When I entered the 7th grade at the Sherman, Texas, Piner Junior High School in the fall of 1962, it presented a entirely new page of worldliness and sophistication. I was no longer in a grade school of freshly-scrubbed students with pre-adolescent voices, where boys and girls had roughly the same physique. This was a new world of “almost” young adults, puberty was rampant and it was extremely intimidating. We showered after P.E. with 9th graders, some who were haired-over, well- endowed men and the rest of us resembled pudgy babies. There was a core of 9th grade male students who looked like they may have been held back a few grades over the years. Most of them were shaving, smoked regularly and a couple even drove cars to school! Their girlfriends looked like grown women, quite buxom, with a lot of make up and reeking of sexuality. This was an overwhelming onslaught of sophistication a...