An American Boy in the 1960s: Bruce's Teen Years

The strongest memories that I have about the clothes I wore as a boy was the short pants I wore. By the time I returned to the United States, however, in 1965, I was 13 years old and wearing long pants. I wore shorts at school in France, but thankfully my parents were realistic enough not to insist I wear my French clothes when we returned.

After the year in Paris, we moved to Tuscon, where I attended 8th-12th grades. Shorts were never worn to school, except for a special Bermuda shorts day held one spring as part of a fund raiser. I remember musing in the non-descript, mediocre junior high where I went to 8th grade what kind of reaction I would provoke if I showed up dressed the way I had the previous spring -- or better yet, the way one of my best friends dressed -- yellow sweater, real short, trim gray corduroy shorts, white knee socks. I think it probably would have violated the school dress code. I really missed Paris -- not just, or even primarily, wearing shorts to school, but that sort of became a symbol in my mind for those delightful months in France. I continued to wear shorts in the summer for casual wear--a few other boys did too, although not many.

Author: Bruce McPherson







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Last updated: October 14, 1998