Another Brick In The Wall

It's like a Bart Simpson dream come true -- a giant steel claw smashing down the walls of the local public school. But I wasn't laughing when I saw the pictures and video that my buddy Pete took of the old Levack Public School building being demolished.

Photo by Pete Mihajic

Interestingly enough, I found out about the plans for the school to be demolished through Facebook -- and using that same social media, I was able to get in contact with at least a dozen people I haven't seen since roaming the halls of Levack Public School (or LPS as we also knew it) And so, though we're connected, the building that originally connected us is no more.

I attended kindergarten through Grade 8 in this building -- my father also worked part of his days and had an office at Levack Public School. So there are many fine memories attached to it: Fighting for the "hills" on the giant snow piles made from plows clearing the parking lot and playground area of the school yard; sneaking onto the roof to climb around and pretend to be Spider-Man in the evening (and getting caught almost every single time I did so); getting beat up by school-yard bullies; getting and giving the "bumps" on various birthdays; playing basketball and "around the key" as well as baseball on the school grounds after school and in the summer when the school was closed; regularly visiting the Levack Public Library which was housed in the LPS building (which signaled the early beginnings of my book-nerd tendencies).

Photo by Pete Mihajic

So many memories -- so many ghosts that will continue to haunt those grounds long after the building has come down.