So, what happened in 1960? Well, on February 1, 1960 four black college students refused to leave Woolworth's "whites only" lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Thus began the sit-in demonstrations that would change America. An 18-year-old boxer named Cassius Clay, who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali, won the light heavyweight crown in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. A group of black and white college students working for civil rights founded "Snick".

 G.D. Searle introduced a commercially available oral contraceptive. We had our first televised presidential debate pitting Nixon against Kennedy on September 26 which drew an estimated audience of 75 million people. The Andy Griffith Show debuted on the third of October. And, it was official, Chubby Checker and his "Twist" were hits and we were doing it. But, we slow-danced to Percy Faith’s Theme From A Summer Place. We also sneaked out and saw the movie The Apartment.

And, oh yes…, we were juniors. Our penultimate year. For us recidivists and Neanderthals, who completed our education on the West Coast, that means it was our next to last year in high school. We didn’t have senior-itis yet. But, we weren’t babies any longer either. The embarrassing puberty years were, hopefully, behind us. School and our friends were the center of the universe. Sure, mom and dad were there, but they were only good for pocket money and a new pair of shoes.

Now, I don’t mean to be difficult, but I am having a very hard time seeing Roger and Clark as Junior Red Cross representatives. Sound like sinecures to me. What were they supposed to do? Give tea, crumpets, and comfort to the infirm and aged, i.e., the class of 1960? Next thing you’re going to tell me is that they wore those cute little candy-striped uniforms doing it. Also, was there ever a time when Dave Wilson wasn’t president of something?
 

By the way, the Chochin staff was right in reporting that this particular senior class was the largest in school history. Florence Bergt, who has an aptitude, flair for, and apparently studies this sort of thing (but, who, I'm told, has a life -  contrary to some of us) informs me that the previous senior classes were quite small, i.e., 20, 25, 23, 17 students. Then the baby boomers made their presence known. The class of 1960 had 41 graduates, followed by the Class of 1961 which graduated 50 students. I am told that they started to fluoridate the water in 1942-1943, or something.

I am not too sure about this "well-managed affair" business, but if Sa and Birkenhead were in charge then everyone was probably appropriately shaken-down by those two Soprano wanna-be. After all, where do you think Sophie acquired the "skill" to run a charitable foundation in later life.

Then, of course, there was the obligatory closing Chochin paragraph (you know, concluding, at the end). I can just see Mr. Tidgwell’s hand on the pen writing it. [According to Mr. T. everything must have a beginning, middle, and closing!] The reason I mention Mr. Tidgwell is because he was just too nice and so square. And by the way, in spite of his protestations to the contrary, Bonnie was his favorite student! Some of you still have hard feelings over that, because you tried sooo hard to be the teacher's pet. Get over it!

There was some other fun stuff as well. In late May the Music Department put on the school’s first-ever musical. Under the direction of Mr. Donald Berger, students performed "The Mikado" by Gilbert & Sullivan. Principals were: Peter Notehelfer, Lily Soong, Warren Mitchell, and Mrs. Viglielmo. Supporting roles were played by Dan Jones, Kathy Packard, Bill Tsui, Florence Bergt, and Phil Lehman. It was a smashing success, and became the first of many and much larger productions in succeeding years. Did you get the "much larger productions" part? Let’s just hope that these people continued with their acting careers and were not put in charge of the US budget in later years.

Mrs. Viglielmo? I can hear some of you mumbling that we didn’t have a student by the name of Viglielmo (first name: Mrs.). Yes, that’s correct, your brain cells are still working. Frances Viglielmo taught English I, II, III. Checking with usually reliable sources we’re told that Mr. Berger brought in Mrs. Viglielmo because the student who was to play that part was unable to do so.

Voila, Madame Viglielmo

The Junior Class Fashion Show and Tea that I previously mentioned was held on April 9th. According to those who attended and who are known to be trustworthy, "Sophie Sa made a very charming and expert announcer" — she was probably singing "give me money, money, money." In addition to Sophie Sa, this event was also graced by models Jun Enomoto, Cassie Holbrook, and Susan Riess.

April was a busy month. During the month we had more than 20 Meguro-ites go on a multi-day bike trip. Starting out by train to Numazu and pedaling from there to Heta.

In May we held a traditional May Day festival in celebration of "our" Anglo-Saxon heritage. Complete with maypole dances on the front lawn, the Queen of the May (Susan Riess) and her multi-national court reigned over the festivities. Later on in life when I visited Stonehenge, I had that vision of Susan and her court twirling around the maypole. How did the Anglo-Saxons have time to conquer anything. The Queen and Princesses were Bobbie Tropp ('63, Dale's sister),  Carol Dietz ('62), Gerrie Wheeler ('61), Sue Oyama ('60), Sue Riess (Queen, '61), Heidi Lang ('60), Sharon Doyle ('62), and Penny Van Zandt ('63).

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Of course, as June got closer there was only one thing on our collective minds: we were going to be the Mighty Seniors! After all, that’s when we no longer needed to remove our shoes when we stepped on the Senior Quadrangle to examine the sundial.