Happy Halloween!

Thank You!

I'm excited that Kevin Myatt, a previous "Golden Hurricane" co-editor and writer has agreed to contribute his professional expertise to the JHS Reunion Blog. Kevin now writes for the "Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Virginia and has his own weather blog for the paper. Go check out his blog when you get a chance. Also, thank you to Charles Brinkley who has agreed to post from time to time as well. You can catch him on the web here. If anyone else would like to contribute posts that are related to our reunion or the 80s please email your request and I'll add you as an author.

Those Times were Golden ... or were they?

This ranks among the most surreal moments of my life -- 19 years and 730 miles removed from Jonesboro High School-1988, and I have been retyping a column I wrote for the high school newspaper. I NEVER EVER expected to be rewriting something from the Golden Times again in my life!

At the prompting of the mysterious "mbc," our dear JHS Class of 88 blog queen, from a previous post about the "JHS-We Have It All" bumper sticker, I am posting my column about the bumper sticker that sparked outrage from the principal. (mbc, of all people, should know a little something about how high school principal types react to things) I am going to post it in a comment to keep this from being an enormous entry that pushes Rev. Run off the front page ... so enter the comments section at your own risk. I'm almost embarrassed to dredge this up.

You've probably figured out by now that I'm the second classmate "mbc" referred to that would be helping her with the blog. I'll be doing 2 things in the coming months: (1) retracing the 1987-88 school year from the pages of the Golden Times, which I have for some reason kept in their entirety if for no other reason than to torture myself by rediscovering some of my truly awful writing from the 1980s, and (2) doing a series of short profiles on many of our classmates.

So you might be hearing from me sometime soon!

When Nintendo Was King

This is an Inside Edition clip doing a feature on the Mario Brothers game craze and the influence of Nintendo in 1988.

Hello from Charles Brinkley

Hey Everyone! First, thanks to mbc for letting me blog on the JHS site. It has been fun reliving all the memories from our youth! I wanted to tell everyone about an event I am part of - The World's Biggest Blog Party. A good friend came up the idea to unite bloggers around the world from Oct 27th (Make a Difference Day0 to Nov. 17th (Family Volunteer Day). Check out the posts and sign up to blog about a charity or mission project that you are passionate about. Keep in touch!

Calling All Packrats...

If you have any high school memorabilia or photos that you have kept that you think would be interesting to share, either scan them or take a picture and send it to us as a jpg file so we can post it. Include a short description or story to go along with it. Or maybe the photo itself tells the whole story. :-)

Also, I've enlisted the help of two more classmates to help with the postings on the blog. Keep checking back to see who the "mystery" bloggers will be...

80s Flashback...

Remember the classic 80s band "Run DMC"? Fast forward into the millenium, Reverend Run from the same band has had his own reality show with his family and also has a daily affirmations email you can subscribe to. Here's the link for some great words of wisdom. Here's today's message: "Good morning. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. Without kindness, there can be no true joy." Thanks, Ashley. :-)

Do You Remember Junior Prom?

Do you remember junior prom? I do. We worked hard and built an awesome boat (well, PARTIAL boat) and got great decorations for the seniors along with a theme that went along with an 80s song, "Never Say Goodbye". And what do we get senior year? Yeah, we got "Stairway To Heaven" with a few balloons and some streamers. Isn't that song from the 1970s? So appropriate. What do you remember about your junior prom?

Did We Have It All?

Who had this bumper sticker? I think this was one of about five stickers I had on my car (didn't know back then that "less is more"). I remember Kevin Myatt wrote a newspaper article commentary about this bumper sticker that he may or may not have taken some heat for. He might need to jump in and refresh our old "37/38 year old" memories. What do you think? Did we "have it all"?

The 80's Zone

Here's is the video that was made for our ten year reunion. We played it at the Elks Club on that Friday night. I don't think everyone got to see it in full. Now here it is.

VH1's I Love The 80's

Go check out VH1's "I Love The 80's" and see some fun facts of events that happened in 1988. A couple of interesting items: Prozac was introduced to the public and The Greenhouse Effect was discovered. These two items don't necessarily go together. :-)

Classmate Blogs or Websites?

If you have a personal blog or website, just leave a comment with your name and the address or send us an email at: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com and we'll link you to the blog.

Ready For Your Closeup?

On the right hand side of the blog is a survey asking your opinion on posting video from 20 years ago on this blog through YouTube.com. Video could include clips of any high school event that was videotaped (sporting events, pageants, plays, musicals, graduation, etc). We also have the video that was put together at our 10 year reunion. Please vote and let us know your opinion on posting video clips to the blog. Personally, I'd like to see the clip of Ashley Thompson Day during the talent portion of the Sweetheart pageant slicing a pineapple with these HUGE knives that she twirled—now that was impressive. :-) I wonder how she did that?

Memories From High School?

Anyone have any funny or interesting stories or memories from high school that you think are "blog-worthy"? Please email jhsclassof1988@gmail.com and send in memories that you'd like to share with the class. You can be anonymous or you can post your name. Send them in and I'll post them on the blog. The only requirement: Let's try to keep the posts "Positive and PG". (If you really want to be "gung-ho", let me know and I'll add your name so you're able to post directly to the blog) If anyone is listening, I'd personally like to know the "whole story" behind the Big Foot Hoax. :-)

Do You Remember...?

This is pre-high school but still from 1982. Do you remember the premiere of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on MTV?

JHS Graduation 1988

In case you've lost your commencement program from 1988, or simply do not remember your graduation almost twenty years ago, here's a peek at the inside of the program, minus the class list.
DOWNLOAD OR VIEW FILE

133 Class Members Contacted To Date!

Out of our graduating class of 296, 133 people have been contacted at this time. If you have NOT received an email from jhsclassof1988@gmail.com regarding the reunion, we may not have your email so contact us at that address. If you do not have an email address we will send hard copy information at a later date. If you know of someone that started out in our class but did not graduate with us for whatever reason, and you know they would like to come to the reunion, please forward their information as well. We appreciate and need everyone's help in finding everyone's contact information! Keep them coming!

NOTICE: The reunion date is set for the weekend of October 10, 2008. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend!

Classic Movie Clips

No matter how unrealistic this movie may be (Would a principal really leave kids in detention unsupervised? And how could one kid write everyone's essay and get away with it?) it's still a classic. What was your favorite 80s movie?

"When I Was Your Age..."

Never thought I'd be old enough to utter these words.

Who Knew They Still Made These?

I realize this is more around our junior high rather than high school days but I couldn't believe a company still makes these. So if you're in the market for a pair you can grab them at the Parachute Pants Store. You've got to love google and the "internets".

Reunion Date Set

The weekend of October 10, 2008 has been set as our 20 year reunion date. Please mark your calendars. Now we are checking prices and venues for that weekend. We will update the site with more info. as soon as it's available. To take a shortcut directly to the "Reunion Info", check the right sidebar under "Search Blog By Subject" and choose "Reunion Information". The blog will be updated regularly with more memories from our time at JHS so check back often. You might see a familiar face or two.

What Was Your First Concert?

Mine was Bryan Adams but I would have much rather seen "Night Ranger".

JHS Receives Honor from Newsweek...

Your alma mater, Jonesboro High School was recently named in the "top 5% of some 27,000 high schools in the country" according to Newsweek magazine. For the full story check it out here.

First Reunion Meeting—Sunday, Sept. 30

If you are in and around Jonesboro, our first 20 yr reunion meeting is scheduled for Sunday, September 30 at 4 p.m. Here are the directions:

Drive north on Church St. toward the railroad tracks. Church St. deadends at the Associated Engineering office (green building) parking lot. The address is 103 S. Church- go through the gate to the double glass doors.

The building is the old Caldwell Furniture building.

If you are in town, please try and come. If you know of someone in Jonesboro that is not on the email list, please let them know about the meeting and forward their contact information to this email address: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com . If you are out of town, check the blog after that date for reunion information. We still need addresses/emails of people we went to school with so if you have any more people you could find, please forward them on. Thanks so much. :-)

What 80s Movie Persona Are You?

You are Andie Walsh from Pretty in Pink You are original and clever person. Although your family may not be able to buy you all the cool stuff you want, you are able to make cool stuff for yourself. Like a rocking 80’s prom dress. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

Give Us Our MTV!

Bono Bridge in Jonesboro Sun

I was surprised to see a Bono Bridge story in the Jonesboro Sun today and I had to share. (If your memory is failing you, Bono Bridge was a spot people would go and stand until the train sped under it. We must have been WAY bored.) Apparently residents are demanding that it be replaced or updated. They say it might be over 100 yrs old. Here's the link to read the story.

Test Your 80s Knowledge

Try this quiz if you think you know your 80s. See if you can get a high score. Post your score in comments if you dare. Mine was 110 not that great.

80s Commercials Flashback

Classmates.com

Does anyone have a membership to classmates.com? You can't post info there unless you have a membership. That would be a good place to leave a message to find "classmates". I'd appreciate it if someone could post this blog link on any bulletin board about "JHS 1988 Reunions" to let people know where to send their info and where to receive updates. Thanks.

Remember the 80s?

Jonesboro High School Class of 1988

Graduates of Jonesboro High School in Jonesboro, Arkansas from 1988—It's that time. Our 20 year class reunion is almost here. Please send your addresses or emails to: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com so we can get in touch with you and send you an invite. Please leave us your full name (including maiden name) and email or regular mail address. Looking forward to seeing you in 2008!