Thirteen years previously:
It was 1990, maybe 1991, and I was 11 years old, and I was standing in the courtyard of the same high school, presumably. At the time, I was going to a free school with a few dozen students in the Portland area. The school started with good intentions, perhaps, but it would, in the course of the year that I went there, devolve into mere anarchy. Sometime toward the beginning, when we were all full of optimism, someone arranged a trip for us to participate in some type of science fair. It was held at a gigantic suburban high school, or at least it seemed like it was gigantic when I was 12. Brutalist architecture, although prettier than most, with a courtyard full of mezzanines. It felt like being on the Starship Enterprise, helped by so many people running around, doing important things. It was quite a contrast to our threadbare little experimental school.