Old News: Epiphany

I went to the Epiphany of Our Lord grade school but really didn't know the meaning of the

name until I was a grown woman. I'll tell you now. Epiphany means a revelation or

realization. It was a great school at the time, but oh, so politically incorrect if judged by

today's standards. The Sisters of St. Dominic were solemn, religious and, for the most part,

totally without humor.

There are so many memories of that school that it may take forever to write about those that

are just on the surface of my mind. We were in the "old" school for seven years and made

the move to the "new" school when we were in eighth grade. Why is it I remember so little

of the old building and so much of the new?

We were lucky enough to have Sister Marie Michael in sixth grade and then again in

eight grade. Her favorite learning ploy was "points." Points could be earned in a variety

of ways: answering questions correctly was the main path to points. "Extra Points" were

also up for grabs. Extra points were not as frequently dispensed. Ah, but points were of

an elusive nature and could be taken away as swiftly as they were given. You could earn

extra points by catching Sister in a mistake in a math problem on the blackboard.

"Excellent! I made that mistake on purpose to see if you would catch it. Extra points."

You could also earn extra points as a group if you walked quietly in single file from the

school to the church for Mass or Stations of the Cross. But you could loose extra points

by talking behind the baffle while hanging up your coat. "No talking back there. If you

keep talking you will all loose extra points. All right, extra points taken off!"

While we were in sixth grade we longed for points and extra points and feared they might

be washed away in one breath. By the time we were in eighth grade we began wondering

where Sister kept track of all these points because we never saw her making entries in her

notebooks. One of the boys asked about this. Sister Marie Michael gave him the "look."

Her upper lip became rigid and her eyes grew more intense. I may be wrong, but I think

you could see wisps of smoke coming out of her ears. She pointed to the side of her

forehead, "Right here, Mr. Hunter, right here."