There I was driving thru Harvard Square, making a left turn onto Mass Ave by one of the Harvard College gates. I was glancing to my right to make sure no cars were coming, and, when I glanced back left, I was face to face (face to bumper?) with Malia in the cross walk. I stopped abruptly, then recognized who it was and waved like a crazy fan. She at first had the anoyed look of someone about to be struck by an inattentive motorist, then she broke into the most dazzling smile and walked on across the road. I sat there, stunned, a moment, only then noticing the menacing faces of Secret Service on either side of the road glaring at me.

Yikes. But the image of her smile will always stay with me.

Oh, and PLEASE don't ever mention this incident to her dad. I worry he might hold a grudge.

families of thalidomide children in Germany and other European countries advocating for the kids to be mainstreamed instead of placed in separate schools or institutions. This was back in 1967 when those kids were just reaching school age.

And yes, the weather kinda sucked, plus, I couldn't WAIT to get back to America. The Motown sound was just hitting big, and the few that they played on Radio Luxembourg made me VERY homesick!

Our one story school building had apparently only one really solid wall, located in the auditorium, so the teachers would march us all thru the halls to huddle together there for the duration of the drill.

That practice would of course also been for a tornado event. Violent storms were not uncommon in Northern Ohio.

As a kid, I was only vaguely aware of the horror of a potential total nuclear war, but I strongly remember really liking being crammed tightly next to Christine Duncan during those drills. Her slightly worried smiles definitely helped pass the long minutes till the "all clear" sounded.

a police car pulled over and two cops jumped out and slammed all of us again the car.

They accused us of buying drugs from the guy.

I started to argue with them, but my friends, who were Black, hissed "Just shut up, you'll make it worse!"

Glad to see this video of this act of empathy and kindness turned out much better.