Audio-Visual was Cutting Edge, and the Projectionists Ran the School. And NASA.


Mamacita says:  Remember the expression “audio-visual?”  Remember the group of kids whose free period each day was given over to the library, and specifically to run the projectors?  16mm movies?  Reel-to-reel sound recordings?  Filmstrip projectors?  (BEEP.  Advance.  BEEP.  Advance. . . .)  That big gray square record player?  Huge TV’s (the back, not the screen) that rested precariously atop a wheeled cart, which a teacher had to reserve a good two weeks in advance?  For what, I’m not sure, as VCR’s hadn’t been invented yet and DVD’s existed only in sci fi movies.  I vaguely remember little antennae traveling with the cart, and a few teachers and coaches “tuning in” to news or sports replays, etc.

When the first space shuttle blasted off, my students didn’t get to see it. I don’t think my school even owned a TV at that point.  However, when that same shuttle landed, about eighty kids were packed into a classroom, eyes glued to that smallish screen, watching entranced as history was made: the shuttle landed safely, and before those very straining eyes, too.

I’m thinking that it was this event that inspired some schools to invest in some better “audio-visual” equipment than the ancient shared 16mm projector and portable, folding, grainy screen.  History was being made and the resources were now available for schools to allow their students to see it.  Well, some of it, anyway, and some schools are still waiting for the resources AND the equipment.  And the permission to use it.

A few years later, my school wasn’t much more advanced, technology-wise, and we rented a big-screen TV to watch the Challenger launch.

For the next few years, shuttle launches and landings were almost commonplace; there was another horrendous tragedy in the sky (Columbia) but for the most part,  NASA has done outstandingly well.  I am a huge fan of the shuttle program and it’s heartbreaking to know that it’s about to end.  Bad decision.  I’d far rather my tax dollars be used to explore the universe than to have them squandered on certain other projects which I shall not mention here lest I start a brouhaha from which I shall not back down and from which others won’t back down from their stance, either.  Therefore, silence is golden.  Snort.

I will be posting more about NASA’s programs soon, as it is my pet project, for want of a better phraseology.

The sky’s not the limit any more, and this thrills me to the core.

Hey, I made a little rhyme!  Yes, I do that all the time.  Channeling Fezzik, wherever you are. . . .

In the meantime, why not send your face to space?

Hah, did it again.


Comments

Audio-Visual was Cutting Edge, and the Projectionists Ran the School. And NASA. — 4 Comments

  1. Pingback:   The Education Buzz — Scheiss Weekly

  2. Pingback:   The Education Buzz — Scheiss Weekly

  3. Audio-visual – I do indeed recall that cart being hauled about. And the occasional scramble “Where the heck is there an electrical outlet”, heh.

    And NASA, which did not succumb to the “not invented here” syndrome. Rescuing Velcro from the obscurity of the French patent office and “So, what is it good for?” attitude of then-current thinking,,,

    I also recall that even at the start political types interfered where they did not belong. Most infamous, to me, was the outlawing of
    of non-government space efforts. Do you remember the TV show starring Andy Griffin about a junk dealer who built a shuttle from “scrap” rockets and spent most of his time ducji government agents armed with that law?

  4. Audio-visual – I do indeed recall that cart being hauled about. And the occasional scramble “Where the heck is there an electrical outlet”, heh.

    And NASA, which did not succumb to the “not invented here” syndrome. Rescuing Velcro from the obscurity of the French patent office and “So, what is it good for?” attitude of then-current thinking,,,

    I also recall that even at the start political types interfered where they did not belong. Most infamous, to me, was the outlawing of
    of non-government space efforts. Do you remember the TV show starring Andy Griffin about a junk dealer who built a shuttle from “scrap” rockets and spent most of his time ducji government agents armed with that law?

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