TEENAGERS

I don't find teenagers any different today than they were back in the fifties. Society deals with them differently. Building jails and turning kids over to bureaucrats seems to be the most popular way, today, but I don't remember the same situation back then.
I went to high school in a town of 7,500 in Taylor, Texas. Nothing like the "Happy Days" series on TV, Taylor had barbque stands and beer joints on every downtown block. There were six dance halls, two movie theatres, a drive-in, a teen den, at least ten pool halls, a country club, a baseball field, a city park and swimming pool, a nearby lake, numerous churches, three soda fountains (frequented by elementary school kids mostly), a river a few miles away and a world of teenage imagination. I didn't need my fake ID unless I went to Austin or Houston.
Real life sports heroes were high school kids that mingled with their public on a daily basis. Stands were full at all events. The daily newspaper never reported when kids got in trouble and their elders always managed to help them out. One kid had to go to Father Flanagan's Boys Town, but that wasn't so bad. He was special to those that knew him.
A song we used to sing best describes teenage life in the fifties in Taylor, Texas. Sung to the tune of the Notre Dame fight song, the song went like this:

BEER, BEER FOR OLD TAYLOR HIGH,
SEND ALL YOUR PRAISES UP TO THE SKY,
SEND A FRESHMAN OUT FOR GIN,
DON'T LET A SOBER SOPHOMORE IN.

WE'LL NEVER STAGGER, WE'LL NEVER FALL,
WE'LL SOBER UP ON BLOOD ALCOHOL,
ALL YOU SONS OF TAYLOR HIGH,
WE'RE OUT ON A DRUNK AGAIN.

Sam Nettles - mailto:samnett@msn.com
Real Texas Freedom - http://www.realtexasfreedom.net
RTF Blog - http://realtexasfreedom.blogspot.com/