Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Last night I went to the school board’s Staff Celebration Dinner. This is a dinner where they honour people who are retiring, as well as staff with 25 years of service. Everyone there was very surprised to find out that I was one of the people being honoured. No, I am not quite ready for retirement, but I have been a teacher-principal for twenty-five years!

I was remembering back to my very first job at Denis Morris High School teaching grade nine and ten math. I was one lesson ahead of the kids. I was teaching myself equations at night before I had to teach those know-it-all kids in the morning. I quickly learned kids at that age are very cool and knew exactly how to take advantage of a very green teacher. Definitely I learned more than they did that year but they were lessons well learned.

Ironically the man who owned the hall we had our dinner at last night was in that grade nine math class! He was a big kid who thought about nothing but football. He was not very interested in math. Once he got a bit older he put dollar signs in front of those numbers and did very well. He has become a well-know business man in our community.

My memory is not as good as it once was but I do remember that first class clearly. I remember the girl who was constantly etching Billy Idol’s name in her books. I remember some kids very excited about going to a concert to see Van Halen and they saw Valerie Bertinelli hanging around. I remember one boy who was very cool because he had a red leather jacket just like Michael Jackson had. To help me remember some of those details I did a little bit of googling.

Back to 1984...............................

- Lee Iacocca had the most popular nonfiction book of the year with "Iacocca: An Autobiography" -Researchers for the first time positively identified the virus that leads to AIDS.

-Ronald Reagan was re-elected to his second term as US President, defeating Walter Mondale. In an historic move, Mondale selected Representaive Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate, the first time a woman appeared on the ticket for vice president.

-Clara Peller is featured in the "Where's the Beef?" commercial campaign for Wendy's for the first time.

-Trivial Pursuit revived the board-game industry.

-Stonewashed jeans are introduced.

-The first megabit chip is made at Bell Labs

-Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, US. The Soviets boycott.

-Mary Lou Retton wins two gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

-Old nude photos of Vanessa Williams, the current Miss America. She is forced from her throne.

-Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire during the shooting of a Pepsi commercial.

-The Cosby Show first debuted on NBC.

Hit Songs of 1984

1. "Owner of a Lonely Heart" ... Yes

2. "Karma Chamelon" ... Culture Club

3. "Jump" ... Van Halen

4. "Footloose" ... Kenny Loggins

5. "Against All Odds" ... Phil Collins

6. "Hello" ... Lionel Richie

7. " Let's Hear It For the Boy" ... Deniece Williams

8. "Time After Time" ... Cindy Lauper

9. "The Reflex" ... Duran Duran

10. "When Doves Cry" ... Prince

11. "Like a Virgin" ... Madonna