Our local stores are stocked with “Back to School Supplies,” and even though it still seems like summer, schools are starting back in the next week or so. I can still remember the smell of new school supplies as I unpacked them and placed them in my desk on the first day of school each year. Big Chief tablets, crayons, pencils, scissors, a ruler, the all-important pencil box, and a jar of white paste. I still remember the smell of that paste and remember that some kids in my class ate it. Most kids were excited for the first day of school and had something new to wear on that day even if it was underwear or socks to go with the hand me down clothes passed from a sibling, cousin, or friend. We all walked into the school with a spring in our step, ready to challenge the world, or maybe just long division. I can close my eyes and imagine those days, and almost smell the newly printed pages with the purple ink, fresh from the mimeograph machine. I wonder if today’s ubiquitous computer tablets will evoke a strong memory 50 years from now…they really don’t smell at all.