I went to public school in New Orleans. Girls at one school, boys at another. Some of my teachers were ex- nuns.
As I remember , they still looked nun like. New Orleans was a very Catholic city . It was just routine to have people who were riding the street car, cross themself when they passed a church. Nuns , in their habits were a common citing. Our family almost always
had fish on Fridays. I grew up when that was what Catholics had on Friday. It was normal and I didn't know that it was a religious observance.Our public schools got off for a lot of Catholic holidays. I knew my Saints almost as well as my friends who went
to catechism did. Kids got excused early from school to go to Catechism. That left a couple of Jewish kids, a few Baptist and one or two Episcopalian kids in the room to sit quietly until the bell
rang and school was out. My two best teachers were ex nuns. We learned by rote in those days. We would repeat the same lesson,out loud until it was stuck in our heads.There wasn't much room for individual thought. For the first few years of my schooling, I
was in a split classroom. The teacher had two classes of students in the same room. Like a one room school. I loved that because I always wanted to listen to what the other class was learning. We also had air raid practice where we got under our desks and
covered our heads. I remember getting a dog tag , with my name on it , to wear, on a metal chain . The chain was like those chains that held the stopper in the tub. I can't remember if that was just something
we bought for fun, or if everyone had one, in case of an attack. And I remember ration books. We didn't have a car until after the war. I must be on a roll because I haven't thought about all of this in years. I think it's because I am reading a book that
begins with WWII. Did I ever tell you about my standing in line to get a Hershey bar and one piece of bubble gum ???And how I saved my chewed gum by
putting it on the rim of my dinner plate.