Going out for debate in ninth grade

During the past several entries, you may have noticed that I've been telling a little bit about me as growing up. As I don't know how long we'll be kept apart - and especially if something should happen to me in the meantime - I want to share with you the story of my life so that you may know me a little better.

After junior high, in the fall of 1980, I entered ninth grade at Menomonie Senior High School in Menomonie, Wis. That autumn I went out for the debate team!

My debate partner was Suneel Arora, who is now a successful attorney in downtown Minneapolis. We were the "negative" team on a four-member team (The other two were partners who argued the "affirmative"). In short, Suneel and I argued against proposals that the other team made.

Our four-member team took first place at three tournaments - St. Croix Falls, Durand and New Richmond! Unfortunately, our school district cancelled the debate program after that year, so that was the last season the program was offered at our school.

Would you like to go out for debate or forensics when you;re in high school?   

My time in junior high school

After attending Knapp Elementary School, I went to Menomonie Junior High School. Our school district had nine different elementary schools in it, and when students reached seventh grade, they went on to the junior high school. That was the fall of 1978.

In seventh grade, I went out for track in spring and in eighth grade I went out for football in fall. Ultimately, though, I decided sports wasn't for me! I also ran for student council but didn't get elected.

Maybe the most exciting thing I did in junior high was wrote a petition in seventh grade asking for more student dances and then in eighth grade led a boycott of school lunch! I was into politics and very interested in national and international politics at the time. I guess I was a very serious young man!

My best friends in seventh grade were Brian Lindo, Kirby Quinn (who I went to elementary school with), and Troy Hathaway. In eighth grade, my friends gradually changed, and my two best friends were Carl Tilseth and Mike Gansberg.

My email sent to you on Nov. 24, 2012

Here is the email I sent on Nov. 24, 2012, just in case you do not receive it:

Hi Kieran,

Hope all is going well for you. I miss and love you very much.

I’m glad to hear you had such a fun week! Sky Zone sounds like a good time, especially with all of your friends were there. What did you get Milo for a birthday present?

I have not seen “Penguins of Madagascar III” yet, though I remember us watching the previews for it when we went to the movie theaters in Lancaster. Was the penguin Ringo in the movie? What was your favorite part of the film?

A black lab sounds like a great dog to play with, especially fetch. Your Uncle Chris has a black cocker spaniel that always brings me a small football to me to throw. Though she chases after the football and gets it, she doesn’t always bring it back to me – sometimes she runs back to me and looks up at me wondering why I’m not throwing it again for her to chase! Cocker spaniels don’t have a reputation for being the brightest dogs in the world.

Did you have turkey for Thanksgiving? I did. I also had mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie (well, two pieces of pumpkin pie). I also read a really great book called “Mousekin’s Thanksgiving,” by Edna Miller. The story is all about how a wild turnkey helps a little mouse and all of his friends find something to eat. That’s because a mysterious creature has eaten of the mouse’s food that he stored for winter!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is rapidly approaching. Have you made a list of presents you might like for Christmas?

That is all for now. I miss you!

Love,

Dad

My best friends in elementary school

One of the best things about going to school is that we get to make new friends. Often when before going to kindergarten, we don't have many friends at all, maybe just the next-door neighbor child, as we typically spend most of our time around our parents.

My best friend in Elmwood was Ronald Wolfe. He lived next door to me, and we were in the same grade. In first grade, we weren't in the same classroom (We had two first grade classrooms in my school), so we couldn't wait to see each other at recess and lunch time!

After moving to Knapp, my best friend for a couple of years was Marc Livermore. We played lots of games together at recess, and he introduced me to "The Six Million Dollar Man."

Marc and his family moved, though, and Jim Falkofske became my best friend in fourth grade. We both loved "Star Trek" and got to sleep over at each other's houses. But he was a year younger than me, so we didn't go to junior high together when I entered seventh grade. More on that in an upcoming entry!

Who are your best friends? What kinds of fun things do you like to do together?

Happy Thanksgiving, Kieran!

Happy Thanksgiving, Kieran! I hope you're enjoying the holiday with a big turkey dinner.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful holiday in our house when we were together. We usually spent the morning putting up and decorating the Christmas tree. You always loved to help. Usually the Disney parade and then the football game played on the television in the background.

One year you discovered a bunch of little snowmen ornaments that we had for a small Christmas tree that we no longer out up. You started to play with them, and as they didn't have any hooks on them, I just let you keep them in your toy box.

The highlight always was when tuned on the Christmas tree lights. You always were so impressed by them and would gaze in awe at them forever.

We also always went out to eat for Thanksgiving dinner. Making a meal for just us - though I did it one year - was just too much work with a lot of wasted food.

I can't wait to spend Thanksgiving with you again in the years ahead!

What are the best movies ever?

Tonight I went to see the James Bond movie "Skyfall" at the movie theater. It was a lot of fun to watch, and because it was the 50th anniversary of James Bond movies, the film made a lot of references to past Bond flicks.

The James Bond movies certainly are among my favorite movies (I especially like "For Your Eyes Only"). So , of course, are the "Star Trek" movies and because of all the times we watched the "Star Wars" films together, so were they.

Last winter we started seeing a lot of fun movies together, going to see "The Phantom Menace 3D" and "Journey 2 the Mysterious Island" together. You really liked "The Lost Island", and we even played it and made up stories about it afterward!

What movies are your favorites? I can't wait to find out and to take you to tons of them in the years ahead!

Our elementary school basketball team

Do you like to play sports? When I was a boy, I did. In fact, I even went out for basketball in elementary school.

Actually, I got our school to start a basketball team! The girls in our school had a team but the boys didn't. So I convinced a bunch of boys to promise they would go out for the team and to speak to the principal with me about starting one! I was in sixth grade.

As most of the boys on the team were only in fifth grade, we had to play in the fifth grade league. Grandpa Bignell helped coach the team. Our nickname was the "Cardinals."

We were lousy! We won only one game all season out of the six or seven games we played. But boy did ever we celebrate when we won! And we still had lots of fun and made some great memories along the way!