Some Fun Memories of Homecoming Pep Rallies!

One last picture of fall at the cabin!

Today while I was on Facebook, I was reminded of some really fun activities we used to do at Homecoming time for school pep rallies. This will be a blast from the past for many of you. I am referring to some of the lip syncs teachers (including me, of course) and students did. The Facebook post mentioned the Pointer Sisters and that triggered a memory of a lip sync we did at North Park High School for a pep rally that brought down the house! (It would be totally politically incorrect nowadays!) It was not done to make any kind of statement but just for fun and to fire up the team and the crowd!  We certainly did that!  The song was “I’m So Excited” and we had the makeup and costumes and dance moves to go with it!  It was so much fun and everyone saw a whole different side to some of their teachers! Anyone else remember that?  It was some time in the 1980’s I’m thinking!

Another lip sync we did was not the teachers but the first public speaking class I ever taught. I was “flying by the seat of my pants” teaching speech. I had taken Speech as a very shy sophomore in high school. Our teacher was a highly recognized teacher in Wisconsin and probably nationwide!  We all loved her. I tried to pattern my class after hers and I must say it was my favorite class to teach because it was so much fun and I could see my students grow and improve so much in one semester!  Early in the class I tried to do some “bonding” exercises to loosen everybody up.  It was getting close to Halloween and I decided we needed to do a lip sync just for fun in class. We picked Monster Mash and it turned out to be so much fun and really showcased another side to many of the students that we signed up for the lip sync at the next pep rally!  That was fun! 

I don’t think I could talk enough teachers into doing a lip sync in Owyhee but I do remember some student council kids doing skits at the pep rallies. When I was transferred to West Wendover it was a whole new experience in lip syncing for me!  You need to know a little background about the school before I talk about lip syncing in this town. 

Many of you know that Wendover is in 2 states. Utah and Nevada. The Nevada side is called West Wendover. For years there was one high school on the Utah side and one Grade School on the Nevada side. Both school districts (and states) cooperated on the students’ education. About 3 years after I started teaching in Elko County School District, due to financial and political issues, each state decided to build their own schools. Nevada built a new high school and Utah built a grade school. I was transferred to West Wendover to teach in the new high school!  It was a great opportunity and I was excited to outfit a brand new home economics room. There were some drawbacks!  The students were NOT excited to be ripped out of their Utah high school and all their friends!  Especially the seniors as you can probably agree. We had a lot of tears and hostility the first two years but the students did all big events like prom and homecoming at both schools.

 So, getting back to the lip syncing.  At the Utah school it turns out that was a huge event. Each class developed costumes, dance routines, a medley of songs and a big cast for the competition!  As you would expect, we teachers (who had only met each other a few weeks before) could not be outdone!  Everyone was expected to participate and we had a great young bunch of teachers who chose songs, wrote the script and organized our practices. The plan was to have one of our teachers, Jim Wintermote, relaxing and listening to tunes on the radio.  He would keep changing stations after listening a bit to each song we were lip syncing to. We must have had about 5 song clips including a head banger solo by our young female business teacher, Amber Watkins, who also had been an announcer at NASCAR races, a group dance and lip sync to Lean on Me ( I was in it), Some of the men teachers did a gangsta rap, and there were a couple others that were popular at the time but I don’t remember them and then, our grand finale which brought down the house was done by our female PE teacher, Karen Holmes, and our principal, Fred Gorton. It was “I Just Want To Be King” from Lion King complete with lion ears on head bands like Mickey Mouse ears!  The kids knew our principal well as he had been their principal and a teacher in grade school. They loved it!  It really got us off to a great start with the students who were pretty hostile for quite awhile but they saw us in a new light and maybe made school a little easier for all of us!  By the way, I believe we did not win the competition. I think the Junior class did that year. The lip syncs became a tradition after that for all the years I was there but they never were as good as that first one!

My thoughts always go back to my dance partner from that first lip sync in West Wendover. Her name was Julia and she taught social studies. Her room was right next to mine and we had many good times after that. A few years later she got married and retired from teaching at our school. Several years later she developed a brain tumor that was malignant and passed away. I still miss her!  Rest peacefully my friend and colleague! My other thoughts go out to the "head banger", Amber.  She got married, moved away and has two darling children.  Several years ago she developed breast cancer and so far is successfully battling it.  My prayers are with her and her family as well. 

These were the female teachers of that era.  Julia is standing on the right in back, Karen is right in front of her leaning over, Amber is in front kneeling on the left and I am in back second from the left.

Fried Mush

Fried Mush with butter and Maple Syrup!

I’ve been missing my dad lately. He’s been gone for over 10 years but is still in many of our memories. He was a huge family man and I didn’t realize that all the “little” things he did for all of us were not the norm in most families. Mom was the main cook of the family and a dedicated “foodie” (that’s where I get it from) but Dad was the breakfast maker in our family!

Dad was always finding different breakfast recipes to serve us. He had his grandmother’s 100 year old cookbook and would browse through it to get his ideas. He wasn’t into the modern breakfast casserole types of recipes. He would try out these recipes or use our favorites on the weekends. During the week when we all got up early to go to work or school, he made the same thing every morning but that is a whole story for another blog! My siblings and cousins who lived with my parents for awhile are probably smiling right now!  

Even when my dad was in his nineties and living in Florida he would get up and pick fresh grapefruits from his trees ( he was a Master Gardener) and halve them, cut around each section and serve them in china saucers with special spoons for all of us who were visiting him!  By then he was getting pretty slow but we stayed out of the kitchen until he called us to breakfast. He would go out and pick fresh flowers for the table and have it set properly. Mom taught him well!

   

Some of my dad’s favorite breakfasts were different egg dishes and pancakes, but the ones that stick in my mind were hoe cakes, which I cannot make like his and fried mush which I had a craving for this week. It is easy to make but you do have to plan ahead now days. Back in the “olden days” I think fried mush was a way to use up leftovers. I’m thinking we had hot cornmeal mush for breakfast and there was a lot leftover, ha! Not really a favorite in the family I guess!  Anyway, the next day we would have fried mush with maple syrup that we tapped from our maple trees (which was another one of Dad’s projects). Yummmm!  Today, as I was making my fried mush, I realized that the molded (not moldy!) block of mush looked and tasted like Polenta!  Hmmmm!  I never thought about that before—I guess I could go to the store and buy a block of it from the refrigerated section....

Here is the way Dad made it and how I do it—pretty simple.

 Fried Mush

1 Cup cornmeal

4 Cups water

1 tsp. Salt

Follow directions on the box for Corn Meal Mush.

When the mush is cooked butter a large loaf pan and pack the mush in it. Refrigerate it overnight or until it is chilled and set up.

Sorry, I can't make it rotate but you get the idea.
My slices

Nice and crispy!

 Unmold the block of cornmeal and slice into about 1/4 inch slices. Fry in butter or bacon grease until golden brown and crispy on the edges.

 Serve with butter and syrup or jam and jelly. You know I love it with maple syrup! Wrap the rest of the block in plastic wrap and keep in the refrigerator for later!  I haven’t tried freezing it but I think that might work too. 

I think I will look up Hoe Cakes on the internet and give them another try.  I never could get them to be as thin and crispy as Dad's were but am willing to give it another shot!  Have a great day! See you at my next blog!