A warm, embracing dance away (Jack Bog's Blog)

Thirty-nine years ago this evening, at a Friday night dance in the darkened gym of a Catholic girls' high school in Jersey City, I met my first truly serious girlfriend. Oh, it was love at first sight, a match made in heaven, love forever, etc.

Well, it was the teenage the equivalent of that, which is to say it went on for three or four years.

How do I remember the exact date? When it's that serious, you vow to remember that magical night forever.

What else happened that day? Let's see, a police raid on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's flat found 168 grams of marijuana... the U.S. Olympic Committee suspended two black athletes for giving a "black power" salute during a victory ceremony at the Mexico City games.... Bob Beamon set a world record of 8.90m in the long jump there... Lisa Chappell was born... a Laotian soldier shot and wounded a United States Embassy official because he thought he saw a ghost... Aristotle Onassis and Jackie Kennedy dined on roast suckling pig aboard the yacht Christina, anchored in a secluded bay off the island of Skorpio's...

Funny thing, I don't remember any of that stuff. But I will always remember that night.

Comments (10)

Jack it has been 37 years for me since my "Love At First Sight" at Wildwood Catholic High School in Wildwood N.J
Geri was 5'1 and looked great in those, well you know Jack, Catholic school girl uniforms, a big YUM is all I can say on that.
Would you happen to know if our ex-governor 14 year old squeese attended Catholic School?
My current wife said just last night, Ron honey, what should I wear to the Halloween Party?
I just smiled and started singing"Those Wildwood Days.

Posted by Ron | October 18, 2007 2:26 PM

Oh, dear Lord, NOT St. Dom's!

Posted by g | October 18, 2007 2:42 PM

I tend not to get overly sentimental about New Jersey, being from New York and all, but...I must admit, this was an excellent post. Really, truly excellent. I could see it runs in Da Family.

:-)

Posted by Erica | October 18, 2007 2:51 PM

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,303159,00.html

Posted by dman | October 18, 2007 3:56 PM

Sprung from cages on Highway 9
Chrome-wheeled, fuel-injected, and
Steppin' out over the line
Baby, this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap
It's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young...

Together we could break this trap
We're gonna run 'til we drop
Baby, we'll never go back...

But the fellow who wrote that is still there, more than three decades later.

Posted by Jack Bog | October 18, 2007 4:59 PM

I saw the fellow that wrote that last night at Madison Square Garden. It's been almost three decades since the first time I saw him. He can still rock the house.

Posted by annie bog | October 19, 2007 7:39 AM

Lucky you. Review here.

Posted by Jack Bog | October 19, 2007 8:22 AM

What are you saying, 1968? Ah, but, we were so much older then.

We're younger than that, now.

Posted by Tenskwatawa | October 19, 2007 10:34 AM

ah, St. Dom's. i thought it was St. Al's Academy, right down the street. (i went to St. Al's -- non-academy -- right down the way on West Side Avenue, which closed down this past year). i was in high school right on the cusp of all the boys/girls changes, with Hudson Catholic and St. Peter's Prep and Marist admitting girls, so I never went to a dance at an all-girl's school. all co-ed.

Posted by Rich | October 19, 2007 12:53 PM

I am truly surprised and shocked to hear St. Al's School closed down.

St. Al's Academy is now Caritas Academy. A joint effort with St. Mary's in Hoboken. This happened last year. They changed the name but kept the same address.

I am an alumnus of St. Al's Academy and am so saddened by the change. Especially when the school is in the same building. Somehow I feel a part of me died because of that change.

St. Peter's Prep is still all boys. And still a good school. And still going strong. I went to many a dance there and still have the great memories!

Posted by g | October 22, 2007 11:56 AM

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

A warm, embracing dance away

Comments (10)

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