I stole his his peanuts. They gave me only 2 packets. They gave him 2 packets. He was asleep. He didn’t want those peanuts. For all I know, he could have been allergic to those peanuts. He could have died if I did not intervene! I stole those peanuts. Then I couldn’t open the damn things. Why do airlines always buy those mini packet of peanuts that cannot be opened for all the biting and tugging you do? Those peanuts and two quick hours on a Delta flight and I am back to Hallway from Broadway.
Students, well meaning that they are, often work to flatter me by saying what you are doing in Jacksonville and what are you doing in high school when what you should be doing is teaching in a college or working in New York City. They flatter for sure!
It used to bother me when anyone described me as a teacher – much less a high school teacher. I wanted to be called a director or at least a high school director – but NOT a teacher. In those early years being a teacher certainly seemed like an artistic sellout. But now its different. Now I realize that I am blessed to have the job and title of being a teacher. What once caused shame is now something I embrace.
In this journey that theatre students often take from high school to the world of professional acting every teacher/mentor has a role to play. Those who are there at the full blooming of their career play one very glamours role in the journey. Those that teach the college courses and conservatories get the opportunity to nourish a plant that has its roots firmly developed and is reaching out and up with purpose and direction. BUT, we in high school are the managers of the seeds. We are not there to care for the plant. We are not there to pick the flowers for show. We in high school are seed people. We plant seeds. We see nothing much. At best we get a sprout. That’s us: a seed and a sprout. We got to gather up a lot of dirt. We gotta get a lot of seeds cause you never know which one will take. We gotta get on our knees (hard work as the knees age), mix up some manure (cause truly what can grow without a handful of s***?) We got to make sure that seed eaters (bad grades, drugs, negative influxes don’t run away with our seeds. And we wait. Water. Water. And wait.
What an act of creativity and love to focus on the seeds – and let others enjoy the scented flowers! I am a seed man. I like seeds.