Chapter 6 'Hm! White Boy! You Got No Business Here!'

I can imagine the teenagers at Chilocco thinking of things to do to pass time and have fun.  What surprised me is when they said one of the guys would kill a chicken and the girls would try and sneak the chicken in so they may cook it!  Or when they would lay a mattress down and choke each other until they were knocked out! Or making their own alcohol! Wow, sounds quite odd, but probably was somewhat entertaining to them and is maybe even considered normal, unruly teenage behavior.  They sure liked to cross the boundaries when they were bored, but who wouldn't?! 

It was also interesting to see how a lot of them stuck with their own tribal members.  Maybe back then, it might of been more easy and comfortable to stick with what you know.  Can you imagine if it was like that here at Tribes or at Haskell?  Makes me think of how it would be.

I also liked how they talked about good old fashioned fighting.  It seems like there would be a squabble and then it would be settled.  Even though they called some of their groups gangs, it is nothing like what gangs are today.

Chapter 5 'You Dizzy Bastard, Get in Step'

Wow! The title says it all!  The poor kids were disciplined military style.  The punishments for not doing what they were supposed to seemed pretty rough.  Especially when they talked about the little 6 year olds that were summoned to the rock pile.  Even the other older students thought that the discipline didn't match the age. 

As far as the drill competitions went I could just picture the young group not being able to keep up with the older, faster groups and them all joining hands to stay together.  That just breaks my heart because they still wanted to try and had that sense of teamwork.  I cannot picture my daughter being put through such a grueling task.  It seems in the end, the students think that it made them stronger.  I really like the sense of humor these people seem to have when retelling the stories. I get it. I wonder if some people that read this don't get the humor in it.  These people that have been through this know what they were put through and where they came from and how it made them into what they are today and they can actually laugh about some of it, at least.  Eventually the strictness of the discipline decreased.  Some spoke of being able to go to town on Saturdays and other activites.  I am glad that they had some extracurricular activites to do.

I found these pictures and I imagine that when these people graduated from Chilocco, that it was not as strict.  As you can see, their attire was not uniform. I thought it was interesting to compare the students as the times changed.

Chapter 4 'You're a Women, Your Going to Be a Wife!"

Bloomers: I have always wondered where this term came from.  I found the definition being- Women's baggy underpants fastened to just below or above the knee.  It was also interesting to find out how the word "bloomers" was sometimes used for the wearers of the garments, rather than the garments themselves.  I found the bloomer stories quite funny because it reminded me of my grandma. Whenever I would hear the term 'bloomers', it seemed to be used in a joking manner.  My grandma would use the term and she even nicknamed my sister, 'Shylah Mae Bloomers', because of the little outfits my mom would put on her.  She would say, "why do you make her wear those, her little legs can't even breathe!"  I can see how they could look cute on a baby, but for a teenager, not so much.  I guess in her day and age, this piece of clothing was not very popular. 

I thought it was so funny how the girls would hide their bloomers in the hedge and then put them on before they went back in.  Also, when the boys found them and stacked them for everyone to see. These good old fashioned pranks are a breath of fresh air.  I am glad that they were able to joke around and have fun in the midst of being away from their families.

Chapter 3 'I Could Always Plow a Pretty Straight Line'

I keep thinking of these young workers working long hours and not really being compensated fairly.  But I guess if it was tied into schooling, maybe thats how it was justified.  I remember my very first job at Tastee Freeze.  I think I was in 8th grade and I was paid somewhere around $6.00/hour.  This was so cool because it was my own money and I could go shopping and buy my own clothes!  I just keep thinking of these comparisons and although the times and cost of living has changed, they were really doing these jobs for the experience, I was doing it for the money.  At least, if they were in an area and wanted to switch trades, they could.  Just think of how young they were and all of the exerience they gained from the trades they had dabbled in!  I had to laugh at the part in the book where they talked about earning enough money to buy their own clothes.  The tailor-made bell bottom trousers were the 'in' thing to have at Chilocco.  I remember my mother telling me that they would make their own bell bottoms.  They would cut a triangle out on the outter seam of their jeans and sew a different color material in and ta-da, home made bell bottoms.  I guess it's interesting to see how no matter what, people can make due and do the best they can to try and be 'in'.