Stanley M. Siegel

...because if you don't write it down, it will be lost forever.

                      

Penrod climbed upon a barrel, stood on tiptoe,
grasped the rim of the box; then, using a knot-hole
as a stirrup, threw one leg over the top, drew himself
up, and dropped within.

 Standing upon the packed sawdust, he was just tall enough to see over the top.

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Why Penrod? All I can remember -- about books from my childhood -- is that Booth Tarkington's "Penrod" series were books that I read over and over again.

I don't really remember the stories, don't remember if Penrod was a childhood idol.

I do remember, however, that I liked the books and they, along with another "magic orange filter" book which I received when I had the measles, are high on my lis of rememberances.

Go figure!

 

 

Schools...

I must have, I think, gone to Cheder (Hebrew School) at B'nai Isaac on Avenue P, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn -- but I don't remember any details.

As I said earlier, my first "real" school was Yeshiva Ohel Moshe on Bay Parkway (remember the TV series "Brooklyn Bridge?" Well, the Jewish Community House (JCH) is where "they" played basketball and did other stuff). My Yeshiva was in that JCH.

I entered kindergarten there earlier than I would have in Public School, so when I went to First Grade (at P.S. 177 on Kings Highway and West 1st Street) I was many months to almost a year older than the rest of my classmates. Don't remember much about 177, except we had a playground on the roof -- it was all fenced in and "escape proof." Since we (my grandparents and my mother lived on West 8th street, my grandmother wheeled me in a baby carriage, to and from school, the full 8 blocks to school. I'm not sure how long that lasted, but at some time I was deemed old enough to walk. I remember, too, the penny candy vendor who plied the school corner --shoe leather (pressed sheets of dried apricot), coconut pieces, licorice, and other sweet stuff.

From P.S. 177 I went to Seth Low Junior High School (P.S. 96) on Avenue P and west 12th street. The walk was a piece of cake, closer, and my legs were longer by then.

At Seth Low, I remember Principal Bildersee, and my Electric Shop teacher Mr. Foy (how can I forget, he introduced the class to electricity by having each student hold to metal rods and he applied an electric current so we would know what a shock felt like). I also had Wood Shop and assorted other classes such as Math, English, History, Geography, Hygiene, etc.

For reason unclear, near the end of my stint at Seth Low, I applied (or someone applied for me) to Peter Stuyvesant High School -- a science major school -­ in New York City. I was supposed to go the Lafayette High School with the rest of my Seth Low graduates, but I was accepted to Stuyvesant (I was told it was a great honor) and started there instead.

Stuyvesant was on West 15th and West 16th Street (the school was a whole city block wide). I took the BMT Line (Brooklyn Manhattan Transfer train) from Kings Highway in Brooklyn to 14th Street (Union Square) in New York -- it took about an hour each way. At Union Square I walked the few blocks to Stuyvesant.

Don't remember much. I played basketball and earned a "Letter" for my effort. I met my first African-American -- Booker Washington -- who was in many of my classes. It was an interesting time, but, as I said, I don't remember much.

I should have graduated from Stuyvesant after 4 years, but as I was growing older I became more "worldly" -- I neglected to mention that Stuyvesant was an all-boys school. So, in my Junior year, I managed a transfer from Stuyvesant to James Madison High School back in Brooklyn. Madison was "out of my home district" but as a Stuyvesant transferee I was able to go Madison. Madison was on Bedford Avenue just off Kings Highway and my cousins Fred and Robert Shear (who lived on East 23rd Street, just two blocks from Madison) went there.

Madison was, then at least, considered an upscale public High School based upon its neighborhood. Lafayette (where I was supposed to go) was not so.

I remember some of my "friends" from Madison -­ Kiki Bader (who is now Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice of the United States Supreme Court), Ruth Sussman, Charlotte Suchard, and other guys and girls whose names escape me. I still have my Madison High School Yearbook, The Log, and when I get around to it, I'll update this paragraph.

On to my next level of education --check the "Colleges" link above.
 

more to come (maybe)...

If you want/need to reach me, email me at: stan@stanleymsiegel.com just click on the address.