Only one

other example of ongoing embarrassment trumps name-calling many of us faced in elementary school during the final years of the Great Depression.

And it was in the “funny papers,” for crying out loud. No “real people” were involved, unless the late Charles Schulz–creator of the popular “Peanuts” cartoon starring Charlie Brown and Lucy Van Pelt–is included. Often, Charlie Brown was to kick a football held by Lucy. Each time, though, she retracted it just before his foot arrived, leaving him flat on his back, staring skyward.

He fell for it every time, crimson with embarrassment….

*****

My face

was the same shade of red in the early 1940s–when older students affixed the nickname “Droopy Drawers” to me and others similarly attired.

It was the depths of denigration.

Upon hearin

See Full Page