Time on Our Hands:  

The Fashionable Bowl Cut

I have no idea of the time frame of this little picture.  The children look very young and of similar age.  Could be one class in a city school.  There is a sidewalk and the building looks a little more structured than a wooden country school house.

This picture has a tear right down almost to the bottom.  It starts at the top of the door on the right and ends at the shoulder of the little girl, third from right, in the front row.  How sad someone  must have been when it tore. After that it was pasted on this cardboard backing.  Then that tore, too!  Luckily not much.

Here is what I see in this photo: Meek and unsmiling children.  It reminds me of the play Oliver.  I expect one of the kids to produce a bowl and say, "More porridge, please!"  But! they all have shoes, they look clean and presentable, and many of the girls have the fashionable bowl cut!  Why oh why did anyone ever think that was attractive, I wonder?  No wonder they look so forlorn!

Or perhaps they've never had a picture taken?  They seem utterly exposed and fearful of that photographer. Maybe he was gruff and abrupt? Maybe he was short tempered.  Looking at those little faces I imagine him to be a horror of a person.

Maybe he asked them to say Cheese! and they didn't know what cheese was.

I guess I shouldn't put all the blame on the photographer. It could be the teacher, the principal, or maybe they will face a test after the photo shoot.

I don't see any unusually naughty kids in this photo, nor do I see any that look particularly smart.  Instead they look like they need breakfast.  The back row is the worst.  That must be the last place the food goes to.  They are thinking that it will be another hour before their line is fed.  The front row, where the faces are anxious but not so desperate, is where the lucky ones sit -- the ones who will eat before long!

I have to admit this one is a bit puzzling.  It's sad for me to see children so young with so little joy.  I wish there were something we could do from the future to make their lives sweeter.