School Daze

SCHOOL DAZE by Terri Andersen
With kids going back to school soon I thought it might be a good idea to impart some of the wisdom I've accrued over the years when it comes to remembering Certain things, like state Capitals and the nine times table, for instance. For some reason, when I was in school the nine times table seemed the hardest to memorize. Then I came up with what I thought was an incredible discovery. (Maybe it won't be that incredible to anyone else, but it was to me, so for what it's worth, I'd like to share it.) If you want to know what nine times another number is (up to l0), just take one away from the number you want to multiply and add whatever it takes to total nine. Example: 9 x 3 = 27. Two is one less than three and two plus seven equals nine. 9 X 7 = 63. Six is one less than seven and six plus three equals nine. Got it? I just think that's so neat. Then there were the state capitals to memorize. I found if you make up sentences to help you remember, it's a lot more fun. For example: D'you know the Capital of Alaska? (Juneau). Here are a few more I thought up for my kids when I was trying to help them remember the capitals. Shy Anne never left her home in Wyoming. (Cheyenne). Columbus liked Ohio best when he discovered America. (Self explanatory). All the boys he knew went to Idaho (Boise). There are an awful lot of little rocks in Arkansas (Little Rock). Johnny Carson played Nevada so many times, they named their capital after him (Carson City). Okay, just One more and then you can think up your Own. A Frenchman named Pierre Was headed for Canada but he only got as far as South Dakota (Pierre, S.D.)
Do they still teach the spelling helps they did years ago? Like "i before e (believe, niece), except after c (deceit, receive), or when sounded like 'a' as in neighbor or weigh." I added a few of my own clues to remember how to spell certain words. Example: accommodations. So many people seem to spell that Wrong. To remind myself that there are two c's and two m's, I think of a hotel room with two double beds. (Got it? Hotel accommodations?) In comparison, "accumulate" has two c's and one m, and "recommend" has one c and two m's. (No wonder they say the English language is one of the hardest to learn.)
Affect and effect seem to give people a lot of trouble, so here's my little secret. If it affects you, it will probably have an effect on you. Affect is a verb denoting an action that brings about a change; effect is usually a noun meaning the result. (What can I say, I used to like to diagram sentences when I was in school. Do they still teach that?)
To anyone going back to school, enjoy all the learning you can. It's good for the brain, it makes life more interesting, and who knows, it may give you material for a column someday.

Getting to the other side

GETTING TO THE OTHER SIDE - By Terri Andersen
When I was five years old, my family lived on a busy city street with trolley tracks running down the middle of it. Of course, I was not allowed to cross any street by myself at that age, but it really didn't matter to me until one day, as I was sitting on the front step of the building we lived in, I heard someone calling, "Little girl, little girl, what’s your name?” As I looked around to see where the sound was coming from, I saw another little girl directly across the street. I got up and went as close to the curb as I dared and immediately she yelled across the noisy street, “My name is Annie. I'm not allowed to cross this street. Can you come over here?” "I'm not allowed to cross streets yet, either,” I hollered back, but from that day on, we looked for each other whenever we were outside and conversed as best we could whenever there was a little lull in traffic. She told me about herself and her family and I told her about mine and we both felt we made a friend, even if it was at a distance. When I was six years old, my family decided to move to a new location, and wonders of wonders, it happened to be in the same apartment house that Annie lived in. It was around the corner of the other side of the street. When Annie and I saw each other in the hall of that building we jumped for joy and spent almost all of our time together from that day on, on the same side of the street.
When I was nine years old, my family moved again, and Annie and I were heartbroken at the thought of not seeing each other anymore, but even though we went to different schools, we were still in the same town so we did bump into each other now and then and it was like we had never been apart. We kept in touch over the years and the friendship continued even after we both moved to other states. The year before last I visited Annie in Arizona and we spent a few hilarious days in Las Vegas, then this year she came east and we met in New York City for lunch and a Broadway play. So now I guess you could say we're getting to the other side of the country and love being able to tell people how we've been friends for over 65 years.
Not long ago I got a package in the mail from Annie. In it was a ceramic heart with this inscription: "Friendship is a promise made in the heart, unbreakable by distance, unchangeable by time.” I love it.