Top to Bottom, OJR 1959

High School can be a place of glory for some and for others a place of torment. Often image rules and good looks trumps brains. This caricature was of two classmates from my senior year, both of whose first names began with R. Beyond that commonality, they may as well have come from different planets.

R.-left was considered a heart-throb by the girls, R-right was ignored by the girls. The one strutted through the hallways with a smile and wavy hair; the other slunk along with a bad haircut and never smiled.

Heart-throbs age and the wavy hair goes out to sea. Here is R-left, 35 years out of high school at a class reunion. He still has the smile.


I have no later image of R-right. He never came to any class reunions. I hope he was successful after high school. I hope he sometimes smiles.