So we're at the conclusion of MAHS Homecoming week. I imagine the halftime will also have the announcement of Chokio-Alberta royalty. I wonder how stable the C-A school is at present. Didn't they have a rather large senior class last year? I have heard reports of a drop-off after that. If true, the school might start facing some headwinds. The State of Minnesota insists on at least trying to get a bang for its bucks. I guess that's a universal.
The emotions of keeping the school going are admirable but in the end could yield to reality.
The C-A Spartans have been extinct for some time now. We hope everything will turn out as well as can be envisioned. Reality rules. A little bit of reality today, Friday, is that it's cold. All week I have heard that chances are borderline for the MAHS pep band to appear tonight.
Former MAHS football coach Jerry Witt used to kid me about how I'd pay such close attention to pep band doings. My attention was not just on our own band but those of other schools. Jerry noticed that this priority sometimes got into print. Yes, my writing sometimes slipped into areas you might call "extraneous." Isn't it boring to just stick with the facts all the time?
I remember an administrator confronting me once, initials R.H., and saying my job was to "report what happened." How many people actually read the articles in the local paper that merely review games/matches that might have been played over a week earlier?
I remember going to Concordia of Moorhead once to cover the Cyrus basketball team in sectionals - yes, "Cyrus." Yes, the Little Engine that Could, Cyrus was that year. People may be forgetting that Cyrus once had a school through grade 12. Just like the memories of the C-A Spartans can only fade, so too have memories of the "Cyrus Panthers" faded.
I mention the trip to Concordia because I was impressed by a pep band that did a terrific rendition of a Blood, Sweat and Tears number. They had a "trap" drummer. I consider pep band to be an art form. Many people in music academia are not so impressed. Del Sarlette always reminds that a band program makes its biggest impression on the broad public with its pep band.
I covered graduations in Cyrus for the Morris newspaper, not every year but often enough. I did spread myself thin at times, admittedly. For many years we got no actual releases from UMM about its sports teams. Complaining? No I am not. UMM made decisions in its own best interests. Chancellor Jack Imholte didn't come into town on a load of watermelons.
I'm not sure "The Silver Fox" would recognize the UMM of today. Maybe the leadership is exercising the best judgment, but man there must be headwinds. I sincerely say "good luck."
The UMM Homecoming music concert is this weekend. This is a far more healthy endeavor than the football game. Let's prioritize music over football. Oh wait a minute, that is not tenable.
UMM music has not fixed its website. I was promised that it would, last year. UMM people speak with forked tongue. As of yesterday, only one concert was even announced on the website, that being the Carlson concert. The Carlson concert will be nice and sentimental, no doubt, but I'd have to assert we should have had the standard jazz festival last spring. No matter how scaled-down it might be, it should continue. Whenever you cancel something, jump-starting it again could be more difficult than imagined.
So the 2022 MAHS Homecoming parade is today, Friday, under the chilly conditions. School administration must have had reasons for scheduling Homecoming this late. We're on a tightrope for whether the pep band can play tonight. This has been the understanding all week, but today I'd bet that the odds are frowning on the band playing. It's an accepted rule that the band should not appear if the temperature is below 40.
Well, seems almost certain now, Friday morning as I write this, that temperature will go below 40. I talked to a UMM music faculty member when I was at the restaurant this morning. I told him that many fans would want the band to play even if the temperature is cold. From his perspective as a musician, he said he could easily see why the 40-degree rule applies.
The year was 1972 when my senior class had its Homecoming at Morris High School. No "Area" in the title then. I think "Area" could be removed at any time. It is understood that all schools can stretch beyond any particular boundaries. We should just be "Morris" because that's where the high school is.
I graduated in '73, the same year as Mike Eul of the iconic Eul family of Morris. We lost Mike a couple weeks ago. Time marches on. Every high school class goes through certain phases. We are being reminded of our mortality. Where once we were caregivers, we will be on the receiving end of that.
We remember things that won't have much significance for the young people.
Will today's Homecoming parade include an LGBTQ float? I have heard about this. Do I complain? Oh absolutely not. I would not be a cheerleader, yet I'm ready to step aside and allow a new set of norms to move in. Certainly our society was not well-served when gay people were "in the closet."
My generation grew up without the digital age miracles. Imagine that. People sometimes ask "how did you do it?" And we respond "well, we just did." Maybe my parents said the same about the Depression. Oh, and WWII. Mike Eul and I were part of the big "baby boom" brought into the world by the WWII generation. We were/are unique.
A further note on pep bands: I remember in my Tiger football coverage once, complimenting the Benson pep band on its very sharp rendition of our MAHS school song. I complimented the director by name, Brock Duncan. I eventually learned that he made a priority of preparing opposing schools' songs well. I wrote that the band was as sharp as our own pep band. Del told me that Wanda might not like seeing that.
So in reflection on the MHS Class of '73, I'll share here my song lyrics for my own original ode about that group. I wrote it some time ago, have not gotten it recorded. Would be nice, maybe, to have it recorded before our 50-year this summer!
"Class of '73"
by Brian Williams
Our old high school building
Stands there still today
Though we've had expansion on the grounds
There's a new gymnasium
And a concert hall
Progress just moves on by leaps and bounds
All those metal lockers
Made us all the same
Elders made us learn conformity
We just winked and giggled
Making our own way
We were sure to carve our destiny
CHORUS:
I can see those faces from 1973
I could swear we haven't aged a day
Tony, Sue and Jerry
Paula and Colleen
Morris High School Class of '73
We were on the doorstep
Of a wave of change
Girls were shooting baskets in the gym
They were on the threshold
Taking up the reins
Making clear the new age we were in
Boys proclaimed their manhood
On the football field
That's the way we drew the lines back then
No one had suspicion
Of head injuries
Our boys just went out and tried to win
(repeat chorus)
We dealt with the dress code
Seemed so onerous
Why on earth were blue jeans not allowed?
Must have been the rebels
Causing all the fuss
Marlon Brando and the movie crowd
We had no computers
Still we all got by
Yes I know it strains credulity
Still we found fulfillment
Classmates at our side
While we made our teachers want to flee
(repeat chorus)
We went home to parents
Who had seen so much
Crash of '29 and World War II
Now they raised their children
With a loving touch
Letting us run wild - it is true
Nixon's China journey
Could not prop him up
All those dismal headlines were a blur
We could not be bothered
By that macro stuff
We soaked in our pleasures undeterred
(repeat chorus, then repeat last line of chorus)
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