Cooper School Oral History Project

COOPER SCHOOL ORAL HISTORY PROJECT

ROUGH DRAFT

Chris Laxamana

Audiotape

[This is an interview with Chris Laxamana in December 2003 The interviewer is Carlene Butzerin. The transcriber is Jolene Bernhard.]

[Tape begins as Carlene is speaking]

CB: —and at the time you attended Cooper?

CL: It was Chris Laxamana and it still is.

CB: When did you start going to Cooper?

CL: Ummm... when I was four. So, I don’t know what year that makes it. Probably sometime around 1985 or 1984. I went to kindergarten when I was four.

CB: How long were you there?

CL: Until second grade and then that’s when they changed.

CB: When the school closed?

CL: Yes, when the school closed. They said it was because it wasn’t earthquake-safe. Is that true?

CB: Yes. I read that it was structural.

CL: There were issues.

CB: [stressing the word] Issues. What was the name of the school at the time, Youngstown or Cooper?

CL: It was Cooper.

CB: Tell me about your first day at school.

1 CL: Let’s see. The first day of kindergarten I barely remember. I know I missed my mom a lot and I wanted to go home. My teacher was Mrs. [Gloria] Bergren. She was pretty ugly. I was the smallest kid in the class because I was four, and I think a lot of the other kids were older than me. So, I was just very shy. There’s one other guy that I connected with. His name was David. He was Vietnamese and he was really small, like me. He was my best friend, really. We didn’t talk much but we were best friends. That’s a little more than my first day of school but there you go.

CB: Talk about how your family came to this area.

CL: [clearing his throat] My mom and dad used to live in an apartment. I’m not quite sure where it was but they finally decided to get a house. When we moved here, to West Seattle, we were on 18th Ave. We just ended up going to Cooper because it was closer.

CB: What was the neighborhood around the school like then?

CL: It was ghetto. That’s what I would say. It was ghetto, probably a lot of crime. Obviously I wasn’t involved or I didn’t see too much of it. Judging just from the way it felt and the kids around there, it was ghetto. That’s what I would say.

CB: What were the issues of the day for the school’s neighborhood while you were there?

CL: Hmmm. I think I was too young at the time to pay attention to any of the political or, you know, stuff that was going on in the neighborhood at the time. I don’t really remember. No, not too much.

CB: Do you remember anything about the name being changed of the school? Did anybody ever mention to you that it had had a different name at one time?

CL: No, no. It was always Cooper.

CB: How did you get to school?

CL: In the morning, my mom would drive me. Then in the afternoon, my dad would walk me home.

CB: What kinds of activities were available?

CL: Activities like after-school stuff?

CB: Yes.

CL: I’m not sure, actually, because I only went until second grade. I didn’t really do any of the activities that they offered but I’m sure they did sports. We had a park right next to us, Delridge

2 Park, which is now a community center. People used to do a lot of stuff over there but that’s about all I could tell you about that.

CB: Describe the other children at the school.

CL: Well, I would say probably the majority of us were lower income. My family was just average but probably most of them were lower income. Pretty ghetto. [chuckling] But I went there and I liked most of the people who went there at the time. Looking back on it, kind of dirty.

CB: Dirty? Like they didn’t bathe dirty?

CL: Yep. Because we were young kids. So, I’d say a lot like the young kids today, we didn’t really bathe. I know I had to take showers.

CB: Were they nice?

CL: [clearing his throat again] I got picked on a little bit by one guy. I think his name was Jeremy. They were a rowdier bunch but basically the type of kids that you would get if you were around a neighborhood like Delridge. If you go to Delridge now, you know what type of neighborhood it is. It’s probably cleaned up a little bit, I think, since then.

CB: Were there any school hangouts? Anywhere where the kids would usually hang out?

CL: All I remember is basketball. Like right in front. That’s all I remember. Every morning I’d walk to school and every morning I’d see people shooting hoops.

CB: In the side yard?

CL: Um-hmm. Yes. Have you been there?

CB: Yes.

CL: You checked it out? Yeah, that place used to be buzzing.

CB: Were there rivals with any other schools? Did you compete in sports or anything?

CL: Not that I can remember.

CB: You don’t remember that? Do you remember the rest of the playground at school?

[pause as Chris thinks]

CL: No, I don’t think so. I think very vaguely. I think it was general because when I think back to grade school, sometimes I get it mixed up with Lafayette [the school he attended after

3 Cooper]. I’m thinking that we had our own kindergarten playground and I’m not sure. I think they had a separate area.

CB: Was it that caged-in area in the back with a covering over it?

CL: I don’t know.

CB: And a fence.

CL: I think it might have been. I think I remember us having a different area to play in than the bigger kids. I think I remember monkey bars. And I think I remember a big, kind of like a pyramid metal structure that they climbed, which probably isn’t so safe right now. Probably wouldn’t have it in grade schools nowadays. I would climb up on that thing and I would stand on the very top of it. I’d balance on the top of it, which, thinking about it now, was pretty dumb. I’m surprised nobody stopped me. But they didn’t care, really, because all of us did it. There you go. It was probably about—oh, it seemed a lot higher then—realistically, probably about fifteen feet off of the ground.

CB: Wow.

CL: [chuckling] Wow.

CB: Well, if little kids stand on a fifteen-foot structure, that is dangerous. Did you ever get into trouble? And if you did get into trouble, what did they do to punish you?

CL: Time outs I think were it at the time. They’d just make you stand in a corner. I didn’t really get in trouble. I was a good kid. I was really introverted. I was really shy except for the whole monkey bar thing because I liked standing on top of it. Yes, that was pretty much it. I just hung out with my friend David. I think time outs were it.

CB: Even in the second grade?

CL: I’m trying to think if they held people. I don’t think they did but I do know the teachers had no problem raising their voices. I think in first and second grade, I think I had some loud teachers. I’m trying to remember second grade.

CB: Did you ever get into enough trouble to get sent to the principal’s office or anything?

CL: No, no.

CB: Nothing that bad?

CL: No.

CB: Do you remember them celebrating any holidays at school? Decorations for Christmas or Easter or anything like that? Or Hanukkah?

4 CL: I don’t. I mean, no, not for sure. I’m pretty sure that we did it in classes. Like probably arts and crafts. Do you mean events in general or holidays?

CB: Both.

CL: I remember assemblies. Do you know what I mean? Is that another question that comes later or should I talk about that now?

CB: Go ahead and talk about it now.

CL: Cool. I know that we had assemblies and we had a theme song. All I know is the beginning part was, “We’re the Cooper kids and we’re ready to shout!” [singing in a high- pitched voice] That’s all I remember. Oh! And if we were good, we got these little pins with lions on them. They had the Cooper lion on it, and they were blue and yellow. Those were pretty sweet. I got a bunch of those because I was a good kid. We had assemblies. We had talent shows. I danced to “La Bamba” for first grade with my shoes on backwards. People break-danced a lot because it was the eighties.

CB: Did you have a favorite room that you really liked? You know, something about that room that you thought was interesting, you felt comfortable in or anything like that?

CL: Um-um. Didn’t have a favorite room. The two things, as part of the building, that I remember—Oh, wait a minute. There was a caged area, come to think of it. I got kicked in the nuts in that area. I got kicked in the nuts. I just remembered that. I used to play around in that caged area. There were steps, there was a railing. Then you’d go through the doors, there were the water fountains. The water fountains made me think of the caged area. I had my friend Jonathan with me, and these little two Asian kids came up and they grabbed me. They grabbed me—I didn’t even know them— and this other kid came and he kneed me in the balls! That was horrible! I guess maybe I’m blocking that stuff out. I remember that. I remember my balls hurt for quite awhile. There you go.

CB: [trying to change the subject] Anyway...

CL: Drinking fountain. The stairwell. [laughing] There was a stairwell also. I actually fell— do you want to hear about that?

CB: So, your favorite area was the stairwell?

CL: Right! Because I always used to slide down the banisters.

CB: Or assaulted and fell.

CL: No, that’s different. There was a caged area, which had a staircase in it. There were a couple floors. I think there were... two? Or three? I’m not sure, maybe two. Do you want to hear about that or is this taking too long?

5 CB: Let’s do that at the end.

CL: We’ll do that at the end.

CB: What do you remember about lunchtime?

CL: Not much at all. Really, not much at all.

CB: Isn’t there any place you sat normally? Or sat with certain friends?

CL: You know what, I’m sure I did but I think the lunchroom was probably just a regular lunchroom. I don’t remember anything significant about lunchtime.

CB: Did you ever have to clean up your lunchroom or anything like that?

CL: I don’t remember. We probably had to just dump our plates but that was it.

CB: Did you have a favorite teacher?

CL: Mrs. Bergren, however ugly she was. She was pretty cool. She was probably my favorite teacher.

CB: Why’s that? Was she just nice?

CL: She was nice. She was compassionate. I also remember she taught me how to go poo. My stomach hurt really bad. I was like, “My stomach hurts! I feel sick!” And she was like, “Maybe you need to go to the bathroom.” I’m like, “No, I don’t.” She’s like, “Yeah, go poo.” “OK, I feel better.” That’s the story.

CB: [giggling] Fond memories.

CL: [pretending to sing] Memories.

CB: Was there a nurse at the school?

CL: I don’t remember. I’d like to think that there was but I don’t think I ever seriously hurt myself besides that—

CB: Things never got chopped off or anything?

CL: That part when I was assaulted? No. I didn’t go to the nurse for that. I think I just cried.

CB: If you could describe your experience at Cooper in one word, what would that one word be?

6 [silence as Chris thinks]

CL: If I were to describe Cooper in one word, I don’t know. It’s hard because the neighborhood was messed up and it was ghetto. But because those were the first three years of my schooling, it was mostly still fond memories for me. I still had my close friends, like Jonathan and David. Oh, we did go on field trips. I remember that. I don’t remember where we went. I think it was the zoo. I don’t know. One word? I would just say... I don’t know. I have no idea. I would say “new.” Everything was new for me at the time. Do you know what I mean? Everything was brand new and it had little to do with the school but more to do with where I was in my life.

CB: Great. Thank you.

CL: OK.

END OF INTERVIEW OF CHRIS LAXAMANA IN DECEMBER 2003