Jack Balas, 2023; PRESIDENT KENNEDY (#2524); India ink & acrylic on paper, 30x22 inches

Text:
Sixty years ago today, Nov. 22, 1963, I was sitting at the back of third grade toying with a big flat eraser I'd drilled a hole through with my pencil. I'd found out that if I squinted through the hole I could see the front of the room pretty clear, when Mr. Schmidt the janitor burst in with the news: "Mrs. Golla, Mrs. Golla, something terrible has happened! President Kennedy has been shot!" We were herded down the hall to the second grade to watch the news on the big TV they had in there (the only one on the floor). When I told my mom not long after about the eraser she took me around the corner to the eye doctor for an exam, and when the glasses came I put them on and shouted "Wow I can see so good!!" and my mom started to cry. All these years later I still wear glasses, and that eraser still works good too.