"A" Student Drawing

I came across a photo of the graduating class of 1908. These should have been happy faces, but the expressions were more complex. The eyes were often sharp and fearful or sad and resigned, the angle of the head on the neck sometimes defiant, sometimes defeated, but all seemed to have a mouth set that spoke determination. The tightness in the mouth made the bottom lip poke out, and I know that mouth. They worked and earned their diplomas, but in a world of fixed outcomes the value of those efforts was questionable. Distrust of and betrayal by the very system they had just invested in were real possibilities. Yet, they soldiered on. I concerned myself with the mouth, getting light in the eyes, rendering kinky hair and hair shape, and with maintaining a loose hand.