The Baton Club Performance

Hello future readers!

Yesterday was the last assembly of the school year. That means our Baton Club was going to perform! I've never been so nervous in my life! I got up early to get all my things together before school.

This is part of the costume we get to wear. Isn't it outta site? I just love it!

We were all so excited backstage! The butterflies in my stomach had turned into bats! Then Mrs. Taylor announced us and we went onstage.

My mom was out in the audience taking picture, and all of the kids were cheering. We started with "Dancing Machine" by The Jackson 5 first.

"Boogie Fever" by The Sylvers was next. This was the easy one.

We did it! We were dynamite (if I do say so myself!)! No one tripped over their feet, no one dropped their batons, and the record didn't skip! I was glad I didn't have to be nervous anymore. My mom was so proud of me! After assembly, she gave me a big hug and told me we'd have a special dessert tonight to celebrate. All right!

Well, we get out of school next week. So next time you hear from me, it'll be summer vacation! YAY!

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

The Adventures of Henry the Hamster

Hello future readers,

This past Friday, Miss LaSalle asked if I could please take Henry, our class hamster home, since I'm the only one who hasn't had a turn yet. You see, there's a good reason for that. My mom doesn't like hamsters. Can you believe  that? She says they're too much like mice and rats, and she won't allow them in the house. But I really love Henry and I wanted a chance to take care of him before the end of the school year. So...I told Miss LaSalle I'd take him. I know, I know...I shouldn't have done that. But hamsters are pretty quiet, and there was a good chance my mom wouldn't find out. I met my friend April after school. She carried my book bag home, so I could carry Henry's cage.

My mom was in the kitchen when we came in. Really quick I said, "I'm home, Mom", and we ran up to my room. So far, so good. I set the cage down and took Henry out. My dog Boomer wanted to see what was going on, so he jumped on my bed.

While April and I were talking, Boomer kept sniffing at Henry, so I sat Henry down on my bed.

At first, everything was OK. Boomer was sniffing away and Henry kept scampering between my legs. Then all of a sudden, Boomer started barking, and he wouldn't stop!

Henry got so scared, that he ran under the bed and wouldn't come out! I put Boomer out in the hall, and then April and I tried to get Henry to come out.

Every time we reached for him, he'd scurry to the other side of the bed. Finally I put his food dish down by my bed to lure him out. His cute little nose peeked out and sniffed the food. When he came out to eat it, that's when I grabbed him.

I put the cage up on my bookshelf so Boomer couldn't get at it if he came back in. But I think Boomer must have gone down to the kitchen and barked some more when I put him out. My mom came upstairs to see what my crazy dog was barking about.

My mom took one look at Henry and said, "Julie Ann Newman, what is that RAT doing in my house?" I told her Henry wasn't a rat he was a hamster. She said it didn't make any difference, and I knew better than to bring him home. She made me call Danny to come and get Henry, and sent April home.

I was in BIG trouble. Not just sitting through a lecture kind of trouble...this was not being allowed out of my room trouble. I was grounded for the entire weekend! Except for meals, the bathroom and Sunday School, I wasn't allowed to leave my room ALL WEEKEND! And I couldn't watch TV, play my records or tapes or use the phone either! My mom said I should use this time to think about how wrong it was to disobey her. She also told me I had to spend at least 2 hours Saturday and Sunday studying. This was just too much! I know I deserve to be punished, but come on! I wanted to beg for a lighter sentence, but I knew if I opened my mouth, I would have made things worse. Well, my mom can be a very groovy person, but if you get on her bad side, watch out! (sigh) I guess there's nothing I can do except tough it out. This weekend was really gonna be a drag.

At least I got a new issue of Dynamite magazine yesterday. I'll study tomorrow. I'll write more when I get out of "prison".

Until next time, future readers,
Your "grounded" friend,
Julie Newman

Making up is hard to do...sort of

Hello future readers!

On Saturday afternoon, I went over to Robyn's house, so we could practice our baton routines. She has the records of the songs we were using, and she was glad I suggested practicing together.

A few minutes after I got there, the doorbell rang. It was Jennifer. Robyn had invited her to practice with us.

I wasn't really happy about that. But Robyn said if we're gonna be in the same baton club, we'd have to get it together and talk things out. Good ole Robyn...she doesn't mess around. She gets right to the point. So before we did any practicing, we sat on Robyn's bed and rapped awhile.

Jennifer told me she was sorry she had been so rotten to me. She explained that she was really popular at her old school, and hated moving away from all of her friends. She saw how popular I was at the playground and in school, and it made her kinda jealous. She wanted to get noticed and picking on me was the only way she could think of to do that. I told her that I was the one who introduced myself and would have been her friend anyway; and she didn't need to get mean to get attention. She told me she realized what a turkey she was being after Danny sounded off at Sam's Snack Shack. And she said she was REALLY sorry about teasing me about not having a dad. Her mom and dad almost got a divorce last year, and she knew what it was like not to have a dad around. I told her that I forgive her. (well, it had to happen some time, didn't it?) I also mentioned that if she wants to unload and get something off her chest, that it was okay to come to one of us, even Danny. Good friends are always there for each other. She was surprised I wanted to be her friend after the way she acted. I told her we could start all over again, and just forget the last month ever happened. We slapped each other some five, and that was the end of it. I was glad. I had been pretty uptight about this whole thing, and was glad it was OVER.

So then it was time to practice. Robyn put "Dancing Machine" by the Jackson Five, (her favorite group!), and we went through the steps.

Not bad. Jennifer dropped her baton once, and I handed it back. She smiled, and we went through the routine again. We got all the way through it without a mistake! Then we tried "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers.

That routine is a little easier. Mrs. Taylor told us that we should always practice the harder one first. If we can do that one, the rest is a piece of cake. And she was right!

After we practiced. I checked out Robyn's record collection. She got some really outta site sounds! We chose a record to play and then Robyn got out her new board game: Trouble! I love that game!

We played records and played Trouble until it was time to go home to dinner. I had a lot of fun, and I'm glad Jennifer and I are friends now. Sometimes, I wonder what life would be like without emotions getting in the way. On Star Trek, Mr. Spock's race, the Vulcans got rid of emotions, and said they were all better because of that. Life might be "logical", but it sure wouldn't be much fun. It would be a drag if you couldn't laugh or cry or love. But even though he didn't feel emotions, he was always there for his friend, Captain Kirk. And isn't that what it's really all about?

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

School Photos

Hello future readers,

We just got our school photos back. I think they look pretty groovy. Do you have school photos in the future? I still think you take your classes at home on a television screen, so maybe you don't have photo day. But it's fun to get all dressed up and take pictures. Anyway, here's what our photos look like:

We took the pictures in the auditorium. This is our class picture.  Starting from the left is Miss LaSalle, Lisa, Stephanie, me, Danny and Sunny. I think we all look pretty groovy in our good clothes. Danny complained all day about wearing that suit. He likes t-shirts, jeans and sneakers better. But I think he looked pretty cool. Now here are the photos of each of us:

Yep, that's me. My mom loves this picture. She ordered a bunch of wallet sizes to send to my aunties and uncles.

Here's Lisa. I think she looks outta site in pigtails!

Here's Sunny. I love the way her photo came out. She's very pretty.

This is Danny. I think he takes a pretty good picture... for a boy, I mean.

And here's Stephanie. I just love her green eyes. They're so sparkly!

Well, that's it. School photo day was fun. Even though there may not be any school photos in the future, I hope you still get all dressed up sometimes and take pictures, just because.

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman

Baton Club tryouts

Hello future readers,

Today at school, our Art teacher, Mrs. Taylor, held tryouts for the new Baton Club in the school auditorium. In case there are no batons in the future, I'll fill you in. These are long metal sticks with rubber tips that you twirl really fast while you march or dance. In our Baton Club, we were gonna twirl and dance. The girls trying out were me, Stephanie, Robyn, Sunny and...uh...Jennifer. I was wondering how that was gonna go since she had been ducking me since the scene in Sam's Snack Shack. But she barely even looked at me.

Mrs. Taylor said the first thing we had to know was how to walk on beat. Keeping the beat was really important when learning the dance moves. So she put on a record and called us one at a time to walk to the music. Sunny was first.

She didn't do that well. Maybe it was her platform shoes, maybe she was nervous. Whatever it was, I felt bad for her.  I was next. I took a deep breath and stepped up in front.

I think I did OK. I spend a lot of time in my room dancing to my David Cassidy records, so maybe that helped. Stephanie was up next.

She didn't do too badly, but she tripped over her feet towards the end. Next was Robyn.

Pretty good. She even added a little finger snapping. Last but not least was Jennifer.

As much as I hate to admit it, she did pretty well. She stayed on the beat, and looked like she was having fun. Mrs. Taylor thanked Sunny and Stephanie for trying, but there were only 3 spots available, and maybe they could try again next year. Wow, what a bummer. I wished we could have all been in this together.

Now it was just me, Robyn, and Jennifer. Now we each had to walk and twirl the baton at the same time. I've fooled around with my cousin Ruby's baton. I know how to twirl it, but I'm not super great or anything. But the true test was both walking on the beat and twirling without dropping the baton.

Well, we were all pretty good. We all kept the beat, and no one dropped their baton. So Mrs. Taylor put on a different record, and we walked together as a group.

I think we grooved pretty well together. Mrs. Taylor was satisfied and said we'd practice every Tuesday and Thursday in May so we could perform at the last school assembly in June before school let out. The songs she chose were Jackson 5's "Dancing Machine" and The Sylvers "Boogie Fever". Far out! Those are dynamite songs, and I know Robyn has those albums so we could practice together.

I didn't know if Jennifer had those records. I was wondering if maybe I should invite her to practice with us. I was still pretty mad for all those mean things she did and said to me. But I guess I gotta forgive her some time. But I don't think I'm ready to yet. Does that sound mean? I guess I'll talk to my mom and my friends, and see what they think. Speaking of my mom she was really proud of me for making the tryout. She fixed my favorite spaghetti dinner to celebrate! Yum! Well I gotta do my math homework now, (ugh!), so I gotta go now.

Until next time, future readers,
Your friend,
Julie Newman