I Hated High School Gym Class

During my high school days in Southern California (at Centennial High in Compton, to be specific), I was not into sports and lacked athletic ability. In fact, I absolutely hated gym class. For me, spending time in the school library would have been preferable. Whenever it rained I was glad because that meant we didn't have to change into our gym clothes (white T-shirt, blue shorts, white socks, and high-top sneakers). The entire gym period would be spent sitting in the locker room until the next bell rang and we went to our next class. 

Since this was California, it didn't rain much. And on the days when it didn't, I would sometimes decide to skip gym altogether, joining a few other boys walking around the grassy field for an hour until it was time to go to the next class.

If recent storms in California had happened back then, I would have considered those storms a blessing.

James Baldwin Went To School Here

Yesterday (April 17), I was strolling down Lenox Avenue, near 140th Street, in Harlem, when a school building caught my eye. As I stood across the street from the building I saw carved  into the facade above the entrance the words "Public School 139." It dawned on me that this might be the school that James Baldwin attended in the late 1930s before he moved on to DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. When I got home, I looked through my Baldwin biographies and confirmed that it was. P.S. 139, also known as  Frederick Douglass Junior High, was where Baldwin became the editor of The Douglass Pilot, the school magazine. It was also where poet Countee Cullen became one of his teachers as well as the faculty advisor to the literary club of which Baldwin was a member.

The five-story, red-brick  building is now the property of the New York City Housing Authority which has transformed the building from a place of learning into a senior citizens residence.

There's a sign on the building that states "Welcome To...P.S. 139 Senior Citizens Building," but I didn't see one commemorating James Baldwin as an alumnus of P.S. 139.

If Baldwin were alive today he would be almost 91 years old and eligible to live in the building where he once attended school.

Beware Of April Fools' Day Pranksters!

Today is April Fools' Day. Beware of pranksters!

When I was in junior high school in California, the two days I dreaded most were St. Patrick's Day and April Fools' Day. St. Patrick's Day because if I forgot to wear something green, I would have to endure being pinched all day long and April Fools' Day because classmates would play a prank on me and other classmates when our guards were down.