Submitted by Sarah C

Who could forget the naked floaty pens that it seems everyone’s Dad owned at one point or another. We’d sneak them so we could see the lady’s dress come off and have a laugh. Other than that, Floaty pens were also a great way to commemorate family trips or to show off to your friends at school where you’d traveled that summer.

Submitted by Mel

Epic love letters and gossip notes were just a few of the creations made possible by Gel Pens. Does anyone else have memories of getting in trouble for using these on papers, exams, etc.? Or getting them taken away for arguing over who gets to use them?
Some of us kept using them as we got older and the results are beautiful:

Submitted by Jay C

If your parents sent you to school in the 80’s with the standard orange #2 pencils, your only salvation was the rubber triangular pencil grips. The combination of cool graphics pencils and triangle pencil grips propelled you to stardom. The only combination more awesome than any of these was the punk-rock kid who had triangle pencil grips and made intricate carvings into the #2 pencils his parents bought him using a pocket knife or a pen. Which kid were you?

Submitted by A Rose

If you are a dreamer, come in,
If you are a dreamer,
A wisher, a liar,
A hope-er, a pray-er,
A magic bean buyer . . .

Shel Silverstein was our teacher’s only tool for teaching us poetry when we were kids. “Here, read this book called Where the Sidewalk Ends and then I’ll teach you how to write stories that are this awesome,” they would say. If only a fraction of us were that talented…