6th Grade Diary
Part I

June 17, 1984 (Sunday)

GUESS WHAT! I GOT MY PERIOD TODAY! I didn't even know it until I used the bathroom and saw blood on my panties. I told Grandmother and we went to the store to got some pads. We had to get the thick kind and I hate them!!! They bunch up between your legs and you can't even go swimming!!!!!!!

October 6, 1984 (Saturday)

Hello, I'm back. I know I've got a lot to fill in on. 1st, 6th grade.

I'm not sure I like 6th grade. I'll go through a normal day to show what it's like.

Go to the bus stop. No fun because the Lonnie B. bus leaves one-half hour earlier than E. L. Wright's [my middle school] so I can't talk to Wendy or others, and there's nobody at my bus stop that I like.

The bus gets to school about 8:05, which is when the bell rings, so I usually go straight to homeroom. Then I wait until announcements are done, so I can go to my locker. I get my books for 1st through 4th periods.

First period. Math with Mrs. Shackleford. I sit between Kenyon Bell and Lee Mathis and behind Sarah Lefton. Math has never been my favorite subject. But Mrs. Shackleford is nice.

Second period. Reading with Mrs. LaRue. I sit in front of Kenyon Bell. Mrs. LaRue is my favorite teacher but I don't really like this class. I don't really know why, though I just don't.

3rd period. Social Studies with Mrs. Laney. Mrs. Laney is my one-half 2nd favorite teacher (sharing the spot with Mrs. Shackleford) and social studies is my 2nd favorite subject (next to science).

4th period. English, also with Mrs. LaRue. Same as reading.

Lunch - This starts out not fun and ends fun. First you have to wait in line for about 15 minutes, then eat in a crowded cafeteria. I usually eat with Jody or my new friend Michelle. Then I drop by the library to drop off my last book and pick up a new one (I can go every day, imagine!) and then it's up to the Girls Locker Room Door, where I hang around reading, swinging on poles, talking, and just plain having fun. Then the bell rings and we pile into the girls' locker room and go to our lockers.

5th period - Gym (Barf) Coaches Silva, Wentworth, and Farenhott. Coach Farenhott is a girl. Coach Silva does my class.

6th period - Science - Mrs. McDermott. Pretty good subject. Mrs. McDermott is rather strict, but I like her.

I will write more soon.

October 10. 1984 (Wednesday)

I am now having my second crush. The first was on Sean Cary, a boy I met in 4th grade ALERT but didn't get a crush on until early in this school year. Sean is several inches shorter than I am, has wavy-ish blond hair, is a Huey Lewis and the News fan and is gong with Amy Powers. Amy isn't exactly my friend (she never was) but we're not on bad terms or anything. I simply found out (with them sitting side by side with their arms around each other, who couldn't?)

The one now is more serious. His name is Lee Mathis. He is also a few inches shorter than I am, but he's taller than Sean. He has short straight blond hair,wears glasses, and is in all my classes except reading. I can't say he doesn't know I'm alive, because he does (Mrs. Laney made us do an article for the school paper together when we had a speaker from the real paper). But he sure doesn't know I have a crush on him!

We have cable now. It is a blessing, especially now in election year since so much boring stuff is on.

I've seen "Ghostbusters" 3 times, once with Mom, once with Jody and once Jody and Alison. It is one good movie. The best I've ever seen in my life.

ALERT this year is great. My teacher is named Mrs. Herring. So far we've made:

• A Diazzo print (mine a unicorn)
• two photograms (objects are placed on film and exposed to light)
• one pinhole camera
• two negatives (one that came out and one that didn't)

andI've learned more about photography than I've ever hoped to. As mentioned before, both Sean and Lee are in my class, and so is Sarah.

Speaking of Sarah, I went to her birthday party last month. It was a sleep-over, and Staci Emmanuel, Staci Buebell, Gina Cone, of course Sarah, and I were all there. When we all got there, we changed into bathing suits and went swimming. Sarah's pool has a sauna [I meant a Jacuzzi] and is shaped like this [drawing of kidney-shaped pool with Jacuzzi in the concave curve of it.] Sarah's father made a videotape of us which we saw later. The we played King's Quest and had pizza for dinner. After that we watched ourselves on viedotape, then saw "Romancing the Stone." The we selected a movie ([National Lampoon's] "Vacation") to watch that was rated R. When that was over we went to sleep.

The next morning we ate jelly doughnuts for breakfast, saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," and went home.

I visited Jody. It was fun. We had a sale, and made some money. Did I say that this was on her birthday? We went shopping in the Mall.

I went to my first concert. The Gogos with INXS opening. It was at Carowinds and it rained during INXS but who cared? I had a great time.

October 12, 1984 (Friday)

I wrote about Sean Cary and Amy Powers going together? Well, they're not anymore. Sean and Amy had a big fight on Thursday (yesterday), and today at lunch two of his friends and him came up to her, yelling "Slut, Slut! Amy is a slut!" During the next period (P.E.) she was about to cry.

I got a pencil that writes in several colors, see! I also got a bunch of stickers, including a huge heart sticker. My pencil even erases.

I have 1016 stickers!!! 145 in my Hello Kitty Album, 126 in my Stuck on Stickers album, 682 in my paper album, and 63 for trading. That adds up to 1016 stickers. Jody only has about 200.

October 15, 1984 (Monday)

Jody + I were talking about crushes today, so I decided to put down everyone I've ever been totally infatuated with. [I think that's much too strong for the first two of these -- I didn't really get infatuated until the hormones hit with puberty in 1984.]

4th grade

Chris Harjes [This one is crossed out, and my friend Jody wrote "Barf" in the margin next to it.]

5th grade

Brendon Bryant

6th grade

Sean Cary

Lee Mathis!!!!

At the moment it's Lee (swoon). Luckily, Jody's never met Lee (or Brendon) so she can't tease me about them. Actually, she doesn't even know. That's one secret of my life even Jody doesn't know. I guess everyone's entitled to have secrets. [Though I didn't bother to keep this one very long, as evinced by Jody later writing in the margin.]

October 20, 1984 (Saturday)

Did I ever mention Mark Osterman and Venkatesh Reddy? Well, now I have. Those two act like they're stuck together with Superglue. I've never seen Venk without Mark, or Mark without Venk. But anyway, back to th subject. I'm having my 3rd crush of the year as well as my second. Mark and of course Lee. I mentioned Venk because it's pretty hard to mention Mark without Venk.

Mark is about Lee's height (that is, a few inches shorter than I am) and has short brown hair. It's a good thing I'm not like Jody, because Mark lent me a sheet of paper yesterday and Jody would have assumed from that that "He loves me! He loves me!"

Speaking of Jodz, her current crushes are Jonathan Fogle and Thomas Seltzer, who are good friends. Speaking of that, Lee, Mark, and Venk are all also good friends. Only Thomas loves Jody too and neither Mark nor Lee is in love with me. (Boy, do I wish they were!)

I got some TwisterBeads. A red, a blue, a yellow and a purple. I've found some neat ways to wear them.

I am giving my old blue costume (described on page 15 [toward the end of the 4th grade diary]) to Jody. I can barely fit into it anymore.

October 24, 1984 (Wednesday)

Guess what happened in ALERT today! Two things. The first is we started railroads today.

The second, and more important, is that Ginger Norris asked me had I ever gone with Lee Mathis. She said Stephanie Stephenson told her I had. I told her no, I hadn't and that'd be the day! I didn't add that I'd be very happy on that day since that is my deep, dark secret. Ginger turned right around + told Stephanie that she was wrong!! Willie Armstrong, who'd heard all of this, added that Stephanie had probably made it all up. I don't know if Lee heard.

Correction: Jod's current beau is not Thomas Seltzer, it's Thomas Shetzley (I think that's how you spell it). I say beau, because he likes her pretty much and she's totally infatuated by him. [Jody writes in the margin:

I love Thomas Scheatzle Jody Scheatzle (heart)s
Jack]

October 26, 1984 (Friday)

T.G.I.F. That means Thank Goodness It's Friday. Quite true, considering that today was the last day of the first nine weeks [grading period]. One-fourth of the school year over!

In science class Ms. McDermott asked me to check + see that everyone had their vocabulary + questions over part 4. It's really interesting how people do their notebooks. Like, say, mine is nice + neat, with one page for each section and take, say, Lee Mathis's notebook, he also uses one page for each page, but he doesn't skip lines so it's rather messay. And take Elizabeth Whats-her-name she's completely disorganized she had to riffle through 8 or 10 papers to find what I was looking for.

You know what? Every time I don't have my English homework, Lee Mathis doesn't either. Somehow we both lose our worksheets (not all, but often.)

Speaking of English, I think Mark Osterman likes me. Why? Because: In Social Studies, he asked me what topic I was doing for my report. And when I told him Artemis, he advised me to do Zeus. And in English, he giggled when the substitute teacher we had called we Suzanne Sanders instead of Saunders. I'm still doing Artemis, though.

November 1, 1984 (Thursday)

Guess what!?!? ALERT is going to Chattanooga, Tennessee!!! My class is being split in half since we're on Wednesday and that creates the only bad thing about the trip. Jodz (and Lee and Mark) are all going on the 1st trip + Sarah + I are going on the 2nd. It'll still be great though.

November 8, 1984 (Thursday) Did I ever mention that I'm rooming with Sarah and her mother, who's a chaperone on the trip???? Well, now I have.

November 10. 1984 (Saturday)

Hi!!! I definitely think Mark Osterman likes me. Why? In the past few weeks, he's said to me:

• The aforementioned on p.75 about Artemis and my name
• Asked when I was gong to Chatanooga
• Asked if I got straight A's (yes)
• Asked again about Chatanooga
• Also asked again about A's

His project was pyramids. He made a huge poster with pictures of Imhotep Cheops + practically everything + person in Egyptian history + a model of the Step Pyramid done in Legos.

Lee did a mediocre model of the Parthenon, which toothpicks for columns.

There were three other great projects, besides Mark's. They were, Venk Reddy's, which was a clay Nile River with blue vinegar for water that "flooded" when you put baking soda on it.

Margaret Nesbit's, which was baked tablets (that smelled like cookies) with the Ten Commandments written on them in Hebrew.

And Stacey Buebell's, which was a big poster of the Hebrew alphabet, all 26 letters + 10 vowels.

I've made two new friends. The first is Gena Kohn (I misspelled her name on p. 65 [in the story of Sarah's birthday party]). She is short, with long blond hair. She was on the honor roll, too.

The next is Jennifer Adkins. She is a bit shorter than me, no glasses (neither does Gena) and is new at E.L. Wright. I sit next to her in P.E. + we try to sit by each other in homeroom. She's the only real friend I have in my homeroom, but she isn't in any of my classes.

The "A" + "B" honor rolls were in the newsletter this week + those people should learn to spell! I spotted Willu (Willy) Armstrong, Sqaj (Suraj) Menacheri and Wart (Ward) bates. At least no boo-boos for me!

November 11, 1984 (Monday)

Chatanooga, here we are! After seven hours on the bus, and ending up one-half hour off schedule, we're here! I've bought:

• 6 stickers
• A ruler for Tammy
• 1 grape candlestick

There was a "Test Your Sex Appeal" machine in 1 gift shop. The ranks were:

• Poor fish: try again
• Clammy
• Harmless
• Mild
• Naughty
• Wild
• Burning
• Passionate
• Hot Stuff
• Uncontrollable

Sarah got an Uncontrollable! Sean Cary tried 3 times + got a Wild, a Burning and a Passionate. Too bad I haven't a chance of seeing if he really is so "passionate"!!!

November 13, 1984 (Tuesday)

'Bye, Chatanooga! Now I'll describe the trip methodically.

First, I got to K-Mart to wait (with everyone else) for the activity bus. The nI got my field study guide "All Aboard the ALERT Express." I also received a bunch of brainteasers stapled together (labeled "Mindbenders") the words to "Chatanooga Choo Choo," and a brochure about the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. When the bus arrived, we loaded our stuff onto it + we were off. We got to Atlanta about 12:15 but ate our bag lunches about 12:45 (we were supposed to eat at twelve).

We checked in at the hotel about 3:30. As said before, I roomed with Sarah and her mother. Our rooms were made-over railroad cars. Ours was number 767.

After checking in, we changed, and worked on our field study guides for about an hour. Then Mrs. Lefton went out + got the other people she was in charge of, which were: us two, Lisa Turner, Stephanie Stephenson, Jennifer Whitley, and a bunch of thoerhs I don't know. Anyway then our group rode on one of the trolley. It was fun, but Sarah said the trolleys in Boston are better.

After that our group went gift shopping. As aforementioned, I bought 6 stickers, a ruler, and a stick of candy. Sarah bought four sticks of candy and a hat.

Then we saw the model railroad. It is an exact replica of Chatanooga, even down to tiny flashing traffic lights.

At 6:30 is was time for dinner. As it turned out, we were ten minutes late, but the others were even later. It was a great dinner though. We had salad, four pieces of chicken each, and vegatables, but the crowning point was at the end, sundaes! Chocolate or butterscotch, I got chocolate.

Then we went to a conference room and did "Historical Interviews." Since my class never got to research the people, we divided pu and joined a group. I was in Casey Jones. After that, we went back to our rooms, did our evaluations, and went to bed (45 minutes late).

The next morning, we woke up, got dressed, worked on our evaluations, packed, and finally, got our group together. Then we headed over to McDonald's for breakfast -- I had hot cakes, hash browns, and milk.

Then we went up Lookout Mountain. I felt slightly sick, + so did my seatmate Renée but Lookout Mountain was neat. Chatanooga looked exactly like the model railroad.

Then we went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. We had a six mile train ride behind a diesel-electric locomotive. Also we went through a bunch of cars, like a pullman + a caboose. After that, it was a seven-hour bus ride home.

November 18, 1984 (Sunday)

I'm sure, absolutely + positively, that Mark likes me. Why? Because so far we've said to each other:

• The things mentioned on p. 77
• 1 real conversation!

You see, I was reading one of those volumes with 4 books in each one. [Reader's Digest Condensed Books For Young Readers]. Anyway, I poked Staci Emmanuel + asked her how she'd like to do a book report on that! Mark saw it, came over + asked what it was. I showed him. I also showed him how I'd read My Friend Flicka, then skipped back + finished Captain Horatio Hornblower and then started on Jane Eyre. He said I'd probably enjoy it and that his sister had read it. I told him I'd already read it. He was surprised + asked why I was reading it again. I said it was a good book, why else? He said he could read a book in 2 days. Well, I can read a book in 1 day and I told him so. He said if he read 24 hours a day he could read 10 books everyday. Then it was time for 4th period.

December 12, 1984 (Wednesday)

Jody is coming over! Jody is coming over! Isn't that great? She's staying the night on Friday! Isn't that great! She'll ride home on the school bus, and we'll go crazy!! We'll tap dance on the picnic table, and read Mom's dirty books, and go crazy!! I can't wait! I mean it, I can't wait!!!

December 19, 1984 (Wednesday)

Happiness!! School's out for Christmas! Even more happiness, I got a stereo for Christmas! 2 speakers, AM-FM radio, record player, + tape player!

December 20, 1984 (Thursday)

Today was extremely, positively, boring, but I feel like writing. So I will list what I got for Xmas #1. I got:

• A stereo
• 6 pairs of earrings (all different colors)
• 1 necklace (gold chain with different-colored beads)
• 6 sheets of plastic canvas
• 4 packs of pipe cleaners (1 silver, 1 gold, 1 pink, 1 multicolored)
• 1 box of pastels
• 1 album of white paper to draw on
• 1 blue shirt
• 1 Solid Gold Music Trivia game
• 1 navy-blue purse
• 4 sheets of felt (1 blue, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 purple)
• 1 gift certificate for $10

I gave Mom a handmade pin (purple, pink, and white) + a Billy Idol Album. Joe gave her a black + red striped leotard + black tights.

Mom gave Joe a Rolling Stones album + a mustache combing set. I gave him an IOU because I could not think of anything to make him.

I gave Mrs. Shackleford, Ms. LaRue, Mrs. Laney, + Mrs. McDermott handmade boxes. [I made these, as well as all the other handmade gifts, with needlepoint on plastic canvas.] Mrs. Herring got a tissue-box cover, Mrs. Padget a pencil holder, + Mrs. Peach three initialed coasters. I gave Jody a pin like Mom's and she gave me a copy of Stickers magazine.

Mrs. Shackleford gave out pencils. I got a purple one that says: Why do elephants have trunks? Because they don't have glove compartments. Ha. Ha. I also got a yellow one that says: What's worse than a giraffe with a sore throat? An elephant with a chest cold. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Adios for now.

Oops! Forgot to say that we are at Grandmother Lonon's. "We" being Mom, Laddie, and Me. Well, bye bye!

December 21, 1984 (Friday)

Today is extreme bor-ring. So I'll describe Jody's visit.

1st we went to the bus stop at school + waited for the bus to come. When it did, we sat down together (I got the window).

When we got to my stop, we got off + found I didn't have my key, so we hopped the fence and luckily the back door was open.

Then we sat down to read some of Mom's sex books. Every now and then Jodz would ask me what something was, since this was really the first time she'd read this stuff. I had read a few stories to her over the phone [obviously when my mom was not home!]

Anyway, about an hour before Mom got home, we put up our books + changed into ballet costumes. I turned on my favorite tape, Gold + Platinum (full blast) and Jody started banging on the piano. I lay down of the sofa + listened to "Cum On Feel The Noize" + plink plank ploonk plonk for the back room. Then Mawm got home + we ate TV dinners (fried chicken, corn-off-the-cob, mashed potatoes, + a nut brownie) while watching "Out of Control."

Then Jodz + I practiced ballet + pretended to be on T.V. + played tug-o'-war with a long piece of yellow cloth. Since she was wearing my toe shoes which are slippery, I literally wiped the floor with her.

After all that, we went to bed + read + talked in bed until Mom made us turn off the light. During this time, Jodz read my diary and I read hers. So now she knows about Lee + Mark + Sean. Jodz doesn't know Lee, doesn't like Mark (calls him a gag-bag) but thinks Sean is cute.

Anyway, the next morning we got up, read + wrote, then practiced. After that we ate0 break-fast. After that we got into a fight but made up. Adios!

December 27, 1984 (Thursday)

Only 4 (IV) more days of '84. Ya?

At Grandmothers, I wrote a letter to Jodz. I didn't mail it though. In it there was a new fantasy which I'll copy into here.

December 30, 1984 (Sunday)

I decided not to copy the fantasy.

These are the top 75 hits of 1984.

• 75. Doctor Doctor -- Thompson Twins
• 74. No More Lonely Nights -- Paul McCartney
• 73. Cruel Summer -- Bananarama
• 72. Legs -- ZZ Top
• 71. Running With The Night -- Lionel Richie
• 70. Head Over Heels -- The Gogos
• 69. Sad Songs Say So Much -- Elton John
• 68. Let The Music Play -- Shannon
• 67. Borderline -- Madonna
• 66. Breakin -- Ollie + Jerry
• 65. The Glamorous Life -- Sheila E.
• 64. You Might Think -- The Cars
• 63. Better Be Good To Me -- Tina Turner
• 62. Sunglasses At Night -- Corey Hart
• 61. Think of Laura -- Christopher Cross
• 60. I Can Dream About You -- Dan Hartman
• 59. Love Somebody -- Rick Springfield
• 58. All Through The Night -- Cyndi Lauper
• 57. Almost Paradise -- Mike Reno + Ann Wilson
• 56. If This Is It -- Huey Lewis + the News
• 55. Twist of Fate -- Olivia Newton John
• 54. Heart of Rock'n'Roll -- Huey Lewis + the News
• 53. Sister Christian -- Night Ranger
• 52. Lucky Star -- Madonna
• 51. Self Control -- Laura Branigan
• 50. Automatic -- The Pointer Sisters
• 49. Miss Me Blind -- Culture Club
• 48. Thriller -- Michael Jackson
• 47. Nobody Told Me -- John Lennon
• 46. Blue Jean -- David Bowie
• 45. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues -- Elton John
• 44. Eat It -- "Weird Al" Yankovic
• 43. Out Of Touch -- Daryl Hall + John Oates
• 42. Infatuation -- Rod Stewart
• 41. Union of the Snake -- Duran Duran
• 40. I Want A New Drug -- Huey Lewis + the News
• 39. The Warrior -- Scandal
• 38. Here Comes The Rain -- Eurythmics
• 37. Strut -- Sheena Easton
• 36. Joanna -- Kool + the Gang
• 35. State of Shock -- Mick Jagger + the Jacksons
• 34. Talkin' In Your Sleep -- The Romantics
• 33. To All The Girls I've Loved Before -- Julio Iglesias + Willie Nelson
• 32. Hard Habit To Break -- Chicago
• 31. 99 Balloons -- Nena
• 30. Stuck On You -- Lionel Richie
• 29. Drive -- The Cars
• 28. Break My Stride -- Matthew Wilder
• 27. Oh Sherry -- Steve Perry
• 26. Hold Me Now -- Thompson Twins
• 25. Eyes Without A Face -- Billy Idol
• 24. Jump (For My Love) -- The Pointer Sisters
• 23. She Bop -- Cyndi Lauper
• 22. Caribbean Queen -- Billy Ocean
• 21. Somebody's Watching Me -- Rockwell
• 20. Let's Hear It For The Boy -- Deniece Williams
• 19. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go -- Wham!
• 18. Time After Time -- Cyndi Lauper
• 17. Purple Rain -- Prince
• 16. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun -- Cyndi Lauper
• 15. I Feel For You -- Chaka Khan
• 14. Karma Chameleon -- Culture Club
• 13. Let's Go Crazy -- Prince
• 12. Hello -- Lionel Richie
• 11. Footloose -- Kenny Loggins
• 10. The Reflex -- Duran Duran
• 9. I Just Called To Say I Love You -- Stevie Wonder
• 8. Owner of a Lonely Heart -- Yes
• 7. Against All Odds -- Phil Collins
• 6. Missing You -- John Waite
• 5. Jump -- Van Halen
• 4. Ghostbusters -- Ray Parker, Jr.
• 3. Dancing In The Dark -- Bruce Springsteen
• 2. What's Love Got To Do With It? -- Tina Turner
• 1. When Doves Cry -- Prince

---

6th grade part II
Diary Index

Home | Writing | Bio | Resources & Bibliographies | Links