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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

THE JOY OF SHADOW PUPPETS

Those were the days of record players,
View-Masters, filmstrips, and projectors.
Watching a movie in school meant it had
to be set up carefully, ahead of time by a
teacher who knew how to thread it over
loops, metal frames, rollers, and spindles.

We watched filmstrips and felt honored
when chosen to be the one to turn a knob.
We listened carefully for a narrator to stop
and heard the “boop” from a record player.
At the end of each filmstrip or movie viewing
we’d fall all over each other, like little moths
wanting to get to the screen to try and make
shadow puppets on the wall. It didn’t last long,
as the teacher ended it quickly with her usual-
“All right, all right. That’s enough. Settle down.”

Thirty five years later it’s a new age with 
iPads, X-box, internet, DVD players in cars.
I’m the teacher now and present each lesson
with a laptop, Power Point, and LCD projector.
Strangely,after the advances in technology and
all the time that’s passed, kids still find magic in
trying to make barking dogs or soaring eagles with
their hands, a bulb’s glare and shadows on the wall.
And that's why I pause before shutting off the light.


3 comments:

Mariya Koleva said...

I love your way of describing such sweet memories. Made me think of my memories (quite different, as I grew up on the other side of the Iron Curtain, unfortunately; still there, more sadly :-)) Anyway, remembering youth is always awesome, because youth has its way to mend even hardships and make them into sweet memories.
Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

love the last line.

Igloo said...

Reading this feels cathartic - you're so skilled in capturing that "coming full circle" feeling in your writing.