Letter from the Editor: Fall without football? It's fall without marching band, too!

A friend of mine from high school texted me recently with some alarming news: “They canceled U of I,” her message said.

The University of Illinois isn't canceled; it's still there. I'm pretty sure. I haven't been downstate in a long time. (ha! My friends at our southern Illinois papers will have a chuckle over me calling Champbana “downstate.”)

No, no. We were, and still are, I suppose, marching band nerds, and our favorite high school times of the year — Illinois Band Day and the Illinois Marching Band Championships — have been (gasp) canceled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It's not a surprise, of course. But it's sad, and just another stark reminder of how much life has changed in the past six months.

But, yeah, marching band. I bring this up also because I was chatting with co-workers about homecomings not happening as there's no football this fall, and that's when it suddenly occurred to me no football games probably means no marching band at all. Maybe some of you can fill me in.

That was the highlight of my high school career and took up approximately 87.6% of my time from August through November. We practiced a lot of the summer, three nights a week and during the school day in the fall, then played at home football games on Fridays. Plus we went to three or four contests and parades on weekends, depending on where we were and what was going on.

But the Marching Band Championship at U of I was always the highlight — especially if we placed in the Top 10 (sometimes we did!) That would've been coming up in a couple of weeks.

So while I've been sitting here wondering why the whole debate about going back to school in-person, or on a remote or hybrid schedule is so emotional, I think of marching band and I finally get it.

That, along with — contain your surprise — the student newspaper, were really the highlights of that time in my life.

I still keep in touch with the band kids (mumble) years later.

And the newspaper has given me a funny story, at least: Most kids get into journalism because they saw “All The President's Men” and wanted to be Woodward and/or Bernstein (I've told you about my embarrassing celebrity encounters? I once unknowingly told Bob Woodward's nephew that's not how journalism works most of the time, and a lion's share of us will cover villages and school board meetings. I remain awkward, always) Or they remember seeing Walter Cronkite, Barbara Walters or Anderson Cooper and wanting to be like them.

NOT ME. I wanted to be a doctor but turns out am v. squeamish and was subsequently lost in a careerish manner.

Welp. Enter my sophomore English teacher. She called my parents to school for a meeting with a dean and accused me of plagiarizing several assignments.

“High school sophomores don't write like this,” she told my mom.

Mom: No, she writes them. (heavy sigh) At the last minute, in the car, on the way to school.

Teacher, to me, skeptically: You should probably join the newspaper staff, then.

Here's the thing: I get it. We are all missing out, but the kids in school are missing out more than most. Because some of these things we do in high school shape the rest of our lives. I met some of my closest friends in marching band. And what would I be now had I not found the high school newspaper? The world's barfiest doctor?

But I'm not saying whether they should or shouldn't go back to school full-time — that's not my call. I don't have kids in any of the districts in Glenview or Northbrook. I'm just pointing out it's a tough position your kids are in. And while everybody is yelling at each other about remote, hybrid, full-time, masks, no masks, football, no sports, IHSA decisions and more — students are trying to have a normal school year that's anything but.

These kids are having a tough time, and man. If the kids we've talked to at the Herald are any indication, they are handling it gracefully. (Northbrook and Glenview, you have a lot of good kids here. But I'm sure you knew that already!)

Just be gentle with them, OK?

• Melynda has been at the Daily Herald for 21 years as of this week. Thank you, Mrs. Martin. None of this would've happened without you, and I am forever grateful.