The Auditorium Club

In my Jr high we had “clubs”. Not the after school science club type thing you’re probably thinking of, these clubs were open periods around lunch time. I think it had to do with having too many kids to have 1 lunch period for everyone, so they broke up the students over the course of 2 lunch periods, hence the need for something to fill the open period you weren’t scheduled for lunch. There were mostly sports clubs and crafts and crap like that (there was even a Dungeons and Dragons club). At the beginning of the semester they would announce what clubs were available and it would be a mad dash to sign up for the hottest clubs (I remember the basketball club being particularly popular).

Being the astute kids that we were, by the time we got to 8^th grade my friends and I made a pretty logical observation – no one really knew if you signed up for a club or not, the teachers just assumed that you would. There was no master attendance list, teachers relied on their club sign up list as an attendance rooster – if you weren’t on their list they just assumed that you signed up for another club. I mean what kind of kid wouldn’t want an extra period of gym or “play time” in the middle of the day? I guess we were that type. After blowing off the club sign up process we were free (literally and figuratively) to spend the 45 min club period however the hell we wanted. You want to go to the Village for some ice cream? Go ahead. You want to go to a friend’s nearby house? Go ahead. You want to hang out in the bathroom or wander the halls? Go ahead. You want to spend the entire time in the Auditorium and wreck everything? Now we’re on to something…

So for most of the year we spent our club period in the auditorium chasing each other around, pulling random kids into the auditorium and giving them a few punches, destroying anything we touched – including pushing the piano off of the stage, and generally enjoying each other’s company. In reality it probably wasn’t as bad as I’m making it out to be, we probably spent most days keeping quiet too worried that we’d get caught, but what kind of reading would that be? What the auditorium club did teach us was that the times had changed and the rebellion had started. In the early/mid 80’s teachers were still acting under the old assumption that school kids would do what they were supposed to out of fear. Our teachers weren’t ready for us and our behavior (not many would have been), so WE had the advantage. Not that we were going to terrorize the teachers or anything like that, I mean we weren’t animals, but we were going to have fun. I think that was the key – things were different back then, society hadn’t crossed that line yet. Yes, we got in trouble from time to time, but by in large we were smart, well adjusted kids who were just pains in the ass walking a fine “boys will be boys” line.