Danger! Death Cloud!

"That's the most dangerous thing that has ever happened at Jonesboro High School!" Those were the angry words spoken to me by none other than our beloved assistant principal Mr. Province. Even today, I vividly remember his bulging eyes, the vein threatening to pop on his perspiring forehead, and those red, irritated hands. God! Those red, irritated hands! Allow me to explain.

First though, introductions. My name is Stephen Hester, and I am whom Marcie was referring to in her previous blog post. As she mentioned, I was in a bunch of plays, had a minor role in a Bigfoot hoax (more on that later), co-founded the photography club (which we really wanted to call "The Potato Club") and wrote (until I was banned) for The Golden Times. However, I was also a photographer (until I was banned) for The Golden Times as well, which gets us back to my story.

As a photographer, I had access to the JHS darkroom, which is where we would develop the back & white photos for the newspaper. There was a particularly nasty chemical combination we used in the development process called "Stop Bath", which is made from highly concentrated acetic acid that was kept in a separate container in the darkroom. We photographers amused ourselves by constantly trying to trick others into inhaling deeply straight from the jug of acid. If successful, the subject would double over, coughing and hacking, saying things like, "I'm going to die." All in all, pretty funny.

On this particular day, Kevin Province (some relation to Mr. Province) was exercising his No. 2 right in the bathroom on the second floor next to the math department. Jay Melton and I thought this would be an excellent time to turn out the light in the bathroom and pour concentrated acetic acid all around the stall that Kevin currently occupied. As expected, he coughed and hacked and said he thought he was going to die. Again. All in all, pretty funny.

During the next period though, I was called to the Principal's Office. As I sat in the antechamber to that office, I noticed Principal Roger "Cold Fish Handshake" Callahan, Mr. Province and Mrs. Gaines sitting around a table with the now empty jug of acetic acid in the middle. Eventually Mr. Province emerged with the bulging eyes, popped-out vein and red, irritated hands -- red and irritated because he had spent the last thirty minutes on his knees cleaning the acid from the bathroom floor. He explained that the acid had mixed with the industrial strength, high-school-grade bathroom floor sanitizer/cleaner and formed a Death Cloud that was currently moving in an eastward direction at 3 mph down the math wing. Evacuation was being considered.

Needless to say, I was sent home in disgrace and subsequently banned for life from the JHS darkroom. My high school photography days were finished.

And then there were four...

I've wrangled another blog contributor to post to the blog. Here are some clues. This JHS Class of 1988 classmate was a writer on the Golden Times newspaper and co-founded the photography club at JHS (hopefully he still has lots of photos to share). He was (and probably still is) an avid videographer, owning a video business with two other classmates when he was in high school—I was even his employee (probably not a very good one). He was a member of Camerata singers and was in many drama productions at JHS including: "The Nerd", "Bye, Bye Birdie", "Two by Two" and "Frankenstein". He also has a remembrance of a run-in with the a legendary "wild man of the woods". Hopefully he will relay that story here again. :-)

The way it was: October 23, 1987

Cast members of “Two by Two,” according to the caption on the "Golden Times" front page picture above, included John Bagnal, Melinda Miller, Robin Yates, Stephen Hester, Roxanne Keshawarz, Keith Salter, and Brooke Keton.

Hmmmm, eight people, seven names. Can anybody figure out whose name got left out of the caption? CLUE: He was voted as “Most Talented” in our class’ Who’s Who.

Sadly, since our 10-year reunion, we have learned that John Bagnal (front row, right) has passed away.

The other front-page story on Oct. 23 was about College Night, written by the aforementioned owner of a red Chevette.

Bocephus boogied at the Convocation Center, and James Goad described Mu Alpha Theta as “an awe-inspiring, thought-promoting club.”

“Hurricane Circus,” our Homecoming theme, dominated the inside pages. In sports, volleyball coach Phil Parker worried about injuries and inconsistent play threatening his team’s state title aspirations, while the football Hurricane overcame a 2-3 start to the season to win its first 2 conference games.

On the back page, Stephen Hester fondly recalled Buddence’s “date with Sue,” and I wrote something stupid mocking JHS’ student handbook rules. (My wife’s look at me was priceless when she read it for the first time last night.)

Little Red Chevette

Photo copyright: Telstar Logistics
The car I most remember in high school was Janice Drake's little red chevette. She got to drive first with a November birthday so her car was the first I got to ride around in. We went everywhere in it. It was a tank. She had no pictures to speak of, so I raided Flickr and found this (even if it is blue). Come to find out after graduation the Chevette eventually got a hole in it on the floor passenger's side. When it was moving you could lift the floor mat and see the pavement flying by! Your first car or ride, what did you drive or ride around in? I know some of my friends cars had nicknames, did yours?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thinking Inside the Box.

Here is the "before" and "after" picture of Jonesboro High School. We never knew it in it's "before" state. Kind of sad that we didn't. The current school building was designed by Jonesboro firm Little and Associates. This replaced the original building destroyed by a tornado on May 27th, 1973. I guess in the seventies this building was considered "bold and contemporary". There's something to be said for the classic design that was the original school. But "square" as it was when we were there, it still had its charm. Of course now, there is no "open classrooms" like we had in the english department in the 80s. Guess they realized that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. :-) I'm just glad we didn't have to go to school in trailers at the fairground like classes in the early seventies. But then again, I'm sure we would have had some stories to tell.

Reunion Meeting Update

A reunion meeting was held Saturday, November 17 @ 5pm. We finalized our schedule for the reunion weekend of October 10, 2008.

Friday Night:

• Tailgate at school starting at 5:30 pm until game time (School will be open for touring)
• JHS Homecoming Game
• After Game: Bonfire/Get-Together with live music

Saturday:

• For families early in the day: Picnic @ the Crowley's Ridge Nature Center (For those who haven't been, it's a fun place for kids & adults)
• Saturday Night we will have a dinner and dance with live band at the Jonesboro Country Club

After the meeting we had dinner in downtown Jonesboro. A good time was had by all. Our next meeting will be held in January after the Thanksgiving & Christmas holidays. We're excited about the plans for the reunion, we hope you guys will be too. :-)

Class of 1988 Flickr Group

A Flickr group for photos of the JHS Class of 1988 has been started here. If you have photos to share from high school, upload them to Flickr and add them to this group. Please try to make them "PG" so everyone will enjoy them. :-) You can also reach the group by clicking on the Flickr icon on the right side bar. Looking forward to seeing your photos!

P.S. I just thought I'd mention it's free to join Flickr.com but if you prefer not to join, email the photos to: jhsclassof1988@gmail.com in .jpg format and I will upload them for you. :-)

Space Shuttle Challenger

It was January 28, 1986 and I remember I was home sick from school, but I watched the Challenger takeoff on tv. I remember seeing the explosion and thinking something terrible had happened but the announcers never showed any emotion. It was really strange. Do you remember where you were? Read more about the Challenger disaster here.

160 Classmates Contacted To Date!

To date we have contact information for 160 people out of 296! We are also looking for people that started out with our class but might not have graduated with us.Our second reunion planning meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 17 at 5 pm. We will finalize the reunion weekend schedule and call the remaining classmates that we do not have contact information. Here are the directions to the Associated Engineering office (Thank you again Marvin & Ashley):

Drive north on Church St. toward the railroad tracks. Church St. dead ends 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. Please come if you are in town.

NOTICE: The date for the reunion is set for the weekend of October 10, 2008. More information will be sent out as soon as it becomes definite.

In trying to find people, "JHSClassof1988" is now on myspace and facebook. If you are a member visit our page or send us a message. This blog is updated almost daily so keep checking back!

The way it was: Sept. 28, 1987

“Congratulations to the new Arkansas Junior Miss, Kristy Chitmon.”

Three lines in “News Notes” at the bottom left corner of the Sept. 28, 1987, edition of the Golden Times. The judges may have found Kristy to be the all-around prettiest, smartest and most talented girl in Arkansas, but this is all the respect she got from the school press. Sorry, Kristy.

“Homecoming: Oct. 16-17” was at the top of the front page, with the announcement of JHS’ drama lineup also on the front. “Two by Two,” “The Nerd,” and “It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Superman!” were the upcoming plays for the school year.

Shawn Herget and Felicia Willett cooked up a piece about “School spirit still shaking at JHS” for our center photo spread. There’s a picture (above) of Shawn handing the spirit stick to – who else?– the SENIORS, and a certain future city planning commissioner making the Day with his dramatic arrival as the “Black Flash.”

The football team was out to a 2-1 start and the volleyball team was 9-3, and I filled 2 pages without photos writing about those teams.

On the back page, Stephen Hester mocked sophomores and David Bennett discussed Dead Elvis Week, the Rameses Exhibit and something about a panda.

Graduation still seemed an eon away.

Friday Night Games

Whether you went to the game or not, most Friday nights revolved around the football game itself. What were you doing "before the game", what was happening "after the game", and for a lot of people you actually went TO the game. You were a participant in football, cheerleading, band or you were the spectators. What do you remember about the Hurricane football games you went to?

Do you know where your HS Class Ring Is?

I saw my HS Class ring in my wife's jewelry box the other day. It still fits but I never wear it. Does anyone remember all the symbolism that went with the ring? I vaguely remember something about the 3 palm trees representing our Soph., Jr., & Sr. years. The Star on the sides was for setting our goals high. While we were in HS, we were supposed to wear the ring so that WE could read JONESBORO HIGH on the crest. After we graduated, we were supposed to turn it around so others could read the it. Funny story, I worked with a guy at Hays on Washington who was a year younger than us. When he got his class ring, I noticed the Star of David on the stone. I said "I didn't know you are Jewish". He said "I'm not ... I just liked the way the star looked." I busted out laughing! [I'll try to remember more Hay's stories].
I remember finding my Dad's college ring when I was young and I asked him about his HS ring. He told be how he lost it while swimming in FL during Spring Break. He felt it slipping off his finger and could not grab it before the waves swept it away.
I wonder why I still have this HS ring. It just sits around. I'm sure it is worth something if I melted it down. It is hard to let go of the memories it represents. No matter how much dust it collects. My kids are too small now but maybe someday they will ask me about my HS ring. [If Katie watches HS Musical much more, she may want to wear it on a chain!] I guess if I have kept up with it for 20 years, I might as well keep it a while longer.

Who Is That Masked Man?

Of course it's our beloved mascot, "Flash". The most original mascot in Northeast Arkansas who is no more. :-( There were three people who donned the "Flash" costume during our tenure at JHS. Can you remember any of the three? I especially liked the "special effects" where Flash would throw fire. I wonder if we could dig up one of these costumes before next year? Any hints?

Goodbye Indian Mall. Hello Turtle Creek.

Photo credit: Fashionshop Guy 1483
If you haven't been to Jonesboro in 20, 10 or even the past couple of years, you have to come see how it's changed. If you remember going to Indian Mall on Saturdays as a lot of us did back in high school, that's a distant memory for kids in town today. Indian Mall is barely open with maybe three or four stores left. There are plans to develop it into an updated mall at a later date. The new mall is The Mall at Turtle Creek. For Jonesboro, it's definitely a big step up. It's located at the intersection of Stadium Boulevard and East Highland Drive. Dillards has moved over there as well as J.C. Penny and numerous other stores new to the area such as Barnes & Noble and Circuit City have opened. Check out the Turtle Creek link for more info.

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!