THE PUBLISHER’S PULSE

By The Madd Hatter

Well…It’s time to get your children ready for another school year. Another summer has come and gone. Time to change gears again just as you were getting settled in to your summer routine.

Man, seems like just yesterday when my own mother and father were taking me to several stores around town to get me ready for the school year ahead. Thom McAnn’s, Robert Halls, May Company,Higbee’s and a couple of other stores handled most of our clothing needs.

Then it was off to Zayre’s or Uncle Bills for paste, scissors, protractors, pencils, notebook paper and the myriad of tools and supplies that I would need to make the grade.

The few days before summer’s end were spent ripping and running from Warrensville to Shaker and then back to the Lee-Harvard neighborhood that I grew up in. Girls…Girls…Girls. Why does summer go so fast ?

Nowadays things are much more complex to get your child to school. RTA buses, crosstown connections, abandon houses, dangerously dark alleyways and a boatload of other scary thoughts and ideas are just the start of a school aged parents’ nightmare.

My parents never really had to worry about whether I would make it home safely from school. Well, there was that time- that one time my cousin Reggie and I went to visit a school chum right after school the first couple of days after returning from Christmas vacation.

I can’t recall the kids name, but he had all of the latest toys that were popular that year. His mother asked my cousin and I if our parents knew where we were. WE LIED and told her that we had told them where we would be.

It seemed like just a few minutes, but, hours had gone by before our excitement was disturbed by the knocking at the door. Oh snap !! It was a group of relatives out looking for us as nightfall had come, but we hadn’t notice as the Hot Wheels had our full attention. Needless to say I suffered the consequences and so did Reggie. Even all these years later. I still can’t sit down. In the words of Dr. Smith from the television show, “Lost In Space,” the pain…oh the pain “.

So, as our children, and the children of our neighbors and friends trudge off towards the most dreadful buildings ever- keep a watchful eye out for them. There are so many things facing our youth today that each one must attempt to reach one or two of them that they may go it into the world and make us all proud.

Remember, a child’s mind is a terrible thing to waste. Now, please keep watch. Please ?

~Ray Rob