February 5, 2009
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The Daily News 
1 Ahhhh, the good ol’ DN.
2 I save the best for last.
3 Over the years I’ve mentioned how I enjoy writing the DN. I’ve complained about lack of rest, insane deadlines, lack of ideas, and insomnia, loud teevees, the loveliness of the wimminz, and people who walk into bars, but always, I love all of it.
4 Lately I’ve decided to get everything else in life out of the way so I could enjoy writing the DN.
5 Last night I was working on a paper all night. I couldn’t tellya right now what the heck it was about, because it doesn’t matter. I was writing up some boushit for my class. It had something to do with my classroom methodology, which is really similar to a one-man show.
6 I never fathomed myself a good classroom teacher. I knew I had to work out of a book and somehow teach English to entire cross-sections of students. I often felt that I was the main “mainstream” English guy, so I always had wondrous classes of characters, ESL honors students, intellectuals who felt that everything even pretending to be education was a sham, stoners, gangstas, and some of the most wonderful students a teacher could ask for.
7 The mix was so extraordinary that I had to do two things: one, I had to bring in extraneous materials of high interest (ghosts, JFK, Taming of the Shrew, etc.), and two, I had to entertain.
8 Wasn’t always easy. I had at least to try to bring in great thinkers and habitual drinkers. Sometimes the stuff would land; other times I was like a stand-up in a club filled with uninterested barflies.
9 My instincts always leaned towards me as a stand-up comedian bringing the murder of JFK live, and in your face. Or me as a normal schmuck being somehow followed around by a ghostly sprite named Heidi.
10 Or me as a person who insisted that students come away not only understanding, but with a tremendous knowledge and love for the greatest writer in the King’s English, William Shakespeare.
11 Only recently have I begun to hone those lessons into complete shows, each and every day. It’s been my latest challenge.
12 I’ve succeeded and failed, failed and succeeded, and in recent weeks, I have turned the corner. I’ve decided to keep working on each lesson as its own “show”. I’ve incorporated music into some lessons, and have brought in an almost one-act re-enactment of the Pyramis and Thisbe scene from Midsummer.
13 I recently brought in that memorable scene remembering all of the classic Workshp performances of it. The students stood in amazement as I brought all of those wonderful characters alive, using the styles of the Workshop actors as models. I even had some lines memorized.
14 I played Pyramis, starving for roles. I played Thisbe, whose line, “Let me not play a woman. I’ve a beard coming…” worked magically.
15 The kiss through the “chink” in the wall, the line, “I kiss the hole and not yur lips at all…” brought a clap. I did both deaths, with emphasisi on the “Alack…alack…alack” followed by, “She dies.”
16 As I played, I disappeared into a wonderful frenzy of those shows, and of all the fun and incredible moments. As the bell rang, I knew I had a brand new component to my R & J lessons. I stood exhausted and the students answered with a rousing round of applause, to which I bowed like Tinkerbell, magically blowing kisses.
17 Grand moment. As the students filed out, one girl smiled and said quietly, “You could do a one-man show.”
18 I didn’t hear her, and whenshe said it again, I smiled.
19 She smiled back, all ears and braces.
20 It got quiet. I realized right then that I haven’t even started teaching yet.
21 It was a wonderfully fun lesson, and the past week has had more and more.
22 It’s hard work, but amazing when I finally get in there and don’t waste a minute.
23 I reallly wanted to share that to say thank you to all the great actors, actresses, and techies who graced the stage over the years. It is clearly the greatest thing any teacher could have is former students remaining friends and goofballs for life.
24 You all remain in my heart, always. And now you will all be a key ingredient to all the new lessons.
25 I gracefully bid you adieu this fine day.
26 More to come.
27 Peace.
~H~
