Eleanor Policastro:  

I hated every second of going to school. No offense to any of the teachers. They sure had no clue how to teach me. The few teachers that affected me in a positive way: Mrs. Fitchetola, (1st Grade) Mrs. Rebek, (sorry I gave you the chicken pox, 2nd grade), and Mrs. Paxton (home ec, 7th grade I think). That is IT! I hated Miss Miller in the 3rd grade. Mrs. Garafolo in kindergarten kept grabbing my newly vaccinated arm for some reason. OUCH! My mother had to go in for a teacher conference the first week I was in Kindergarten. LOL! Mr. Delaney, you tortured me so much I had to take tranquilizers every day after lunch to get through your class. Otherwise I'd get the hiccups from stress. You were a horrible tease. Seventh and Eighth grades were THE WORST. I remember being kept from going on the 8th grade class trip because suddenly that semester, I got two U's. I'd never had a U in 8th grade and I certainly did not deserve TWO. I seem to remember that those U's came from Miss Macri (whoever the 8th grade English Teacher was), and maybe Mrs. Hernandez, Spanish. I wonder if either of those women realize how heartbreaking it was for me to hear my classmates talk about this or that thing that happened on the class trip THAT I WASN'T ON? I got U's because I talked too much. Was that any reason to keep me from going to Williamsburg? What, did you think I would talk too much on the bus or something? Mr. LeFevre and Mr. Pastore's classes were jokes. I never felt that either one of those teachers took teaching seriously. They seemed to be more interested in telling personal stories, especially Mr. Pastore and his stupid peach orchards. He was a nice man, don't get me wrong. He was just a terrible teacher. Mr. Curley has to have been the most boring social studies teacher on the entire planet. Mr. Heston was an egotistical snob who I believe actually got enjoyment out of insulting his students. What would ever possess a teacher to tell a student like Joey Mazzagatti that he was going to be a janitor some day pushing a broom? He had a sign under his clock that said, "Time Passes Will You?" Nice, eh? Ms. Morano was the cleavage queen = joke. Who was that football coach that always stood in the hallway with his hands down his pants? He looked like a hairy gorilla? Mr. Caputo? Yeah, I think that was him. Hey, Mr. Caputo, did you find it yet? The only person I really had any respect for in high school was the math teacher who did the plays. I think her name was Mrs. Cordario? I forget. She was a good teacher. Mr. Guerreri, oh brother! Great music teacher but some of the stuff you said to me, Lordy, if you said it today you would have been tossed out on your ear in today's world. Mr. Guerreri, I liked you, don't hear what I'm not saying, but you said inappropriate things to me. I remember one day Mr. Guerreri told me this joke: "Eleanor, if I told you that you had a nice body would you hold it against me." I didn't get it. I was so naive. Someone had to explain it to me. Can you imagine for one instant a teacher saying that to a student in today's world? High school, for me, was a hostile environment. I thank God for the friends that made it all a little easier: Louis Penza in home room, who was seated in front of me for 4 years. Louis let me open his starched pockets and pull his fruit loop loose from the starch. Rose Capozza - I wish I'd invested more time in getting to be your friend. You were a nice person. Anita and Carol Capelli, you made being in the band bearable. (I only wanted to be in the orchestra where I could play the oboe. To do that I had to play flute and piccolo in the marching band =Hell)! Anthony Inferrera, as messed up as our relationship turned out to be, I still view you as my knight in high school. Thank you for loving me. Sharon DeMarco, you were always very nice to me. For that I thank you. Barbara Ruberton, you sure helped to keep me from going crazy. You were a crazy nut and I adored you! Audrey Cienki, we sure had a lot of fun and crazy times, didn't we? I remember the Sloe Gin Fizzes we drank on the Washington trip. Girl, you had some serious nerve! Joe Pistone, I always liked you. Thanks for all the black jelly beans at Easter time that you save for me you silly wabbit. Mitchell Tomasello, OMG did I have a crush on you in junior high school! Danny Benedetto, you were and always will be one of the sweetest people on earth. I could go on and on: Patty Sacco, Skip Burns, Linda Cassetta, all people you could trust. Maryanne Tremont - YOU WERE A NUT! The best kudos go to Donna Wilson Brown, though. Donna, after you moved across town to live with your grandmother and then graduated HS I was so lonely. When we became friends you were the bright star in the dark sky of my adolescence. I hope some day we can reconnect. Trouble is you don't drive out of town and don't seem to be into this Internet thing. I hate phones. Hopefully someday we can reconnect. You are the storehouse of my memories. Our last class reunion was so much fun! Watching Kenny Triboletti do "Achy Breaky Heart" a la karaoke is a memory etched in my heart. That and Marynne Treemont's dirty dancing. Ahhh that was a great night. WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR CLASS? Why aren't we having reunions? Please, for goodness sakes, let us have one! I'll organize it! Just email me and tell me you are in. Email me Bakequery AT aol DOT com and tell me you are in and if you'll help. Can you read between the lines and figure out that email address? Use your noggin. Because of the hell that school was for me I decided to home school our two children, Sarah, born in 1983, and Ethan, born in 1984. It was the most difficult thing I've ever done. I believe I did it well. Ethan is a brilliant guy who I believe can achieve just about anything he puts his mind to. Sarah is an awesome Earth Mama sort of person. I refer to her as The Wise Woman. She's studied herbology and does the whole organic food style of living. She is now a trained Doula, a woman that helps pregnant women learn about birth and support them through the birth and early nurturing of their their babies. When our children were in around the 5th grade, (I think), I decided to get our entire family's IQ's done. I wanted to be able to strengthen the weaknesses and use all the strengths to everyone's advantage. All during my school years my teachers would say to me, "Eleanor, you are a very smart girl. You have so much potential. We just don't understand why you do not get better grades. You should be an A student." Yeah, that's because YOU WERE HORRIBLE TEACHERS. I did horrible on tests. My brain went blank! I could never learn by listening or reading. Information would not stick. I could memorize but the information would leak out of my brain as soon as the test was over. SCHOOL WAS HELL FOR ME! I need to touch things to understand and learn about them. Schools didn't understand how to teach spatial learners when I was growing up. My thinking inside my brain is all in pictures. In order for me to un...Expand for more