High School - Part 1

I went to "The New York School of Printing" which is a high school. I want to point that out because to me it always sounded like a trade school rather than the only high school in the city that offered Journalism as a major. As the name implies, it was primarily a school where the printing trade was taught. Graphic design was taught despite your chosen major but it was not offered as a primary discipline. That never made sense to me but apparently many others felt as I did because the year after I graduated the name was changed to "The High School of Graphic Communication Arts." This was by far a more fitting name.

"NYSP" was located in Hell's Kitchen New York. Every morning when I got off the N or RR train I had to walk through a depressed area with loads of dog poop everywhere. It was about 6 long blocks from the train station to the school and once we left 7th Avenue there was nothing interesting to see. There were rows of brown stones but they were neglected which is probably why dog owners used the sidewalks as their pet's toilets. Despite New York being quite space poor, 80% of the poop left behind was from large animals. I wondered where were people housing these large dogs? I could just see my white canvas sneakers tip toeing around the mess, as well as the smell, in search of some wide open space where I could comfortably land down on my size 10 foot. I'm not even sure what was the point of wearing sneakers since I had to walk as if in heels until I was about half a block from school.

Upon arriving I was faced with an industrial looking building with many caged windows. Once I walked into the lobby my classmates and I took the elevator up to class. There were no lockers so we carried everything around with us. It was inconvenient but I didn't know that outside of New York City high schools had lockers for students to keep their things. We all just threw our stuff on any available space around our desks and no one even thought to complain. Until I started here in the 10th grade I never commuted for school. My elementary and junior high schools were within a block of our apartment. I was thrilled to have a train pass and go to school outside of my neighborhood. A school I wanted to attend. I was so proud that I got into the journalism program! It was later revealed to me that "getting in" was not really that tough. If you were a girl and you wanted to pursue any major at Printing you were in. I assume that having the word "printing" in the name was responsible for a roster of 80% males. Nevertheless I was happy to be a part of the journalism program. I wasn't necessarily interested in reporting but I wanted to be a writer. There was no one to really advise me as to how to become a writer so I assumed that journalism was the most suitable route to becoming a writer. As I said, this was THE only school that offered any path to my goal and not having a locker wouldn't have bothered me even if all the other city high schools had them.

When I started at Printing it was 1980. (I can't believe I'm giving up my age but hopefully most of you reading this won't do the math). Much of this time is a blur. However, there are things that stand out aside from all the shit that I was forced to walk around in order to get to school. First off I had a few really good friends. Most of them were astute males. Their names were Ruben, Jonathan, Kevin and William. I had other friends as well but these were my homies and although I am not in contact with any of them any more I still love them as if no time had passed. We were platonic friends and we had a great amount of respect for each other. These guys had my back and were like brothers to me. I did have a bit of a crush on Jonathan and he liked me as well but that never went anywhere.

I also remember having some female friends like Eve, Rebecca and Yvette. Of the 3 girls Yvette is the only one I sort of keep in contact with but sadly it is only via Facebook. She is really good people and I should keep closer contact with her. Thinking of you Yvette!!! It was during my time at high school that I finally realized that getting good grades was so worth it. This was the first time that I didn't have to worry about being bullied because I wanted to get good grades - more on that later. A couple of years in I got bullied for other things but still I wasn't worried about getting beaten up or even killed as I had in junior high. I just had to deal with jerks who were not kind but as far as I could tell were not a threat to my very being. How refreshing that was !!!! Oh yeah and finally the last significant thing that stands out from my days in high school is that this is when I got my first real boyfriend. Despite spending almost 6 years with this guy he was not the love of my life. Thank God for that!!!!!!!!!!!!