junior high school

George Gershwin Junior High School or  JHS 166, was on Stanley and Van Siclen Ave. It was the  newest of the schools in East New York. Before that was built kids usually went to schools that did kindergarten thru 8th grade, then to  high school.  So  Junior High was cooler, because you didn't have little kids running around, it was all teenagers.  Actually there were a couple of junior high school students that  were old.  One guy named Fibo had a goatee and  was married with a kid. There was someone else just as old.  A couple of girls had to drop out because they were pregnant, birth control wasn't known back then. Gershwin was a big beige building with a nice field and track.  I was on the  audio visual squad. I was the guy who ran the projector when they showed a movie or  brought the slide projector or film strip projector to show stills in class.  We also set up the audio.  The teacher in charge  of the AV squad was  Mr. Carron. He was a cool guy. He was also the ceramics teacher. He trusted the members of the AV squad, and he gave us a set of keys to the school.  That was a mistake.  Wouldn't ya know it? a few tape recorders, projectors, sound equipment was all missing.  Also, missing were chemicals and  beakers, and cool chemistry stuff.  Some chemicals they didn't sell in  hobby shops.  We needed these chemicals, like potassium nitrate,  magnesium ribbon, sulphuric and  hydrochloric acid.  You see, potassium nitrate is the key ingredient to making gun powder.  All you need to do is add sulphur and charcoal and there ya go.  The magnesium ribbon when placed in hydrochloric acid, displaces the hydrogen and if you light it , makes a boom. Like a little hydrogen bomb.  Pretty cool. The magnesium ribbon also lights on fire and  creates a great bright light.  Pure potassium I believe you cant get, because it ignites just by hitting air or moisture in the air.  Anyway, we cleaned out the school, also got a hold of some final exams with the answers.    A few days later, we got called into the Dean;s office. That was  Dutch Garfinkle.  He had  a  flat top crewcut and was  mean.  He played professional basketball for the Celtics under the name "flying Dutchman".  We got suspended, and our parents got called  to the school.  We were in deep doo doo.
      My science teacher, later  signed my graduation album,  "good luck in Sing Sing".(that's a prison).