and Words
Drivin’ home this evenin’
Coulda sworn we had it all worked out
You had this boy believin’
Way beyond the shadow of a doubt, yeah
Well, I heard it on the street
I heard you mighta found somebody new, yeah
Well, who is he, baby? Who is he?
And tell me what he means to you, oh, yeah
Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.
I performed astonishingly poorly on my freshman year in high school. While I definitely could’ve gotten better grades, I basically didn’t care. I spent much of that year ditching school, though doing nothing of consequence. It’s not as if I spent it doing drugs or the like; I honestly can’t tell you how I spent that wasted time. Interestingly, I do have an educated guess as to what triggered that disastrous year, but I won’t bore you with that today. It was really by pure chance that I only failed one semester of one class (World History); I could’ve done a lot worse damage.
However, once I started my sophomore year, my trajectory drastically shot upwards. I discovered that I could easily remember details from the lessons; all I needed to do was attend class. I only missed one day of school that second year; that day was after a bike accident. Those grades were slightly elevated by my class selection (fewer honors classes), but not by much.
Eventually, I land in an English class. This was a requirement for every year in high school, so it’s not a surprise. Though I remember this particular class well.
Mr. Watters ran this class. Much of it was conversational, and I don’t really remember traditional lessons that you might expect in English. I don’t remember lessons on verb conjugations or the subtle difference between verb tenses, like past perfect and past perfect participle. It’s not as if I don’t remember any content from the classes, but I don’t remember those particular lessons.
On one lesson, he challenged us with one particular homework assignment. In order for us to better learn grammar, he suggested that we pick a song (any popular song would do) and point out any grammatical errors that it contains. It wasn’t set up as a point of criticism on the artists; we all understood poetic license to break a few rules, but he just wanted us to flex those muscles.
I picked ‘Cuts Like A Knife’ by Bryan Adams. Though I certainly liked this song, I’m not entirely sure why I picked this particular song. Its video might’ve simply been playing on MTV while I sat down to work on this particular assignment. I found that video interesting (playing in an empty pool and all); it was a mix of musicians playing and a story subtext with the couple. MTV was in its infancy and videos ranged from the very plain concert clips to elaborate mini films from the likes of Duran Duran. In retrospect, this was a poor song to pick, because it was relatively clean of grammatical errors, so I had very little to report.
We filled that classroom with interesting discussions. He introduced us to words like dogmatic and asked us to point out instances of dogma in our lives. We didn’t need to agree with him, nor with each other, but he kept the discussions civil and respectful. We never raised our voices, nor did we utter anything in anger.
I first heard of Senator Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism in this very classroom. Mr. Watters spoke civilly but passionately about the dangers of fearmongering. He described how one single man polarized a country. In some ways, with the implication that we, the people, had learned from that close call. Today, I look upon us and how divided we’ve become. I only imagine that this deeply saddens my old English teacher.
In some ways, I feared the moment he called my name. I consistently felt as if he expressed that I could’ve done better… written a better essay or spoken more eloquently. Only now do I wonder if my other classmates felt the same. Did he push each of us to excel? Maybe this was his way of telling everyone that ultimately his opinion of us didn’t matter. Well, except for that pesky grade thing.
Interestingly, if you were to ask me to name my favorite teacher, I doubt I’d ever respond with his name. He wasn’t the funniest, nor the most inspiring. He wasn’t the epitome of any one particular trait. However, Mr. Watters persistently encouraged us to think for ourselves. Moreover, he emphasized that our opinions and moral compass mattered.
In my head, I hear Mr. Keating teaching about the ‘Dangers of Conformity’. No dead poet required. For that I’m eternally grateful.
Through this class I learned more about one of my favorite authors, Robert A. Heinlein. We had outgrown the traditional book reports, the practice of reading just one book and summarizing it. Instead, he instructed us to read three books from one author. Additionally, we were to also learn about that author’s history. Though keep in mind that this predated the wide availability of the internet. We had to do legitimate research.
Robert Anson Heinlein served in the Navy in engineering before becoming a writer. It would seem that writing became his second career. There are too many interesting details about his life that I could not fit into one post, though I was in awe. I would encourage you to learn about him. Among those books for that report were Citizen of the Galaxy and Have Space Suit – Will Travel. I still remember details from his books and occasionally quote them to this day. Heinlein spoke to me in a way that no one else did and sparked a longing for writing that remains to this day.
Naturally, Mr. Watters shared his favorite author, Ernest Hemingway. His favorite books? The Old Man and the Sea and For Whom the Bells Toll.
Waldenbooks, a bookstore chain that populated malls, carried a free club and newsletter called the Otherworlds Club. This was focused on Science Fiction/Fantasy enthusiasts. It was on one particular day in college, while I thumbed through this newsletter, that I read the news that Robert Heinlein had passed away. And while I was deeply saddened, I didn’t know anyone with whom I could share this news.
This itself saddened me even more.