That folklore work you were doing sounds a lot like the Foxfire books of that era. Do you know about them?
“I don’t know why they made us read A Separate Peace in junior high (hated it) or made you read The Plague and Nausea in high school.”
We were assigned all three. They really hated us. I think the book that got me booted out of honors English was some Henry James abomination called The Bostonians. It was dreary and boring beyond belief and I’d have chosen bamboo under the fingernails over being forced to read it.
I assume that high school was trying to make students, especially male students, suicidally depressed by forcing that garbage on us. The class was also subjected to watching ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf’ which was another 2 hours of my life that I bitterly resented them taking from me.
I always marvel at how people look back fondly on their high school years. It would be like reminiscing over jail.
Yes, loved the Foxfire books, and yes, we were doing stuff like that. It was exciting and fun — and a lot of work and tired fingers from typing on an old typewriter (man, I feel old now). We felt like we’d created our own Firefire series, and it was fun to read the other students’ books, too. It was a truly great class that taught us all a lot of important things.
All three? Ew! They really did have it in for you! Henry James is hardly appropriate for high school, especially high school boys. And The Bostonians? Seriously? No wonder you rebelled! Why not let you read something like The Last of the Mohicans? Or Hemingway or Steinbeck or ... just about anything else. And on top of it Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Really? Ugh! Why not watch Ivanhoe or Henry IV?
There were some good points to high school, but it seemed like a horrible jail to me, too. I had fun with all my friends and we had some great times, but other than a few classes like AP History and the English mini-courses, it was stultifying ... and there were some really sorry teachers and more I won’t go into. My Dad wanted to send me to the fancy dancy private high school, but I desperately wanted to be with my friends after living in Switzerland. He was probably right. My Dad was always right. Anyway,I was more than ready to be out of there and into college. Little did I know Existentialism awaited!