My Life in Pictures
D. B. COOPER ELEMENTARY
My First Foray into Public Schooling
This is a picture of Cooper Elementary in the 1920s—my first elementary school. It's since closed due to budget cuts.
I never did figure out who Cooper was, so I eventually decided it
was legendary hijacker, DB Cooper.
I'm sure I'm right.
SIDEBAR: For those wondering who DB Cooper was, he was a legendary plane hijacker who took his loot (I don't know, $50,000?) and jumped out
of the plane in the middle of nowhere.
Searches of the area found some money (nowhere near the full amount), but never found a body. And the rest of the money was never recovered.
DB Cooper was never heard from again. He's a bit of a legend.
Back to Cooper (the school):
• I saw a dog get run over one recess. Some woman wasn't paying attention and she hit the poor little guy. A golden retriever. I freaked
out. She stopped and tried to assess the damage, which was a bleeding leg. I don't know if it was her goodwill or the fact that a playground
of youngsters were staring at her that made her do it, but she wrapped the dog in her jacket and put him in her car. Luckily, there was a vet
within two blocks (which I let the woman know).
I didn't sleep for a week wondering what happened to that dog, but I was too scared to find out.
• We had really weird health procedures done to us. I remember sitting in the gym/auditorium waiting to have a "sealant" applied
to the roof of my mouth. I have yet to meet anyone that has had this procedure done, either at school or at the dentist. I've even asked people
if they had a similar experience and they look at me weird.
We also had a mouthwash break every day when I was in second grade. We would stop the learning and the teacher would pass around little Dixie
cups of mouthwash. Our parents' had to sign a waiver to do this. I out and out refused. I thought it was stupid and pointless and told my parents
as much. They agreed. Fight the power!
• One week in third grade, we were studying space, planets, and the universe in class. Which was because a shuttle was about to launch.
The Challenger.
Our teacher was so excited that she even got permission to bring a TV into the classroom and let all her students watch the live broadcast
of the launch.
So here we were, 25 eager and excited third graders, ready to see our first shuttle launch.
And then it exploded.
Yep, bad day.
| 
