rich in spirit despite being relatively poor.
Kids Need Challenges That Come With Maturing At A Young Age
Kids need challenges that come with maturing at a young age. We used to be able to go to the schools and play almost anytime we wanted when we were kids. That is missing and needs to be restored.
Sports and competition teach values of hard work accomplishment and empathy. The values of sportsmanship through winning and losing are great life lessons. Empathy and Integrity must be taught and sportsmanship is an excellent way to accomplish that. Participation trophies were for losers.
There is no reason to coddle kids the way we do today
unless you think spoiled and rotten is a social good.
