Are The Good Times Really Over for Good?

It's been a while since I posted on this alumni blog.  Read a story in the PT Leader this morning that got me ticked off (again) so thought I would post on my Town Kid blog as well as this one.  It's my way of venting...

Subject is the removal of Redskins as the PTHS sports emblem.

One of my favorite lines in a Merle Haggard song – I remember when Coke was a cola, and a joint was a bad place to be.  That’s kinda’ how I feel about my high school sports emblem, the PTHS REDSKINS, being “retired with honor and dignity."

Students, staff, the public, and alumni have all weighed in on this controversy.  Feelings run deep. The new names presented for selection are Redhawks, Riptides and Sasquatch.

 Athletic director Scott Wilson has been coordinating the student selection process and says that he wants to keep the students focused on student-generated names.

 "My job has been to facilitate discussion amongst the students, not to influence their decision. I've heard numerous suggestions from staff and the community but I didn't present those to the students; I wanted the students to think for themselves.”

Kids today are pretty savvy.  Generations change with the times, and I’d be the first to admit that my grandkids are way smarter than I was at their age. I was easily influenced as a teenager, and I’d follow the crowd to be a part of the crowd.  That’s just the way it is.

I like social media, for the most part.  I post on my blogs, public forums, and Facebook but you have to sift through a lot of garbage from time to time too.   Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and that’s okay.  What I don’t like is how the media manipulates public opinion.

They’re always on the lookout for something to make a mountain out of a molehill.  People delight in having a public voice, and before you know it, there’s a problem where none existed before.

 It’s fine to jump into the game and run with the ball when you feel the need to be heard. We've always been opinionated souls and I enjoy the company of people who want to debate. It makes life interesting.  My baby brother and I disagree on this Redskins subject, and while I respect his opinions, I certainly don’t agree with all of them.

I feel passionately about this particular subject because it’s trying to tarnish cherished memories of my youth.  At the ripe old age of 70, my opinions have changed on a lot of issues. Some things that people find offensive, I’ll just never understand.  And some things I will not apologize for not understanding.  It’s called thinking for yourself.  People often get themselves worked up into a frenzy when they’d be better off to work up a sense of humor.

All this hoo-haw about Redskins being a word we shouldn't use is just that (in my opinion) –HOO HAW!  On the other hand, a word we could all work on erasing from our vocabulary is the F word.  It’s everywhere – and yes, I've been known to use it on occasion.  I seem to be using it more all the time – perhaps because it’s become so commonplace in our movies, television, music, and books.

To me, Redskins doesn't refer to the skin color of Native Americans.  They aren't red-skinned anyhow.  Townsend Redskins means football games on Memorial Field under the lights. I’m in the bleachers with all my friends on one side of the field, while my dad and uncle sit on the other side under the covered bleachers. They played Redskin football in the 40’s and always looked forward to these Friday night games.  It means pep dances at the Rec Center with the football players coming in to bask in the glory of a hard-played match.  It means cute cheerleaders and song queens in red and white outfits with red and white pom poms leading us in cheers and songs at basketball games in the gym.  It means riding the bus for away games and cheering on the Redskins in towns that don’t like us. 

It means a bonfire before homecoming and a serpentine through town.  It means the band performing in our parades in May all wearing red uniforms and playing our favorite fight songs. It means pep rallies in the auditorium or gym with students supporting their home team with large banners they’ve painted proclaiming ‘Go Redskins’.  It means wearing little red beanies that say PEP and wearing a white blouse with a red Townsend button when you sit with the pep club and get there early to cheer on the B-Squad.  It means signing everyone’s yearbook at the end of the year, buying a class ring, wearing cap and gown with kids you've known all your life, and it means being proud of saying Port Townsend is where I went to high school. We were the Redskins.

the 1940's

                                                                         the 1960's