Smart-Aleck Geometry

Here's another rare treat that a few of you out there will appreciate. The orange mess above is the front cover from Ernie's Smart Aleck Geometry Comment Notebook. That's quite a mouthful, and if memory serves me correctly, I was quite the handful. I think it was eighth grade, 1984-85, Kathleen Junior High School, Ms. Thoreen's geometry class. Math was pretty easy for me, so I didn't have to pay a lot of attention to what the teacher was talking about to keep up. To amuse myself, I'd come up with clever little comments about whatever she was talking about, then share them with the whole class. Most of the time, they had no idea what I was talking about, but sometimes I was at least marginally funny. But Ms. Thoreen didn't want me interrupting the class, so she gave me this notebook and told me to write down all my wiseacre comments, then share them at a more appropriate time. Boy, did I ever fall for that! I filled page after page after page with goofy drawings and humorous quips. You wouldn't believe what's inside this notebook. Over the course of the year, everyone in the class added their own little bits to my notebook, hence the other names you see scribbled on the cover. But I was the funniest one by far. I'm scared to actually open up this valuable treasure chest, mostly because I doubt if anything inside is half as funny as I remember. But I'll crack it open eventually, and if there is anything truly interesting inside, I'll share it with you.