I went to my high school reunion Saturday night.
Here is one of my BFF’s - Sharon. I met Sharon in my sophomore year. At the reunion, she found out that we did indeed go to the same middle school- Barton Junior High; which, Royal Oak tore down to build senior citizen apartments. I had to show her my picture in the Middle School yearbook someone brought, she did not believe me. It is a hindrance at times to be an invisible.
Now, Dondero is a middle school and all the kids go to high school at Kimball. Sharon and I remember the kid who crapped in the pool in gym class. They had to empty the pool and disinfect it. He was not at the reunion much to our dismay.
Charlie, Bill and Dan. I would never have made it through high school without Charlie’s friendship. Not that I can remember much of high school. Which makes it nice to go to a reunion to talk about high school memories I do not have.
Bill, Cheryl, Vic and Mark. All extremely successful as I knew they would be. Bill reminded me that it was me who gave Mr. Solis a hard time in Spanish class. Yes, Mr. Solis, the demented Spanish teacher who threw a tennis ball at you when he wanted you to answer a question. Only, I refused to catch the dang thing, it was so demeaning. I got an A 4 that year. The principal called my parents into the office and explained that I was the first student he’d ever had to get one of the highest grades but the worst classroom behavior marking. He recommended I switch to another foreign language. Adios, Senor Solis. Bonjour, Mrs. Sauer.
Yes, I danced too.
Gail
Sharon & yours truly
Robin & Dan
Bill, looking great as ever
Julie
Thanks to Vic and Mindy for all their hard work planning the reunion.
What did I do in high school? I got good grades so I could get into a good college and I did. I was accepted to both University of Michigan and Kalamazoo College. I was in drama club until I got too involved in unregulated weekend activities. I was a behind the scenes Thespian. I wanted to play softball and volleyball but didn’t have the guts to see if I could make the team. I should have. I did not do any ‘writing’ clubs or the yearbook but all my English teachers loved me and I was invited to take the AP English exam even though I’d not had any “formal training” to do so. I got a 4, pretty good, huh? I remember being the only sophomore in an upper class American literature class. And, I remember my good friends- Sharon, Charlie, Bill, Cheryl, Vicky, Andrea, Lisa, Julie and my husband-to-be Bob (from another highschool); hence, the unregulated weekend activities.
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Very interesting post and debate. I am credited in a few books' acknowledgements pages, which is of course very nice, but also scary - because it worries me that if I become published, how on earth will I choose who to acknowledge or not acknowledge, and where to start? It's a bit like choosing who to invite to your wedding. And also, and this is where I agree with you a little, Charlie, most of these acknowledgements are at the beginning of novels, rather than at the end - a decision by publishers which I'm not keen on, and which can spoil the magic of a story. I don't mind reading acknowledgements, but I would far prefer to read them at the end rather than at the beginning. Which brings us to another terrifying question, that of the dedication, and whether a first novel should be one's parents, et cetera...
Oh, putting them at the front really is anathema! That's like saying whodunnit on the sleeve of a detective novel, or using a shot from an endoscope as your profile picture on a dating site, or something...
Dedications - yes. Definitely tricky. Maybe someone should devote a post to them?
But surely they are not designed to for the general public to read (all those long paragraphs? (and brackets?) I have always assumed they were there for the benefit of the tax office. i.e. to prove that the expenses the author is claiming for are real ("Thanks most of all to my lovely multitalented typist Barbara-in-the-Bahamas, loved the yacht and all the friendly crew").
Ah, Barbara-in-the-Bahamas - she really is a treasure, isn't she? Takes me back to the heady days of 2005, when I was researching "Piña Coladas - My Way". And they say writing's "not a real job"!
Probably it was ever thus Charlie ('In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...' Elizabethan tax inspector keels over, all WS's relations say 'Very entertaining but what about the gloves?'). So no good moaning and keep up the research: bound to come in useful one day.
Another good use for acknowledgements which I thought of five minutes ago while cleaning the shower (Where oh where is lovely Mildred the housekeeper-and-the-only-person-in-the-world-who-can-read-my-handwriting-I-won't type-don't-ask-me) is that you could add clip art and put them in Christmas cards.
Sometimes the acknowledgements are more fun than the books they're attached to! I particularly love those long, soupy ones which are like Oscar speeches and I always read them completely detached from the novel, if you know what I mean. And I read them first and as far as I know don't have my fun spoiled. Am I alone in this weird taste? I don't write fulsome acknowledgments but I have had a para in the front (sorry, Charlie!) of a couple of novels and a small para at the end of a couple of others. Anyone else going to confess?
I'd have agreed with you, Charlie, had I not been so very pleased when I myself ended up on a page like that.
And there you go. People do like to see their names inside a book. years ago in a former existence as an Information Officer for Lloyd's Register of Shipping,even I was pleased to turn up in the acknowledgements for one of the dullest possible kinds of publication: the history of a shipping line. So if people have helped me in the course of a book, it's a nice way to say thankyou. However, I do understand where you're coming from. One can overdo it!
I totally understand that it's fun to be mentioned in one of these things. And I know I must sound like the evil love-child of the Grinch and a Blue Meanie, but as Christopher Chant memorably says, "I'm nice really!" My preferences are mine alone, and I'm certainly not out to proselytize. (I still think I'm right, though!)
A hugely intelligent and thought-provoking post. I'm one of life's eternal optimists. I've been hearing about the death of publishing ever since I began working in publishing. I love your thoughts about school visits. Children really are the most appreciative audiences.