Transcript+for+Cindy+Lennox

Transcript Becky Killian: Okay, I’m Becky Killian and I’m interviewing Cindy Lennox who graduated in 1993, right? Cindy Lennox: Yes. Killian: Okay, and we are going to break this down by year… so. We will start off with your Freshman year which was 1990. During your Freshman year George Bush Senior was president. Also during your freshman year he vetoed the congress’s number one legislative priority which was a civil rights bill which would have established quotas for equality in employment. Do you remember in school there being any heated arguments about this veto? Lennox: No. Not with the students. Killian: Yeah, not with the students. It was probably something more like- Lennox: If it would have been… I don’t know. I don’t really remember our teachers really talking about it. My Freshman year… I’m trying to even remember… I would have had Civics that year. And it was a female teacher, but I can’t remember. I can picture her, but- Killian: Oh, you had Civics instead of World History Freshmen year? Lennox: Yeah. We had Civics. Killian: Did you take World History? Lennox: We didn’t have World History. Killian: You didn’t have World History? Lennox: We had Civics… World History was an elective. You had to have Civics Freshman year, and then after that you pretty much had electives in history. Killian: Oh, what were the electives that you took? Lennox : I don’t… I remember that Mr. Schmitt was my History teacher. I don’t remember. Sorry.. It was a long time ago. Killian: it is fine! Lennox: But.. no, I don’t remember talking about that incident. Killian: Okay, at school last year we had a mock election for the presidential election and the votes swung very heavily in favor of Barack Obama’s favor. At the time did you feel like your school was more leaning towards being democratic or more republican? Do you have a feeling of which way the school leaned? Lennox:Well, in Belleville the entire city leans toward the Democrats. Usually that is where the kids lean… wherever their parents are. It was definitely leaning toward the left. Killian: Were your parents in favor of George Bush senior? Were your parents conservative or …? Lennox: Yes my parents were and are Republicans. I’m Republican. It is a long history of republicans. Killian:Then that goes on to my next question. During my personal years at Belleville West Bush Junior got a lot of heat from Students just in normal day to day discussion. Were there any… was there any negative feelings toward Bush Senior in the school too, during your time there? Lennox: No. We were not that active in politics… not In the group I hung out with. Probably in the debate team or you know groups like that they might have talked more about it but not in the groups- Killian:Do you feel like that is because, like… back in the 1990s… I mean, I know it wasn’t that far away but technology wasn’t as advanced… So, do you feel like it was because that technology wasn’t as widely used back then? Lennox: I think that it was technology wasn’t as widely used and we weren’t brought up around politics. I know with you guys you had T.V.s in your classrooms when you were in Grade School where they ran CNN… we didn’t have that. We weren’t brought up with politics in our everyday life. So it didn’t have that same affect. Killian:Okay taking a break from …Bush and stuff, Uhm, during your Freshman year did they have Freshman Friday? Lennox: There was always the talk of Freshman Friday. But nothing happened. Killian:You see, that is how it was with us too! We always expected something really cool to happen… well, not cool for us… but… Did they do the thing where they put like, an F on you or-? Lennox: No. Killian:They did nothing? Lennox: Nothing, nothing, nothing. Killian:Man… not even back in the day? Lennox: The biggest thing was I was told not to buy an elevator pass. Killian:Oh yeah, they still have that. Lennox: Yeah, but we actually had an elevator. Killian:Yeah, well, we do too. Did they do the swimming pool thing? Lennox: No, because we didn’t have swimming pools. Killian:We don’t either… but they say that we have one. Lennox: Haha, just don’t buy an elevator pass. That is all I remember. Killian:During your stay in highschool…. That was weird during your stay, haha, uhm… during your course were floats still popular? Lennox: Huge! Oh my God! Killian:Good, because I was really interested. Lennox: Hobo week was monster. Oh my gosh, everyone was involved in hobo week. There is a building over by Jefferson in West junior high, that is where we did all of the floats. They were brought in and we put all the wiring up and then had to do the tissue paper flowers ourselves and put them all in there. And a lot of… it was called hobo week, do you guys call it spirit week? Killian:Yeah, we call it Spirit week but we have hobo day. Do they do the thing where, I know Mr. Hentze talked about it, where they sectioned off parts of the hallways to decorate… did they do that too? Lennox: Yeah. Killian:Were the floats based off clubs too, like the hallways were… or were they just class? Lennox: They were class. Each class had a float and we walked through the city of Belleville in a parade. Killian:Do you remember any specific float… like, any specific design? Lennox: One was actually a football player and his arms moved up and down. Killian:Oh my gosh! Lennox: That one I remember because I thought that was so cool. Killian:That’s crazy. Lennox: And everything was maroon and white. It all had to do with Maroons… cause, I know you guys are going through a name change. Killian:I think that we are keeping that… but were the pride or lions… I don’t really understand it. It is on some T-shirts, but… I don’t really understand it. But like, is it sad to know that we don’t do that anymore? Lennox: Yeah. It is. Cause I think you guys are missing out on so much. The community isn’t part of the highschool anymore. And I think a lot of that changed when the school got moved. Because it is not in the city anymore. It is on the outskirts. So, I went to school with it being on West Main which is literally in the middle of the city. So, you know, they were used to being able to see the kids all the time, the kids were part of the community, we were allowed to go out for lunch and the resteraunts were right down the street. For me, it felt more like we were part of something. Killian:Do you remember what year it was that you had the football player that could move his arms? Like, what class? Lennox: It would have had to have been sophomore… but it was either Junior or Senior class that did it. It would have been my Sophmore year. Killian:So it was like… I was about to be like, man sophomore class making a football player move- Lennox: I think it was the junior year because it would have been Chris’s class… and they were HUGE. Oh my gosh, they were the biggest class in school spirit- the class of 1992. Killian:I know that we separated obviously… Belleville East is now a school, Belleville West is now a school. How much bigger do you feel like the classes were? Was it a lot… do you feel like there were more students that went there at the time… just a bigger group of people- Lennox: Then today? Killian:Yes. Lennox: Versus when I was at school? Killian:Yeah. Lennox: No. It is the same. Killian:It is the same? Lennox: Well, they were split before I went there. Killian:Oh… they were. Lennox: Yeah, no. Killian:Oh. That is embarrassing for me. Lennox: Belleville West started out as a community college and then the community college… it was a college and a highschool, and the community college actually moved and was built at Belleville East. But, that was the community college. Then Belleville west split to West and East I want to say in … that is when my mom was in school. That would have been in the 50s? In the 50s. So that was… and then East came after that. So were looking like… 60? Killian:Wow. Lennox: So… yeah… Killian:Just a little bit out of this time range. Lennox: Just a litttttle bit before me. Killian:Yeah, just a little bit. Okay, 1991! Sophmore year. In your sophomore year was basketball as big as, I know this sounds like a really weird question, but was basketball as big as it is now? I mean.. with the college… Lennox: Oh yeah! Killian:It was? Lennox: Yeah, it was. I guess it would have been who? Shaq….? Around that time. Micheal Jorden… Killian:Yeah, that actually leads me to my next question. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, what was the reaction because this is when he came out as being tested positive for HIV. Was there any reaction in the students concerning that? Lennox: I don’t there was really that big of a reaction. Like…concern over it more than, oh my gosh I can’t believe he has AIDS. But not so much concern that he would actually die from AIDS as much as it was just a shock that someone popular and some one who is a celebrity had a disease like that. Killian:At the time… was sex education like, as comprehensive as it is now concerning HIV and AIDS. Lennox: Yeah. It was. Oh my gosh, just you saying that makes me flash to our sex ed class… it was horrible. Because, I don’t know if you guys split… we didn’t split. Killian:No, we didn’t split for the AIDS talk either. Lennox: Oh, no. For the whole thing. Killian:Oh, no… actually for health… no, we didn’t split either. Lennox: And we were taught by the coaches… so our coaches were very uncomfortable have these conversations… and it was just very awkward. Yeah, that was all gone over, even in Junior High we had the talks about Sex, AIDS, STDs…All of that. Killian:So it was coaches instead of health teachers…? Or were the coaches at the time the health teachers too? Lennox: Yeah. They were coaches, health teachers, and driver’s ed teachers. Killian:Everything. Lennox: Yeah, all rolled in one. Killian:Okay, this brings up Rodney King who we were discussing before this. During your Sophmore year the incident surrounding Rodney King happened. Was there any racial tension that arose due to the Rodney King…? Lennox: In this area there has always been racial tension. There is huge racial tension in the city of Belleville. West is not immune to that. I didn’t hang out with the people who had issues with race. But I do remember there was an incident after school… Kids didn’t fight at school so much as they would say were going to fight after school and planned it.. I never understood that. But this one time, right after this happened… After Rodney King happened, They planned the fight… and after school there was a car load of people who drove past and had guns hanging out. That was freaky. What is going now? Why is this happening? And again, it was just stress and tension that got out of control. But, luckily it didn’t go further than just hanging out the window. Killian:Were they caught? The people that did that? Lennox: Nothing ever came of it. But, you knew who it was. They were related to the people at school, so it just kinda common knowledge. I don’t remember any arrests or prosecutions or anything. Killian:That is so frightening and terrible. That is crazy… Uhm, did you participate in any clubs at Belleville West? What kinds? Lennox: I was in Theater. I was in choir, I was in Maroon Majic, which is totally, totally, totally different from what it is today. Killian:Yeah, a lot of people can testify to that. Lennox: I ran cross country, I did Track for one semester. I hated track. I’m not a run in a circle person, because I did long distance. Because two miles is eight laps around the track in a circle is really boring. So I didn’t do that anymore. I tried speech but it interfered with Cross country. So that was gone. What other clubs did I do…? We didn’t have all the clubs you guys had. We didn’t have that one… oh, what is that one Allie’s in? I can’t even think… it is like a social work club that she does… Killian:Volunteer West? Lennox: They had… it is the one where they sleep out for the homeless? Killian:Life Savers? Lennox: No… it was something other. But, anyway, we didn’t have clubs like that. We did have Life Savers. We did have Hy News. We had Debate… but you guys have a couple more things we didn’t have… Like the acting debate? Killian:Well there is speech and acting team. Lennox: There you go. We didn’t have the acting team. We had Speech. Killian:But they didn’t have the acting events? Lennox: No. Killian:Oh… well that is lame. That really is kind of lame. I want to talk to you about Maroon Majic because that just interests me. What did you have to do for tryouts for Maroon Majic? Lennox: Well, Maroon Majic… well concert choir you had to try out for. You tried out every year but we tried out in our eighth grade year. Killian:Oh, so it wasn’t treble or anything like that you went straight either concert or…? Lennox: No. We had concert choir, Bellevillettes, and then we had Maroon Majic. Those were the only choirs I remember having. You tried out for concert choir. If you didn’t make concert choir, then you went to Bellevillettes. Freshman year going into your sophomore year you could try out for Maroon Majic. Mr.Jones was the choir director. Oh, he was just amazing. The man must have been 60 years old and he just knew what he was doing. He was a wonderful teacher, great director. And going into Maroon Majic that is who I tried out with. I made Maroon Majic, got in, then we start practicing… and I don’t know what the room is like now, but we had three tiers and they were all carpeted. And that is where we did our practice, and we actually had the students teach us the choreography… because a 60 year old mad is not going to be able to do the dance moves. And we did dance moves, lifting- Killian:Were there captains? Lennox: We didn’t have captains. Killian:Or like, leaders? People that were designated as the choreographers? Yes. We had Danna…I can’t remember her last name, Beth... and her sister Carol. Killian:And were they all upper classmen? Lennox: When I started as a freshman, Danna was a senior, Beth was a junior… No, I guess Danna and Beth were seniors and her sister was a junior. And, like I said… we did lifts we did throws. We danced every song. So that was completely different then everything else, and that was a close knit group… it could get pretty exclusive at times. Killian:Well, that is what it is supposed to be. Maroon Majic is supposed to be the hierarchy of choirs. Lennox: Yes, but… I meant that sometimes it would get clique-ish… so, luckily for me I wasn’t just in that and didn’t get sucked into that much. I was also in…. Sorry, she distracted me. Killian:Sorry, Alex Lennox her daughter, and her daughter’s friend Becca just walked into the interview… but that is fine. Lennox: Sports! I was also involved in sports. So I had two different worlds. So it even it out when I did that. Killian:I mean, I do theater and I do softball which is a very weird combination… but it is great because then you have both worlds. Okay, you hated track obviously because you hate running in circles. Do you remember who your cross country was? Lennox: It was Mr. Weshinskey. Killian: Mr.Weshinskey? Lennox: Weshinskey. Killian:Oo, that is a fun name. Lennox: His daughter actually went to West and she was a senior my freshman year… but, yeah. He was my coach all four years. Killian:Was he as cool as Mr.Jones? Lennox: I did like Coach Weshinskey. In cross country we had to run all across the city and we would run up and down 17th street like crazy. Because, then again we were in the middle of Belleville. I remember one time we ran from Belleville West to Millstadt because one of the guys on the team lived on in Millstadt, and we had a huge party afterwards. He had a pond area that we went swimming in. It was fun. Killian:That was good, that was a good conversation. What was like the biggest club at Belleville West? Like, the most popular to be in? Did you have pep club… well, Maroon Madness or anything like that? Lennox: No. When I think of popular, I think of Cheerleaders. I guess it all comes down to what group you hang out with… because with choir it would have been Maroon Majic. That would have been the top. Killian:And then every sport has it varsity. Lennox: Right, every sport has varsity. For Speech and Debate I’m sure they had their thing. It would just depened on what you were in. I guess overall, cheerleading and football players… I doubt that has changed much. Killian:With the floats and everything, was football games still one of the biggest things to do? Lennox: Yes. Huge. Killian:What was like, the biggest game? Was it West vs. East? Lennox: Oh, uhm.. no it was actually East St. Louis. Those were huge, huge games. Killian:And they use to have it on Thanksgiving, didn’t they? The game against East saint? Lennox: No, we had them on Friday nights and this was in the old stadium… so you had, it was almost like you were encased in this stone stadium. That made me think of another thing that’ll bring up my senior year. Killian:Okay, sounds good. Okay Junior year! You’re an upperclassman… cool. This is what I have for your Junior year, do you remember the Prom theme from your junior year? Lennox: No! But I can remember the dress I wore. Killian:Oh, what was it? Lennox: It was white and it had sequins on the top, and the back was cut out in a diamond shape…so yeah, I remember the dress. Killian: (Alex, be quiet… I’m interviewing your mom.) Lennox: I remember the party afterwards. Killian:Oh, okay! Lennox: It wasn’t bad! It wasn’t a bad thing. Becca: (Oh, Oh God.) Killian: (…Okay we will just ignore that on the recording.) Killian:What kind of songs… hush you guys, I have to write a transcript! This transcript is going to be really funny to read because I have to type it all out. But, what were the songs that played? Any of them. Lennox: Oh, good gracious. Boyz II men. Killian:Boyz II men? Lennox: Yep. It was a group. Killian:Was it a boy band? Lennox: Yes. Killian:What kind of hit did they have? Lennox: They had lots of hits. Killian:Oh, they did? Lennox: Yeah. Killian:Haha, okay. Lennox: Good gracious, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Killian:Oh yeah, lots of hits! Lennox: Well, I couldn’t tell you today a name of a song and an artist. I don’t know. Killian:What was the infamous slow song at Prom? Was there one? You didn’t dance at prom? Lennox: I’m trying to think. I can even picture the words…. I can’t remember. Killian:What was the genre of music that mostly played at prom? Because it is mostly rap nowadays. Lennox: Nope. No rap. It would be rock and we called it like the top forties. I don’t know if you have that. They were just the most played songs… it would like equivalent of 107.7. Killian:Senior year! Okay were going to talk more about some history related stuff. In 1993 women finally obtained the right to have combat roles in the military. Do you remember any school reaction to that being a major victory over sexism? Lennox: No. I remember them kicking the girl… but that was in 1990. I don’t remember them letting women have combat roles. So, no… it had no affect on us. Killian:This was also the year Prince changed his name. Lennox: Oh, to that symbol? Killian:Yeah. Did you listen to Prince back in the day? Lennox: Little red corvette… that is it. Mr. Lennox:(Oh, come on! Purple rain!) Lennox: Purple rain. Killian:That is Mr. Lennox. Lennox: Purple rain there was the movie, too about his parents. Yeah… but I wasn’t a big Prince fan. Killian:What did you like? Boyz II Men? Was that your fave? Lennox: No. Bon Jovi. Poison. I was more rock. Killian:There you go! Boyz II Men… this is my favorite part of the whole interview. Lennox: You asked about prom! They didn’t play poison and Bon Jovi at Prom. Killian:Yeah, probably…probably not. Well, on a more serious note… instead of Boyz II Men, this was also the year the explosion happened at the World Trade Center. How did the school react in the explosion? Was the security increased? Lennox: No. Killian:Or was there any fright or anything. Lennox: No. Killian:Not really? Lennox: I think maybe like a day. It was nothing like it is now. You know…no. Definetely no more security. Killian:So it was nothing- Lennox: More like a bleep. Killian:It was nothing compared to September- Lennox: No. Nothing at all. But it also didn’t take down two towers and have the devastating effects to so many lives. Killian:Yeah. Do you remember the speaker for your senior graduation? Who that was? Lennox: No. I have no idea. No. Again, I can tell you what I was wearing but I can’t tell you who spoke. Killian:Oh, that leads to my next question! During your four years, what were the kind of things you wore in the 90s? Lennox: In the 90s, let’s see… We had stirrup pants, that was more 89. We had right rolled jeans. Poofy hair. Lots of poofy hair. Killian:Still branching off from the 80s? Lennox: Yeah. Killian:Was it still as big? Lennox: No. Not as big as the 80s. Killian:Were the 90s that period of time where they had the weird bangs? I don’t know how to describe them. They were weird. Lennox: That was the 80s. That was 86-87. I actually have a picture of my sister who had 6 inches of bang from her head up. We have a picture of it. Yeah… that was a fun picture. There was also a little bit of a throwback to Ferra Faucet hair. Do you know what that is? Like, featherd. Killian:Feathered, yeah. Lennox: So, there was a little bit of that. Trying to think… just typical clothes. We didn’t have like flower children. We were just normal. Killian:The 90s… yeah… Lennox: We had grunge! …But I didn’t wear grunge. Killian:You didn’t wear grunge? Lennox: No. Killian:Boysz II men didn’t wear grunge? Lennox: You are stuck on that band. Killian:I think that is the funnies thing. I’m going to look that up tonight. I’m going to look up Boys II men and listen to their hits that you can’t remember. Lennox: It is roman numeral 2. Killian:Oh, what is that thing you wanted to tell me about in the senior year? Lennox: Donkey Basketball. Killian:Donkey bastetball! Oh, did you play? Lennox: I was not allowed to play. But, yeah that was like the biggest thing about senior year. Killian:And the girls won. Lennox: Yeah. Killian:As they always do. Lennox: But they did the T-shirts and tye-dye. But, what made me think of it was the stone stadium because all the donkeys were out there. They were all tied up so they had to go out and bring them in. Killian:Do you remember like, any clever team names? Any? Lennox: I don’t remember any team names. They probably aren’t the nicest names to be recorded. Killian:Oh, okay. Lennox: Is there anything that was very, like, inspirational that happened during Belleville West that happened that you would like to-? Killian:Okay.. Well, my Senior year I was pregnant with my daughter. And, the highschool vice principal was not very tolerant. Lennox: Do you know his name? You’re allowed to. I’m giving you right. Killian:I do know his name… but that is okay. And, I was out of the whole school the only girl at school who was pregnant. There were no other ones. And I could have graduated the first semester, and I didn’t want to… and he tried really hard to get me out. One day I had to go to a doctor’s appointment for her to get an ultrasound and he ended up suspending me as I walked off campus to go. My teachers in every one of my classes let me make up all of my work and refused to give me zeros for that suspension. And, that was huge because you know I have this vice principle that is obviously a jerk… but I have all of these people who are still supportive of me. Killian:Yeah, as teachers should be in a situation like that. I mean, if you are strong enough to keep a child then that is the right response. That is very cool. Lennox: Kudos to Mrs. Matysik! Killian:Oh, you had Mrs. Matysik? Lennox: Yep, she was one of them. And Mr. Schutzenhofer. Killian:Oh, all these weird names… Schutzenhofer? Lennox: Yep. Killian:And what was the Cross Country coach? Lennox: Weshinkey. Killian: Weshinkey. Lennox: I can get my year books out if you would like to write down the names and get the right spelling. Killian: Oh, I would love that. But, yeah… I think that is… let’s see… Yeah! 32 minutes! This is so successful! Okay, thank you so much for your time! Lennox: You’re welcome.