Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: The End

Within this class photo there is a mystery, a photo of a woman being held by the last little boy in the top row. I'm guessing it's of the teacher. I wonder who decided to do this? Another teacher, a student, the principal? Was the teacher just out sick the day the shot was taken? Had she passed on? Left town in a hurry? I don't think I've ever seen a class photo with a photo in it.

This is the end of the class of Pala 1942.

I don't know about you, but I'm thinking this little girl never took any guff from anybody.

Click on image to see it larger.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 5

Somewhere there are people related to these little girls; children, grandchildren, perhaps even great-grandchildren. I'm always fascinated to look at photos of children and wonder what became of their lives.

Perhaps someday someone will do a search for Pala 1942. Unlikely, but possible.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 4

Though I do not have any definitive information about this school photo I do think they went to a school in San Jose, California. Judging by their age, it's quite possible some of the boys served in the Korean War, often called America's forgotten war. The war that to this day sees troops stationed along the DMZ.

Now after hearing the report of how woefully ignorant high school seniors are in American history I don't expect very many to have the slightest idea about what these young boys faced. With only 12% of seniors having an understanding of their own country I imagine most will believe DMZ is simply a typo and I meant to type in TMZ. If ignorance is bliss, there have to be a lot of blissful teenagers.

These boys, from Pala class of 1942, understood their country was at war. War was not something far removed from their lives. It wasn't a hidden class of people fighting the war. It touched all lives. Not so today. Again, ignorance is apparently bliss.

These are the forgotten children of this country who fought the wars, built the highways, constructed the homes, invented technology to take us into space, worked in factories building products to be exported around the world, etc. What will the future bring for the kids in school today who aren't even being asked to learn cursive handwriting? Where will their creativity come from if machines constantly guide their every thought? I'd like to say I'm hopeful, but I'm starting to believe maybe it is easier to be ignorant.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 3

Back to deconstructing the Pala class of 1942.

Letting each child shine away from the group.

Which little girl had an exceptional life?

Which little girl always knew sorrow?

Which little girl died young?

Which little girl lost her true love to war?

Which little girl, now an old woman, has no memory of the little girl?

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN: Part 2

More individual portraits taken from the whole of the Pala School class photo from 1942.

School photos are so interesting because of the details, not the whole. So many stories to be told. So many lives to wonder about. How many are still alive today? How many died young, lives incomplete? There are no names, just faces from a day at school 69 years ago.

Deconstructing SCHOOL CHILDREN

I have done this before and will probably do it again until someone comes along screaming, "STOP THE MADNESS!" which will most likely just encourage me to do it even more.

I'm talking about taking a photo apart and putting it back together, deconstructing. This time I may prove more annoying than usual because I have four...I said FOUR class photos dating from 1942 to '46; 1943 is missing. In some photos the same children appear, but I have yet to spend any time really looking at their little faces to determine exactly how many made it to all four photos. Mind you, each photo has over 30 faces from which I can annoy you.

My computer dictionary defines deconstruct as:

analyze (a text or a linguistic or conceptual system) by deconstruction, typically in order to expose its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions and subvert its apparent significance or unity.

Doesn't that fit an elementary school photo? Am I not exposing its hidden internal assumptions and contradictions?

Oh I may be headed down a path no blogger should go...readers running in the opposite direction, unable to bear another shot of a smiling or confused kid. If you are brave, scroll down and continue.

I give you a few boys from the 1942 Pala School photo. These kids would now be in their late 70s; a story to be told in each face. I'm thinking boy number three grew up saying, "I see dead people." Maybe it's just me and I'm betting a whole slew of folks have no idea what I'm talking about.

Kids are just kids no matter the decade (or if they're time traveling celebrities).

BOOMERS or bust?

Insurance salesmen, hairdressers, soldiers, doctors, members of  the Elks, husbands, fathers, wives, mothers, politicians, car salesmen, scientists, entrepreneurs, teachers, nurses? What was the future for the 7th grade graduating class of 1961? Looking at these little munchkins it would be hard to imagine them taking on the world and today being in their early 60s.

I give you once again, the graduating class of 1961. Okay, I'll admit, to me the first shot reminds me of Tom Delay's mugging mug shot. Let's hope this young fellow took a wiser path. And the last two fellows? Well they just about sum it up, don't they?