School’s out. Time to hand out the Facebooks.

As the clues below have given way to the inevitable solution, and as surely as nobody should stick around at a party after it’s stopped being fun, we bid goodbye to Worst Attitudes Ever today.

I started it in the wake of previous class sites to see if a group blog would be a good way to keep people in contact. My conclusion, based upon pageviews is this:

You’re all really interested in each other – you just don’t have the time to update each other.

Hence, as Mr. Akerman suggests, Mr. Gray seconds and I approve, WAE is going offline. But we have an alternative and it’s one Brad, Gary and I have been playing around with for a while.

Facebook, for the uninitiated, is a social network. Before you freak out – check it out. It’s very easy, and can even go through some of your email address books (GMail, Comcast, etc.) to see if your friends are onboard. We have set up a WHS86 Facebook group, which will simply be an aggregation of people’s Facebook updates. That way, there is a constant flow of information without the awkward “how come nobody’s updating this crap?” feeling.
So, we’ll still share news, pictures, videos and information. In many ways, this is a preferable alternative – you can post pics of your kids on your Facebook page and feel fairly secure, because only people you approve can see your stuff.

WAE was an experiment – and a bizarre one at that. I wouldn’t have come close to guessing we’d do nearly 70,000 pageviews in a year with this thing. I’d like to thank everyone who participated, contributed and read this. I see no reason to erase the site – it’s hosted for free and is now an excellent archive. We’re just going to end further updates.

Sign up for Facebook, and then look for us online. As always – feel free to email me with questions: steviesaf (at) Gmail (dot) com.

Thanks for letting me take a little part of your day occasionally this year.

Class dismissed. That’s some attitude you’ve got there. Good night, Ned Jennison, wherever you are.

So maybe it is time to talk about Facebook.

clue 3?

clue2?

A clue?

More pictures from the Katie Henderson Files

Kate “Katie Henderson” Helber has proven her remarkable photo archive extends beyond humiliating just me and can include lots of you, too.

OK. Even with no clues, I’m gonna nail this one… (Rear, L to R): Kim, Heidi, Dana. (Front, L to R) Chris, Ben, Rob. YES! (Well played with the thin tie, Conte.)

Katie resized the hell out of these. So I am left to conclude that Mark is:
1. Giving a very bad golf lesson
2. Playing “hand slap” with himself
3. Without a WHS football jersey but is gamely wearing an orange shirt in an effort to impress babes
4. About to tip over to the right  

“Attention students: The person who can pull up their socks the highest will win a pair of too-highly-cut Warriors gym shorts.”

 
PICK A HEADLINE:
1. Now, if you give kids a cake with big lips on it, you go to prison.
2. Even from space, you can see Krissy Blom’s hair
3.  Katie and her big mouth
4. Loker Class of 1980 holds up Steve’s nap mat
5.  The original cover of the party game “Where’s Nilson?”

Thanks for the shots, KH. As for the rest of you, send ‘em in and I promise to make up captions that make you wonder why you bothered.

Happy Birthday, Meira!

She’s cool. She helps Guatemalans. She’s 3’11″. She’s Meira, and today’s her birthday. Feliz cumpleaños, Meira, and damn you for being only 39.

Anna Meira Green Neggaz. (Actual size.)

From the ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ Files

(From Kate Henderson Helber) From the Loker School production of “Bye Bye Birdie,” 1980. While clearly cameras have improved, you can figure out who some people are. Enjoy. Steve, I can only hope these bring back memories you love. It was hilarious if I recall, and fun.

Steve and Katie (Steve is the midget)

We cleverly changed the location of the show to “Wayland.” 

Insert your own tagline here. 

 
Brad A. as Birdie and, I think, Brad C. in the shades on lead guitar  

Choreography consisted of us standing around a lot. 

Curtain call. Steve, bowing, is now 3 feet tall.  

Jack Russell on pants

In junior high, I was abused soundly for my choice in trousers. I liked to wear Army fatigues. It seemed as though, and I may be wrong, but that is why I said seems, that about 10% of the male population of our class was either beating me up, or having fun watching it. No Fun.

I just bought a pair of fatigues when I was at a thrift shop picking up a new chair for my home office (cheap). They had a pile of pants there and some were in my size. I am too chubby to be in the small range, and too skinny to be medium, so when I see pants that fit, man I buy them. Hey. These things are really comfortable. I am guessing that I will be ridiculed less at the garden center, now that I am nearly 40. I am really hoping not to get beat up.

Thanks, Steve.

I just developed these photos. There’s a great one of Steve. Look at that beautiful family.

Had you actually graduated from Wayland High School, Steve (and not just Loker, and WJHS) you’d know there’s a tradition of public school letter jackets. They were warm wool coats, designed for Metro West’s unforgiving weather, black as night, with orange accents that blinded non-Wayland residents. Folks like Flip, and Mike Short got their jackets by the end of Freshman year (or was it the end of eighth grade) and there were others, as active, as productive, but less sporty, who would eventually be rewarded with a new merit system. There were pins for the arts. (Unfortunately there was little recognition for Seth’s Y-Be-Fit achievements or Tim’s inventive airbrushing elective.)

There wasn’t a superlative for Most Class Spirit While Attending Another School nor for Class Webmaster, since there was no real internet in 1986. So, since there are no awards given out after high school we have to write longs posts like this.

Steve, thanks for keeping the class spirit alive. (Sorry there’s no pin.) I am sure Kerry, Kristin Richardi, Deb, Mark, and Sue Self would agree, what started out as a tireless effort by those humble visionaries has continued with you.

Happy Holidays.

Tim, Gary and the precious Hot Dog Trees of the northwest

They may not like to brag about it, but Tim Clemmey and Gary Gray are passionate about wood. These two pals from The ‘Pit still go to the forests of the great northwest every year to help protect that rarest of our national resources: our precious Hot Dog Trees:

Clem’s the one in the “HTT” shirt (Hotdog Tree Team), and Gary is wearing the official light-purple Polo all hearty lumberjacks wear these days. (This is camoflague in case the boys suddenly find themselves in a backwoods Yale James Joyce study group.) Here in the north woods, only the trained eye can spot a ripe hot dog, and it’s up to men like Gary and Clem to make sure our weiners can roam free in the wild.

John Secor & family donate new Wayland Historic District signs

Let’s hear it for John Secor who, along with his family, donated five new markers for the Wayland Center Historical District. The Secors donated the signs in memory of John’s mother, Shirley, who passed away in 2000. According to the Crier, Mrs. Secor served on the Historic District Commission and was active in the Wayland Historical Society. From the article:

 After her death, her family began to seek an appropriate way to memorialize her life.
“We approached the (Historic District Commission) with a donation,” her son John said, “and asked the commissioners to present ideas for how the funds could be used. Both Chris Hagger, who was head of the group at that time, and George Lewis, unofficial town historian, put some ideas together, and it was agreed that markers outlining the Wayland Center Historic District would be of great benefit.”

John (far left, green jacket) and a pretty cool way to remember and honor Mom.

(Photo from The Crier, uncredited.)

Help Brad make a difference

Help rebuild New Orleans with Brad.

http://www.makeitrightnola.org

Brannifer, 1981

Jennifer King and Brad Akerman. Jan. 3, 1981.

Aw yeah.