** PROJECT TIME WARP **


HERE'S AN AERIAL PHOTO OF THE SCHOOL SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE TIME CAPSULE
WHAT I REMEMBER It was Arbor Day and only a few days after my birthday. I’m pretty sure I was wearing pink pants, a white or light blue ruffled blouse, a pink argyle sweater vest and white sneakers. I got off the school bus like any other day, walked into the building and down the hall to the right. I’m not certain if I was in 3rd grade or 5th grade at the time because my homeroom was in the same hall, only different floors. At the end of the hall was the lady who was the Special Education teacher at the time. I don’t recall her name. Even though I didn’t have her class, I would always smile and wave to her as I went by. This day wasn’t any different. That afternoon, my class lined up in the hall where I could see all other classes were leaving as well. We were lead outside past the planetarium and out the back door of the building. From there we march student by student, teacher by teacher, class by class outside to the track where I could see television trucks lined up along the fence. The principal said a few words, which I don’t recall, and then a television person approached the Special Education teacher right in front of me. The teacher turned around, and recognizing me in the front of the crowd, got down on her knees and said, "Would you like to be on tv?" I nodded my head with an eager smile and was lead away by the television person. There were a couple other kids standing with me near the fence by the highway. I stood there for what seemed like forever, watching and waiting as the principal directed the teachers as to how to line up their classes. There was a frail, stick of a tree with a large, wrapped up mesh of roots standing beside a shiney new shovel. Soon I was in front of the tv camera and someone asked me, "What does Arbor Day mean to you?" I said something to the effect of "Its when you plant trees and watch them grow big, beautiful green leaves." That’s all I had to say. I just stood and smiled like a shy little kid. Someone pulled me away and to another camera where I was asked the same question. I said something kinda the same, but I tried to re-word it so I sounded less like the little kid that I was. It still came out awkward and the smile at the end was the same. I waited beside the news truck and remember seeing a big number two. A teacher I didn’t know lead me back to my class. I watched the principal and teachers talk about the time capsule. I recall it being pill shaped, slightly larger than a football, and made of thick plastic with a band in the middle or a dark panel of some sort. I remember less what was said and more about how I felt. I remember thinking how kids in the future would laugh when they found out what was popular at that time. That lead me to believe there was a toy or trinket inside that was part of pop-culture. I remember wondering if kids in the future would wonder who I was. That lead me think that there was something containing a list with names on it and perhaps my name was mentioned. I remember daydreaming about what the future would be like and thinking about current events. This might mean there’s a newspaper or a school newsletter inside of it was well. A student read something out loud, and I think that perhaps something from a class or several classes was added to the time capsule. Afterwards, it was put in the ground, lots of flashes from cameras went off and adults took turns putting a shovel full of dirt over it and posing for pictures. We were sent back inside shortly after. That night, my brother, Dave, was trying to figure out what channel I was on. "The only Channel 2 that we get is in Baltimore." We had to turn our television antenna on the roof of the house to get even a fuzzy signal from Channel 2. We recorded the entire show with our VCR, static and everything, but you could still see me and hear my stupid response to the Arbor Day question. After the news, we watched my segment a couple more times on tape. Unfortunately, we were bad about labeling our tapes back then. Just a few weeks later, we had already lost track of the VHS tape with my television debut on it. I made a couple attempts to catalog our videos by watching them from beginning to end and hoping I could find the recorded newscast somewhere. No such luck. We probably taped StarWars or Caddyshack over it. Oh well. That's how I remembered it. DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM THAT DAY? Please write and let us know! angela@notorious4.com