Where I'm From
I am Joan Margaret Griffin
I am from two queens, one Greek, one English,
And a Hebrew “Gift from God.”
I am from myths: A lion with head and wings of an eagle,
Who collects and guards golden treasure.
I am from England, Wales, and Germany,
From devote Quakers with black hats and white bonnets,
Early colonists who came on small ships.
I am from New England whaling captains, Southern backwoods hillbillies,
And hard-working Midwest farmers.
I am from SoCal, from “The Valley,”
From an “oops!” mistake, and “We choose you!” at LA County adoption.
I am from skates with keys, tree houses, kickball on Newton Street, forts in the vacant lot,
And “Be home before the streetlights come on!”
I am from swimming pools, with black stripes and starting blocks,
And from hair turned green from chlorine.
From jump-rope and jacks, black-and-white TV and Barbie dolls.
I am from homework done at the dining room table, and books consumed under the covers,
From The Beatles and The Monkees, Gilligan’s Island and Leave It To Beaver.
I am from road trips in the station wagon and 8mm family movies.
I am from lasagna made from scratch, and homemade meatloaf with instant mashed potatoes.
From ice cream cakes, Mom’s famous Lemon Snow Pie,
And Dad’s silver-dollar-sized pancakes, only on Sunday mornings.
I am from Spartans and Bruins, and football games at the Rose Bowl,
From sun, sand, and sailboats, wetsuits, and zinc oxide,
Freckles and sunburn that blisters and peels.
On one side, I am from strong silent adventuring men,
On the other, from wild and worrying women.
I am granddaughter, daughter,
I am Joan Margaret Griffin
Doing what your students do is the best way to be a teacher: to have beginner's mind, to practice what you teach, to put yourself in your students' shoes. Thanks for sharing yourself - your beautiful self. I can picture you using a skate key and it reminds me of Carole King: "I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a brand new key." I haven't visited your blog in awhile. It's nice to be "back."
ReplyDeleteI can certainly see the long and varied history in you, Joan ... from the lions to the midewest farmers! I love this poem, and did the same exercise with my teacher education students a while ago. Most of them were aghast with the idea of a black and white TV (You mean, there wasn't any COLOR?!), and even more aghast with the fact that you had to actually get up to change the channel! Of course, in our day, there were only about 5 channels, and they all bleeped off to that rainbow of stripes (well, shades of gray) at midnight. I look forward to being in touch with you this way!
ReplyDeleteThe gap between Leave it to Beaver and the Monkees is fairly large. That you remember them is interesting, given that the Monkees were on and off television between 1966 & 1968, and Beaver never really made it to color when he went his own way in 1963 after only six years (both short lived by the standards in those days along with Gilligan's three full seasons between '64 and '67). I must confess i preferred Bob Denver as Maynard G Krebs than Gilligan.
ReplyDeleteune petite caveat: the roller skate song was by Melanie (a woman my age), written back in 1972. Her first big hit was Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) first released in 1969, when Joan was growing up. She is still performing, now with her adult son playing lead classical guitar.
Yes, Leave it to Beaver... I watched as a little kid in black-n-white... there wasn't any color... The Monkees I was in love with in junior high.
ReplyDeleteManynard G Krebs and Dobby Gillis were before my time, only saw them as reruns... but Gilligan's Island I knew as a 10-year-old. Just a handful of years makes all the difference in what our landmark TV icons are.
The rollerskate song by Melanie came out my senior year in high school... long after skate keys were replaced by lace-up skates.
When cleaning out my parents garage recently, I found an old skate key on a yarn lanyard in my dad's tool box... probably worth a few dollars as an antique!!