Another reunion? That's within the realm of possibility. And why not? A celebration is in order, and weren't we ever the party animals?... Okay, that's a joke, but yes, a reunion has been mentioned for 2014.

_______

 

In 1913, over 50,000 veterans of the American Civil War got together for the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. There were soldiers from both sides, shaking hands, swapping stories, and breaking bread together.

 

Numbers can be disconcerting at times. We all probably know people who aren't particularly superstitious, but who take special care come Friday the 13th. (Fear of the number 13 is called triskaidekaphobia, in case you don't already know.)

There are other numbers various groups of people try to avoid.  666 comes to mind for certain Christians, as does the number 39 in Afghanistan, which for some reason is associated with pimps. 

How about the number 50? Not saying this is a number you'd otherwise avoid, but didn't you take notice of your fiftieth birthday? The Big 5-0?

Get ready for this, remember our 40th Class Reunion? Well, not too far in the future looms another reunion date of note, like, you know, our 50th. Don't be dismayed, it's just a number. But we can use it as an excuse to get together again and share a few stories and see old friends.

If it should come about, take this opportunity seriously. 

_________

 

Your wurdguy filling space:  Barbie and BJU.

On a slow Saturday in the fall of 1960, our classmate Tommy Barnett and I were walking aimlessly up Main Street, when something caught our eye.  In the show window of a 5 & 10 cent store was Barbie. One of the very first Barbies, all anatomically correct and just everything. 

Not that we had any expertise in the field, but we’d never, ever seen a doll exuding such pulchritude.  While we were only fourteen years old, we couldn’t help but marvel at the audacity of Barbie’s design, the sheer marketing genius behind her creation.  Mostly though, we were taken with her anatomical correctness.

We had less than five seconds to enjoy the moment before we were accosted by an itinerant preacher. In those days, male students at Bob Jones University over in Greenville were encouraged to sharpen their testimonial skills on Joe Citizen. The prevailing theory as to where the best place to snag Joe apparently was when Joe was walking the streets of Spartanburg. Leastways that's my theory about the theory.

Poor guy.  We may have looked like innocent teenyboppers, but the sight of the little plastic seductress had triggered within us an intense adolescent curiosity.  When the Jonesian approached, Tommy and I started snickering, then laughing. We couldn’t stop. “What’s the matter?” the young man kept asking.  

The seconds ticked away as we suffered our agony of mirth. He got madder and madder at our reaction to him, but never noticed that which was in the store window behind us.  He was a real square daddy, no way he was going to dig where we were coming from.  I may have been immature, even for a  fourteen-year-old, but I already knew there were things you'd better not try to explain to an adult, much less a young man not that much older than us.

There are good things to say about Bob Jones University.  Like they have a notable collection of artwork done by minor but thoroughly competent Renaissance artists; they’ve put on some credible Shakespearean productions over the years; and their alumni, as a group, don’t seem to be afraid of work. That said, I also share basic core beliefs with those espoused by BJU, and I have some understanding of their motivation.

The young man who'd walked up to us, well, he’d caught us at the wrong time. Fact is, Tommy and I were true children of the ‘50s, and it wasn’t in our nature to be disrespectful to cops, teachers, or street evangelists.  Hopefully our guy went on to worthier, more receptive audiences.

Way the bye, Barbie’s boyfriend Ken came out in 1961.  Ken’s shorts were non-removable. 

_______