The Second Seven Years
My second cycle of seven years continued at our Houston home. I made my way through elementary school and entered seventh grade at Hamilton Junior High School. I remember lots of details about elementary school—seatwork in second grade, the Indian notebooks we made, getting in trouble for walking back to my seat doing a fancy little sidestep, going to "Rhythms" with Jerry Basden, playing hopscotch on the playground, getting the privilege of cleaning the chalkboard erasers in Mrs. Welhausen's third grade class, being the fastest person in third grade, answering extra credit "fish bowl" questions in fourth grade, using the encyclopedia, having a refugee from Cuba in our fourth grade class, practicing for nuclear attacks by sitting under our desks or in the hallway, winning seven blue ribbons for poetry writing in fifth grade, being the campaign manager for Arthur Santa Anna Centeno's bid for mayor of the school, hearing the news about P...