Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Nerds!

Sitting in the big classroom watching Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho on the SmartBoard. Part of my duties as advisor to the school's Horror Movie Club.

Just to set the scene: Janet Leigh just checked into the Bates Motel. Norman and Mom are having their first audible argument. I find it very hard to believe none of the boys in the room are commenting on Ms. Leigh's ironclad foundational garments. Perhaps they saved those comments for when I was briefly out of the room a few minutes.

Frankly, I'm surprised the kids picked this movie. The last one they brought in was "Dead Snow", a Norwegian "ubersplatter" film about Nazi zombies protecting a cache of stolen gold (!) that, truth be told, even had me yukking it up even while laboring through the usual bottomless pile of ungraded homework. Before that, it was "30 days of Night," a vampire flick set (creatively, I might add) in Alaska.

Long story short, the kids have decent taste. Why they decided to watch a film most would classify under "suspense" instead of "horror" is beyond me, however. 

Anyway, I didn't seek out the advisorship of the Horror Movie Club; it was thrust on me. That's largely because the nerds who founded the club, first as a series of overly-gory posters composed in art class and then finally as an actual DVD someone actually remembered to bring to school, must have seen me a kindred nerd spirit. I am an algebra teacher, after all. 

Although advising the club cuts into what limited free time I have, I've taken to the post. Nerds need support in any school, but they especially need it in an inner city school, where the basic adolescent need to project a tough outward exterior pushes the equally powerful need to geek out over creepy movies, anime or whatever kids happen to geek out about today deep into the closet.

Also, there's my own status as a wannabe film director. Last spring the kids filmed a test scene of a horror movie concept Sam, the group's ring leader, wrote. I have to admit, it was tough standing back, watching the rookie mistakes pile up, but the episode drove home the importance of making said mistakes. After all, they've got the passion. The worst thing anybody could do is step in and dampen it down with a bunch or rules.

OK, just got past the shower scene. None of the (2) girls showed up today, so I have to give the 4 boys who did extra credit for keeping the MST3K-style commentary relatively clean. What commentary I am hearing is pretty funny, I have to admit. It's a nice fringe-benefit that, alas, I can only slightly acknowledge lest I let the atmosphere get a little too light. Hard to believe that not one of these kids is in the honors track.

Final note: The kids are all agreeing that Anthony Perkins and I bear a pretty strong resemblance. Maybe it's because we're both middle aged white guys. Then again, maybe it's something I can use to my advantage in class someday.

I Hate it When That Happens

Sixth Period Student: Mister, I have an absence note from my Mom for yesterday. 

Me: You were absent yesterday?

Student: Yeah.