Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403290089
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Kathleen Wilson
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But can you think of a single reason a third-grader might look forward to\ being a fourth-grader?
The students over at Roanoke County's Mount Pleasant Elementary School can.
It's an annual event called Colonial Day.
Fourth-grade teacher Winkie Adams began this tradition three years ago. It's\ a day-long visit to the past.
In the library, nine children sat cross-legged on the floor with a needle\ and thread in one hand and a scrap of cloth in the other.
"Now while most of you think of this as being something that women do, back\ then, the professionals - the ones that got paid to do this - were men,"\ explained Betsey Hanson, who was one of eight local craftspeople who\ volunteered their time for a day.
On the floor, the colonial-clad cluster was solemnly learning to make a\ cross stitch.
The girls wore bonnets, long skirts and lace scarves. The boys wore\ makeshift knickers of jeans rolled up to the knees with white socks and black\ shoes.
"When my mom sews, this is how she does it," said Kara Garnett lending a\ hand to Travis Fuller.
"Look! I did it! I did it!" burst out Tasha Richie.
"Oh, man! This is a piece of cake!" said Patrick Durney.
This group got mighty excited when they discovered their tiny x's eventually\ would form a little heart. They sounded disappointed when they were told they\ wouldn't have time to finish it during their brief sampler class.
After all, they still needed to learn how to make dulcimers, hooked rugs, rag dolls, baskets and horseshoes all before eating Brunswick stew, Sally Lunn bread and black forest cake in the school's cafeteria, which was transformed for a day into the Raleigh Tavern.
There weren't any big brawls out on the ice at last Tuesday's final game of the regular season for the Roanoke Express.
But there was an entertaining outburst of sibling bickering from the seats behind mine from Leigh and Will Crawford of Glade Hill.
"Dumb brother!" smirked Leigh, 12.
"Stupid sister!" sang Will, 9, with glee.
"He's brain dead!" said Leigh.
"Oh, yeah? Well, she doesn't even have a brain!" one-upped Will.
"Well, if you do then yours is the size of a flea!" last-worded Leigh.
Please don't get the impression these two sweethearts are a mother's nightmare. This whole thing escalated when they discovered I was taking notes.
Leigh turned bright red when her mother recognized me from my visit to the Smith Mountain Lake MS Home Tour.
Leigh was the youngest volunteer I encountered. She's the one who taught me how to day "boys are dumb" in sign language.
Will, a die-hard Express fan, went home with a treasure he'd been saving his money for: a hockey stick autographed by all of the players.
There was something so familiar about the music they were playing during that hockey game.
"A Million Miles Away," "Eyes of a Stranger," "I Melt With You."
"Hey! This is the soundtrack to `Valley Girl!' " I said to the guy next to me, who seemed none too impressed.
"They're old songs," he commented.
OK. But they're great old songs. Alternative-punk-techno-pop songs of the '80s.
I loved "Valley Girl." It's not as insipid as its title sounds.
It's an '80s comedy update of "Romeo and Juliet," set in California. The movie was Martha Coolidge's directorial debut - she went on to make the critically acclaimed "Rambling Rose."
"Valley Girl" was shot in 22 days for a mere $1 million.
Back then, they couldn't get the rights - or the money to buy the rights - to most of the songs to put together a soundtrack.
I can't have been the only one bummed out back in 1983 to hear there was to be no soundtrack. But the music by the Plimsouls, Payola$, Psychedelic Furs, Modern English and Josie Cotton has finally been collected and was released next week.
Just thought you might want to run right out and get it.
by CNB