My Sixth Grade Report Card
My father disinterred all my childhood papers. After twenty years, I’d given up all hope of seeing them again. Sure that they had been recycled as fire lighters (thank you, Douglas Adams) during my many moves across countries and various states. Wrong. My school photos (looking nothing like me, according to my husband) and all my special papers survived. The most valuable paper is my sixth grade report card.
To explain, I skipped grade five for reasons that are not important. I had something to prove in grade six. My indomitable balding red-headed British teacher, Mr. Burt, had his hands full. He was the only teacher who gave me two weeks detention to work on my handwriting. (It didn’t help). His comment on my report card was:
“Stephanie sometimes does a good impersonation of a cross between William Lyon MacKenzie and Ma Murray!”
This will mean little to my American friends but may mean a touch more to my Canadian compatriots.
To explain, William Lyon MacKenzie (not the Prime Minister) was a Scotsman born 1795 and died 1861. He was an insurgent, journalist, first mayor of Toronto, and leader of the 1837 rebellions. He was described as forthright and forceful. (Nevermind the armed rebellion part – so un-Canadian.)
Now to Ma Murray, it is she with whom I identify far more. She was a journalist and suffragette. A firey Kansan who moved up north with her sister and kept her shoot from the hip American attitude even in the most frigidly polite Canadian society. God bless her.
She who ended most of her editorials with “That’s fer damshur.” This from a woman writing in the early part of the twentieth century and on.
What does this mean? I likely won’t start a rebellion, thank goodness. Nor will I own a newspaper. However, it does mean that my sixth grade teacher had my number oh so long ago and the older I get the more I become like I was in the sixth grade.
And that’s fer damshur!
Stephanie Jarkins
twitter: skjarkins
4 Comments
I saw this post on Tumblr. Still haven’t figured out why we need that one. Oh well. I’m STILL amazed that you have your report cards. But then, you’re not quite as old as me. Not even close.
Hi Stephanie
Sixth grade I remember. But haven’t seen any of my school stuff, for many a long year. (How’s that for an old expression?)
Glad you have that for nice memories.
Jan
P.S. Wasn’t there an old movie about MA MURRAY? I think it was a black and white film with a star I liked. Good Movie.
Thanks for all the comments Jan. You’re a gem! I don’t remember the movie but Ma Murray’s life would have made a great movie. That’s ferdarnsure!