Hey Kids! It’s the Friday Five!

What was…

1. …your first grade teacher’s name?
Mrs. Bair. I don’t think she had a first name. THe main thing I remember about her is learning that nobody likes a tattletale and the difference between your indoor and outdoor voices.

2. …your favorite Saturday morning cartoon?
“Bugs Bunny & Friends,” hands down. I also liked “Hong Kong Phooey” and “Fat Albert & the Cosby Kids.”

3. …the name of your very first best friend?
Karen Yacuzzo. She taught me the “Found a Peanut” song when we were in kindergarten and came to my sixth birthday party, but her family moved not long after that.

4. …your favorite breakfast cereal?
My parents were not of the healthy-eating ’70s ilk like a lot of my friends’ parents were, so I ate my share of Alpha-Bits, Apple Jacks, Boo-Berry, Count Chocula, apple-cinnamon Quaker instant oatmeal, and Pebbles both Fruity and Cocoa. Props have to go to Co-Co Wheats, though, made by a company called Little Crow right in my hometown of Warsaw, Indiana. The building had giant-sized boxes of all their products — Miracle Maize, Fryin’ Magic batter mix, Jiffy muffins, and Co-Co Wheats. Co-Co Wheats were basically chocolated-up Cream of Wheat, to which my mom added generous lashings of sugar and milk.

5. …your favorite thing to do after school?
Read, read, read. I was a geek in training and used to check out eight books a week (the limit) from the town library.