Peter… the giant turtle

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019 meisajDaily Life

I was a weird high school kid apparently. I mean I did all the normal things, held down a respectable job (life guard / swim instructor), did three sports, kept decent/good grades, and stayed out of any trouble.

In art class, I always like drawing with the Mr. Sketch Smelly Markers. Technically they are called Mr. Sketch Scented Markers…. Smelly Markers sounds so much better. Regardless, they were, and still are fantastic.

So last year when I was cleaning out my closet at my parents, I came across old artwork from high school done in the Mr. Sketch Smelly Markers. ‘Peter… the giant turtle’ is a two part story completed in Art Class back in the mid 90’s. And I call it a story because I actually wrote short paragraphs on the back of the drawings to go along with these drawings. It’s more of an unfinished saga than it is a story I suppose.

So, without further ado… The Mr. Sketch Smelly Markers saga of Peter… the giant turtle:

Story: Peter – the giant turtle – was in the pond when a rage went through his head. There were no more flies, for the humans had killed them to get rid of the pests. Peter was outraged as he crawled out of the pond towards the village. When he reached the village he stomped on their homes and ate their kids. He took out his frustration on the women, crushing their heads with his claws. People fled in terror. Only a few stays and fought in vain. Peter killed them all. He found he liked the taste of human flesh. Peter left in search of more victims….

Story: Peter – the giant turtle – wanting more human flesh swam across the great ocean. On his way through the ocean, he sedated his blood thirst with a whale here, and another there. Once, a crazed killer whale tried to kill Peter. Peter sliced off its head with his claws and then ate the whale’s heart. Peter swam on, and soon he came to a great city. He smelled the humans. He knew he would soon feast again….

I can’t imagine what the art teacher thought as a I gleefully sat there making these drawings. I mean, as a principal, well former principal now, I would have some thoughts on students making these drawings. However, they are missing any big red flags… no guns, no specific people’s names, and only as gory / graphic as stick figures could be. So not a horrible ting to see, but still….

That Dream

October 23, 2013October 23, 2013 meisajDaily Life

I had a high school dream last night.

It wasn’t so much about high school as it involved high school people.

Well not even that, but Shane, Reggie, Colin and Yousey (why I continually refer to him as Yousey instead of Dan I’ll never know).

And they weren’t so much involved in the dream as people on the side.

It did start off in my high school parking lot. I was trying to drive home but my car was stalled. Colin and Reggie drove by, with Reggie in the passenger seat. He unrolled his window like he was going to say something to me but instead drove by laughing (maybe Colin was laughing, he was driving).

Yousey was in the parking lot somewhere. With no ride I started walking home through the Potter Road Woods. But really it was the woods up on the mountain below Shane’s house. I did have my cell phone with me and decided to call Shane for a ride. He informed me he was too busy reading a book to come get me. In my dream…. that made absolutely perfect sense and I didn’t argue with him.

I think it started to rain and turned to night immediately after I talked to Shane. I just kept on walking. Its one of those parts I can picture in my head but can’t remember from the dream. I think my brain is trying to fill in gaps.

Anyways, I walked til there was snow overlooking a lake, or maybe it was one of the reservoirs up on the mountain. I don’t know. But I got there, and it was snow covered but clear night. And I sat down. But it wasn’t cold.

And then I woke up.

Wasn’t a bad dream. Kind of nice in that nostalgic sort of way.

High School Memories

April 2, 2013April 2, 2013 meisajDaily Life

Coach Hoek was the cross country coach when I was in high school. At least for three years. He also taught English class. My Senior year he went from a teacher I looked up to to someone I really wish I never took a class from.

In my Senior year he taught a Senior writing and speaking class. One of the assignments was to give a presentation in front of the class with the goal of teaching something to everyone. One of the more popular choices was “how to make brownies.” I don’t think anyone prepared for this, someone did ‘How to play guitar” but he started his lesson by saying “I’m not going to teach you how to play guitar, go get lessons if you want to learn. I’m just going to play for ten minutes,” and he did. And he got an A. One person was going to teach us how to change a car stereo but didn’t bring a stereo in, or wires or do any drawings. Just talked us through it. He got a B+. Colin, I’ll admit, did a pretty good job with a presentation of “How to sneak out of school without getting caught.”

I didn’t prepare much for my presentation. But I had decided to do a lesson on drawing stick figures, and how to use it as a stress reliever. I drew a lot at that time, and at one point thought about becoming a political cartoonist. But that was aside from the point, I drew my stick figures on the board, showed how you only need one unique feature for each stick figure to make it stand out. I drew short comic strips, drew out some frustrations, and other such randomness. I’m sure it wasn’t great, but then again, other than Colin’s, no one’s was great and mine was no worse or better than theirs.

I got a C. Scoring was 50/50 on this project. Students got to grade and rate each others; giving it a grade and then ranking what they thought were the best presentations. The other 50% came from Mr. Hoek. So when I got my grade back and saw that students had given me an ‘A’, and Mr. Hoek had given me a D-. His
The guy who played guitar. He finally did the presentation three weeks after it was due. And he got a better grade than I did. I actually confronted Mr. Hoek after finding out what he gave that student. Mr. Hoek’s words to me were along the lines of “An A means more to him than it does to you. He needed that grade more than I did. Never mind that he didn’t actually do any of the requirements of the presentation other than sit up in front of the class for ten minutes.explanation that went along with my grade was that he felt he didn’t learn anything from my presentation. The guy who played guitar for ten minutes without explaining anything, that guy deserved a better grade than I did. The people who read instructions off of a Brownies Mix box. Deserved a better grade than I did. The guy who put his feet on the table and tried to explain how to put a car stereo in without pictures or examples. Yeah…. he deserved a better grade than I did. Apparently he learned things from all of them.

It stands out in my mind as just awful teaching. Yes I could have and probably should have done more for my presentation, but as a teacher you can’t just arbitrarily hand out grades. And that’s what Mr. Hoek did. He felt others deserved or needed or earned better grades doing the same or less than I did.

I don’t know why I thought about this today, but I did. It irks me still, and I’m 16 years removed from High School. I think I did well in the class regardless of that presentation, but man it still irks me.

Well, I’ll never see Mr. Hoek again so that’s that. I think he still teaches at QHS. And I’m sure in the last 16 years I have built this story up more than it should be. All those grades probably weren’t ‘A’s’, but they sure as hell were better than what he gave me.