Reviews from

A Particular Friendship

Viewing comments for Chapter 37 "Rough Beginnings"
We meet Lizzy who has just come out of the convent

10 total reviews 
Comment from Brett Matthew West
Excellent
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Became a teacher because most of your memories of school were "pretty bad." Somehow, they seem polar opposites of each other.

Becoming an initiator appeared to have improved several aspects for you.

Seems June's throwing rulers was more of a game for her to see how irritated she could make the teacher.

Do not see how paste could be yummy.

In Notes at bottom of posting "had had my" should probably read had not had my.

 Comment Written 16-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 17-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your amusing review. I think they no longer flavor the paste for kids anymore because I can imagine they knew kids were eating quite a bit of the paste. It had a really nice flavor to it. It wasn't any flavor I could name. It wasn't peppermint. I think we enjoyed eating it also because it was a deviant thing. lol
Comment from tfawcus
Excellent
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A fascinating read. How cruel school years can be. I like the inherent lesson here that a change of attitude can be life changing. It is so easy to be a victim, but sometimes only a change of perspective is needed. .

 Comment Written 12-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 12-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your compassionate review. Perspective does make the difference doesn't it?
Comment from ABC123XYZ
Good
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I found this to be an engaging read! And then I ran into some editing errors that interrupted my focus. I think you will find the mistakes easily if you reread this with a fresh mind. I believe you are also missing "I" in the first sentence of the last paragraph. I do look forward to reading more of this emerging memoir!

 Comment Written 11-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 11-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your engaging review . I'm glad you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more I'm glad you enjoyed my work. If you would be interested in peeking at some of the past chapters, you're welcome to do that and don't feel any need to write a review. Just enjoy it.
reply by ABC123XYZ on 11-Apr-2024
    Thank you for the suggestion! That sounds like a good idea for my next quiet afternoon!
reply by the author on 11-Apr-2024
    ***smile**
Comment from BethShelby
Excellent
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This does sound as though you weren't nurtured the way you should have been. I'd remember some of you early stories about games your brother which made me think you had a happy childhood. Now it sounds as though I was mistaken.

 Comment Written 08-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your compassionate review. Everything around my neighborhood was wonderful. We got along so well and my brother and I got along wonderfully. Things on down by the brook were fine. It was once we crossed over into where the more elite kids lived that we ran into bullying. So I do have some wonderful memories of my childhood. It just kind of went sour when I went to school, until 5th grade, you'll see that things got better for me.
Comment from Carol Hillebrenner
Excellent
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We seem to have similar school experiences. I was left-handed but my teacher said there were to be no left-handed students so my left hand was tied to my chair for two years. If you were given an IQ test it was one more reason your teacher may not have liked you as highly creative people do terribly on IQ tests. I also proved to be good at baseball by fourth grade when I got a new teacher.

 Comment Written 07-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your vulnerable review. Goosebumps my mother had her left hand tied behind her back also. They were still practicing that at your time? I wonder if the teacher grew up as a child in that era maybe the teacher was originally left-handed too My mother became ambidextrous. I always did terribly in the IQ test. Thank you for your insight makes me feel better.
reply by Carol Hillebrenner on 08-Apr-2024
    She thought left-handed people were stupid and were not worth teaching.
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Left has some derogatory meanings also. Out in left field left field left out, left over. When anyone that uses the word right, it's all a positive meaning right?
    I appreciate you continuing this line of thought the more we hear from another left-handed person I think the better off will be. I don't know if I told you but when I was in the convent I was using the vegetable peelers. None of them were working so I started throwing them away. Tell your sister's wondered why I was growing them away They weren't fine for them. Then I realized it was because they must have beenpurposed forHey right handed person, LikeNow I love my peeler It's you probably have one too It's a like a one little handle with aLittle bit of a squareBlade on out of something huhhard to describeBut you know what I mean.
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    The French word for left is gauche... How goes of them. Sinestra is left. We were children of the devil. Splashes with holy water
Comment from barbara.wilkey
Excellent
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It's a shame what some teachers were allowed to get away with. No child should ever be harmed, in any way by a teacher. Yet, it happened and still does. Thank you for sharing.

I invited others and we had a great time. (comma after 'others' because you switched subjects.)

 Comment Written 07-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your compassionate review you are right even when I was teaching i saw other teachers being so cold.
Comment from jim vecchio
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

I could have told you that you were a beautiful and intelligent woman. My wife was left-handed and I always thought left-handed people were smarter. The only thing she couldn't do was write, as you do. I identify with many of your memories. I remember fingernail inspection and soaking my fingers diligently before school. And tht paste!

 Comment Written 07-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your delightful review. We left Handers are pretty outstanding. I have a funny story of when I was in the convent and I was using the vegetable parer and none of them worked so I was starting to throw them in the wastebasket. The other sisters wondered why I had thrown them in the wastebasket I said, "they don't work. It was because there were four right-handed people. So now I have a really cool peeler that's like a square on top of a handle. It works perfectly.
reply by jim vecchio on 08-Apr-2024
    When my wife was alive, we engaged in aq Church project once collating and inserting pages in a booklet. We never got in each other's way and worked well together because of the difference.
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    Too many people think that there's a problem if there's a if there's differences between people but it sounds like you and your wife found the secret.
reply by jim vecchio on 08-Apr-2024
    Most of the time, at least!
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    A nice memory though huh
reply by jim vecchio on 08-Apr-2024
    Very nice!
Comment from LateBloomer
Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level

Hi Liz, school can be difficult, and the last thing that any child needs is a whack-o teacher. Reflecting back on the teachers that I have had, most of them were very good. However, when I was in high school, there was one Nun/Sister who had a screw loose. I looked her up a few years ago, and she is retired. There was a part of me that wanted to write her a letter and reiterate some of the whack-o things she did, like picking up a whole desk and throwing it down the aisle because it wasn't perfectly lined up. She caught her foot on the desk and tripped which angered her immensely. She really did need a chill pill, and that is just one example of some of the things she did.

Liz, what you went through in your early school years was mean and cruel. Those teachers should have been suspended.

Of note:

-- I was already beginning to be bullied by the kids and now this heartless woman just confirmed that.

(Bullying has always been a big problem in schools, and it's even a bigger and more deadly problem in today's society. I can understand why a child who is being bullied would not want to go to school. The biggest problem is that the school make the child who is being bullied transfer to a different school while the bully goes unscathed.)

--This teacher would also be the one to wash my 3rd-grade mouth out with soap when I tattled on my 1st-grade ruler nemesis

(In today's world that Teacher would be arrested for assault and child endangerment.)

--I noticed a change was taking place. My classmates began to respect me for my home runs and pitching ability.

(They finally saw how awesome you really were.)

--We held sinister gins as we secretly gorged ourselves with yummy forbidden paste.

(Q. Was the gins, alcoholic gin? What is the yummy forbidden paste?)

A story of the pain of the trial and tribulations of early school years. I'm sorry that you had to go through this, but that experience made you One great teacher. Well done. Today, you wrote something brave. Margaret







--Para 6, last two lines - puntuation/missing comma ... I resolve(,) if there is a time when face clocks with the hands becomes obsolete, I will strap a dead face watch on my wrist to make the translation.

--


 Comment Written 07-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 07-Apr-2024
    There is so much to comment to you. first of all it was sinister grins. Thank you for catching that. It sounds like because nuns were treated like children, they ended up acting like children in front of children.
    We will progress to older years in high school I mean older years in school.
    The one who was always calling no more players no more cucumbers has passed on So now maybe she is helping me in some other way. That's what I like to think of people who abused me and have passed on. We'll see a few in seventh grade.
    Thank you for following along.
reply by LateBloomer on 07-Apr-2024
    Hi Liz,
    RE: The one who was always calling no more players no more cucumbers has passed on So now maybe she is helping me in some other way.

    (Interesting that she has passed on. I'm finding that more and more people who "tried" to do me dirty in business have passed on prematurely. Perhaps, living an unscrupulous life causes a premature death. Hopefully, my "friends" will do better in the afterlife. M
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    The same for me. a boy in the eighth grade who ruined my joy of dancing because he made fun of boys who danced with me has passed on. And another boy who bullied me, has passed on. Interesting theory. It's as if the lived the life they were supposed to live in this lifetime and have moved on fortunately to be a better person in the next life time. That is the way I have resolved the kids who molested me and bullied me in whether they are alive yet or not. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing in this lifetime to learn what they were supposed to learn and for me to learn what I was supposed to learn.
reply by LateBloomer on 08-Apr-2024
    I believe in Karma. The God and the Universe take care of nasty, evil people.
    M
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    There's a wonderful book called People of the Lie by F Scott Fitzgerald I think his name is or something like that. He talks about people who have no conscience We've probably met up with many people who have no conscience and those are the ones that karma of takes care of. It's on pdf on line
reply by LateBloomer on 08-Apr-2024
    I will check it out. I like Scott, and I also like Hemmingway. They were buddies, or so I think. M
reply by the author on 08-Apr-2024
    M Scott Peck & there are free pdf of it on line. They don't let us put links on here so I can't put you a link but you can find it. It was one in particular that just blew me away one of the cases Oh my gosh it's about a boy with a gun.
Comment from lyenochka
Excellent
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I'm glad you did get therapy and can review your past in a different line when you weren't a victim but a bright and inviting light to others.
That PE/Health teacher was awful!
In fact, all those teachers sound terrible and you had to deal with being lefthanded at a time educators didn't really know how to help.

I didn't understand the last sentence: "We held sinister gins as we secretly gorged ourselves with yummy forbidden paste. " What is a "sinister gin"?

 Comment Written 07-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 07-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your delightful review and for your lovely sentiments. That is supposed to say sinister grin.
Comment from patcelaw
Excellent
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This is a very well written infection story. Your paragraphing your sentence structure is very good. I enjoyed listening to it very much and I wish you the very best with all of your writing and may you have a good weekend. Patricia .

 Comment Written 06-Apr-2024


reply by the author on 06-Apr-2024
    Thank you for your delightful, uplifting review.