Here's my Personal Yarns entry for this week:

1. Where did you attend school as a child? (the first 6 years or so...) What do you remember about the building and the playground? I went to P.S. 238 in Brooklyn, NY, on East 8th Street between Ave P and Quentin Road. It was a big red brick building, with high ceilings, hanging lights, ornate brass doorknobs and wooden desks with remnants of inkwells used in years past. We had two yards, the smaller one for the younger kids and the larger one for the big kids. I had many skinned knees in both yards. I wasn't the most athletic kid. Still not!

2. Do you remember your first day? your teacher's name? best friends? your favorite activity?
I vaguely remember my first day . I had an older teacher, who looked like a grandma to me: gray hair, shirtwaist dress, sweet smile. Can't remember her name, but we had a piano in the room and I loved singing. My best friend was Abby, who I am still in touch with today. We used to dress alike and people used to think we were sisters. My favorite activity was the housekeeping area.
Funny how today, that is my least favorite!

3. What sort of lunch box did you have? What was usually in it? I think I mostly brought my lunch in a brown paper bag, but I do remember having a lunch box at times. It was probably something Disney, since that was the most pervasive kid-marketed brand back then. My mom was desperately afraid of my getting "ptomaine poisoning", so she refused to use certain things to make my lunch. I would often have tuna sandwiches, without mayo, with clumps of hard margarine on the bread. The sandwich would almost always fall apart and what I could manage to eat tasted like the aluminum foil it was hermetically sealed in.

4. Describe yourself as an elementary school student. I was very quiet and shy, but a very good student. My teachers always loved me. I was described as "being sensitive" and "brought to tears easily". Despite my shyness, I did manage to stand onstage and do a solo of"Around the World in 80 Days" on my accordion, for the 6th grade Christmas show.