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Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened,

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the podcast that features true childhood stories

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from people from all walks of life. I'm your

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host, Jay Reha, and each week I'm going to interview

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a guest who's going to tell us a childhood memory

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and then tell us how that memory impacted his,

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her, or their adult view of the world. Now each

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week we begin the show with a portion of Susan

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Salador's classic song, The Boo Boo Blues. that

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you can hear playing underneath my voice right

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now. At the end of this show, we'll play you

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the entire song. Anyway, thanks a lot for listening.

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I really do appreciate it. Now because this is

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episode 2 of Tell Me What Happened, I'm going

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to relate it to you another one of my childhood

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stories. Trust me, I am going to get other people

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to tell us their stories. But for now, I'm going

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to tell you another one of my pain - This happened

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to me when I was about 10. I was in fourth grade

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and as I told you my first podcast I was a tall

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kid and consequently they put me in the back

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of the room Probably so I didn't block kids view

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with my head anyway, I was in mrs. Kamowski's

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class and She was pregnant. She liked to teach

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from the back of the room She sat on this cabinet

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or table that was right next to where I was sitting.

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I remember her legs dangling off the side. And

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she would lecture the class while she ate from

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this big bag of potato chips. I assume it was

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because she was pregnant, but I don't know for

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sure. I do know that the sound of her crunching

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those chips drove me crazy. And I suppose because

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children weren't allowed to eat in class. I think

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it bothered me even more to have to smell them

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and listen to her endlessly crunching away. So

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there wasn't a whole lot we could do about it,

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and that bothered me too. One day I had enough,

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I went home, I got a big bag of chips, and I

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put them in my lunch for the next day. The next

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morning, when Mrs. Kamalsky moved me to the back

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of the class and ripped open her huge bag of

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Jay's potato chips, I reached into my desk and

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publicly and very loudly did the same. Mrs. Kamalsky

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was stunned. I remember she put down her bag

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of chips. She swallowed the chips she had in

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her mouth and she said to me, what are you doing?

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I looked at her and I tried to look sweet and

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I tried to hide the smirk on my face. And I remember

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saying something like, I don't know, Mrs. Komowski,

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I'm just a little fourth grader and I just do

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what the teacher does. I remember Mrs. Komowski

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jumped off that table she was perched on, she

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grabbed me, she dragged me to the principal's

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office, and then she retold the story. Nobody

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asked me what my version of it was. Anyway, they

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called my parents and my father had to come in

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for a parent -teacher conference after he got

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off work. When I got home, my mother sent me

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to my room, and I spent the afternoon shaking,

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knowing that my father would be full of rage

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when he returned from his meeting with Mrs. Kamowski.

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So at about seven o 'clock that night, my father

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burst into my bedroom, holding a dictionary.

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Do you know what belligerent means? No, I stammered.

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Look it up and read the definition. I looked

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it up and read, belligerent to want war. Mrs.

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Kamalsky says, you're belligerent. No son of

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mine will ever be belligerent to a teacher. Do

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you understand? Yes. Now tomorrow when you go

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to school, you're going to apologize to Mrs.

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Kamalsky in front of the whole class. Do you

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understand? Yes. Then my father took out his

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belt and he spanked me a number of times. The

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following day, I tearfully apologized to Mrs.

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Kamowski in front of the class. I suppose I probably

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meant some of what I said that day, but I also

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believe then, as I do now, that my actions weren't

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all wrong. Fifty years later, I'm a school teacher,

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and I've never forgotten what happened to me

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between me and Mrs. Kamowski. You know what?

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I never eat in front of my students. and I try

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never to impose any rule on the class that doesn't

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also apply to me. For example, I don't check

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my cell phone during class because students aren't

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supposed to check theirs. I believe my father

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was wrong to hit me with a belt, although 50

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years ago that wasn't so unusual, I suppose.

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I've never forgotten what belligerent means,

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and I suppose there's still a little belligerence

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in me now. I'm not sure, but I think everyone

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should retain a little belligerence, at least

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for the times when a perceived injustice is taking

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place. In the end, I look back on my fourth grade

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self and I know that part of what I was doing

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was showing off that day, and I paid a pretty

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big price for it. But Mrs. Komowski did ultimately

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wean herself off of eating chips in my ear. Not

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the first day afterwards, not even the first

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week, but... Not too much later after that. I

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think she did get a glimpse of the unfairness

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of it all. Anyway, that's my story. I hope you

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enjoyed it. If you did, please subscribe and

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tell your friends about Tell Me What Happened.

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You're also invited to send in your own ideas

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and stories. I'd love to have you on the show.

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Just drop me a note at j -a -y -c -r -e -h -a

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-k at gmail .com and I promise I'll get back

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to you. I'd love to hear your story. Now as always,

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we're going to end Tell Me What Happened with

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the full version of Susan Salador's Boo Boo Blues.

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Until next time, this is Jay Reheck asking you

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to stay safe out there and try not to hurt anybody.

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Let mama fix it for you