Weird Wednesday: First day of school.

Not for me. Those days are way behind me, although I have had many.

First day of nursery school (Pre-K they call it now). I came home and said I didn’t want to go anymore because all they did was play and I wanted to learn stuff.
First day of Kindergarten. My teacher was either a mean old lady or a sweet one. I don’t remember.
First day of Junior High (grade 7 and 8). After ruling the elementary school as grade sixers, we were at the bottom again.
First day of high school. We moved to a new town, so I had to start my whole life from scratch. Thanks, Dad. Again, had to start at the bottom of the food chain.
First day of college. Nothing like starting college not being of legal age to drink. I learned how to get around that.
First day of a new college. I transferred for some reason. But I could finally buy booze, so …
First day of another college. Sense a trend? I invented “pivoting” before it was trendy. Spent three years in one city.
First day of university. For the American readers, university and college are not the same. Canadian colleges offer diplomas in trades, arts, nursing/medical, etc. , while universities are for degree programs.
First day of university (again). Yeah, I graduated from the first one, but went back many years later because I missed the parties.

A lot of things have changed since that first first day.

Chalkboards became smartboards (no more breathing in chalk dust – that couldn’t have been good)
Getting the strap for misbeha— Whoa! Yeah, you can’t get away with that.
No technology, unless you count slide projectors and mimeographs (ahh, the smell of warm ink)
Inclusivity.

What hasn’t changed is that anyone no matter the age is excited and nervous on their first day.

Good luck, everyone. Make the best of your time in school.

-Leon

My newsletter goes out on Wednesdays:

Lines by Leon Newsletter: Sept 7

Read The View from Here on KU.

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/