First, I have to apologize, even though this has a Sonny and Cher song as its title, this blog is not about Sonny and Cher and the Green and Gold as I said it would be in the last blog. That will come soon, but this one is more important to me at this point.

I wrote the Sonny and Cher piece and sent it off to my favorite editor and got a dismal review and some concern on her part. It seems there was, according to her, a little too much of me in it and also a little too much sexual escapade innuendo. We discussed this in detail and basically could not come to an agreement.

I thought long and hard about what was being said and then decided to let Cassi in on my dilemma. Cassi basically agreed that I should write what I want as long as it didn't hurt anyone or wasn't offensive.

Now let me expand on what types of things were at issue and my feelings on them. You are more than welcome to comment on this whole issue through the comment part of the blog on this website.

First, the issue that the blogs are too much about me. Well, my feeling is...Who the heck is writing this? ME! I can't write about what happened in High School to the class president or the valedictorian. I can only write about things that happened to me or around me with my friends. Not to say I didn't know the class president,.(Hey Jim)... or the valedictorian...(Ralph). But their experiences aren't the focus of my memories about Narbonne. They are more than welcome to write about their adventures though!

Secondly...the next issue is that there is risk of hurting someone when I write about a sexual escapade I had when I was 17. People... that was 43 years ago! We all did stupid, fun things. And we can all tell stories about them. I would never mention names or even indicate by innuendo who may have been involved. But we are all in, or close to, our 60's, at least my class, and I think, even if you recognize yourself in one of my stories, that you might chuckle with fond remembrances. Hopefully fond that is...LOL.

I want to write about things you will find interesting and funny and, yes, ribald at times. My blogs will not all just be about my escapades but will include memories of teachers, school events and much more. However they all will be written from the perspective of YOUR RIBALD RACONTEUR.

I hope this topic generates some comments and I hope you might even give me some topics you might want to hear about. PLEASE use the comment section to let us know what you think and feel about all this.

I don't know about you but I absolutely hated to write book reports. Of course from about the 3rd grade on all the teachers thought it was the best way to gauge if 1) we had read the book and 2) could regurgitate what we had read. I wrote so many book reports over the years that I developed a method of going to sleep while I wrote them.

Then of course there was always that one special teacher who you wanted to impress with your ability to read and write. I found her my Junior year and took three or four classes from her over the last two years at Narbonne . She became my muse. I know most of the guys in the class were in lust with another English teacher, who I won't name out of the kindness of my heart, but I was head over heels in "Teacher-Love" with Mrs. Allen..

Mrs. Allen could assign me the back of the Cheerios box to read and report on and I would gladly do the work. She could have me write trial Subject A essays for days and I would struggle thru them...where were spell check and grammar check back then?. I would look forward to her classes down in N Bldg (?) everyday and my final semester I had both Senior Comp and Creative Writing with her. That probably caused the fatal error..

I am not sure which of the two classes required the dreaded book reports but by this time as a Senior A I had had enough. I don't remember how many we had to do but I do know I turned them all in the last day they were due. And they ALL should have been for the Creative Writing class. I had not read one of the books. Between Cliff notes and liner notes in the books and just some plain old B.S. I was able to write a page or two about each book..

The fatal day of my "love affair" approached...Mrs. Allen was handing back all the papers she had graded all weekend when it happened. She handed my five or six book reports back with all A's and B's on them. As I thought she walked away I turned to Wendy, who was a row behind me, and said..."Wow, just think what I would of got if I had actually read the books." You know that look on someone's face when they know you have just done something totally stupid? Well I saw that look on Wendy's face and at that second I knew. Mrs. Allen was standing right behind me listening to every word that had just come out of my mouth. I froze in fear and embarrassment. I stuttered. I choked. I turned beet red. Barry Gonzalez turned and thought I needed the Heimlich maneuver. Mrs. Allen turned away and quietly said, "Bob I am so disappointed." I was devastated. I was so far down I would have to dig up to go down. About that time the bell rang and I headed off to track practice and tried to recover. I never did..

To this day I have never recovered. If someone asks me my most embarrassing moment in life...This is the story I tell them...Well there is one other that involves a hot day, a bikini and too much wine on my part but that's for another time. .

I don't think I ever really apologized to Mrs. Allen, I know that she left Narbonne that year and I don't know if she ever came to any of the reunions or anything, BUT if anyone knows how to get in touch with her...Tell her I am sorry and tell her I have read each and everyone one of those books in some cases more than once. And I will never forget her and her soft gentle ways of teaching..

BTW...I did pass the Subject A at UCSB the next year and I think the Creative Writing class has paid off over the years, so even if I didn't really read all those books that semester, I did learn a lot from her...and she will always be my favorite female teacher of all time..

Next time Sonny and Cher and the inconsistencies of the Green and Gold articles.