Friday Five #4: School Days
What was/is your favorite subject in school? Why? In high school, I loved Diplomatic History with Mr. Bartholomew. He brought a goofy enthusiasm to the subject, gave us the best textbook ever (Bailey's "Diplomatic History of the American People" -- I still have an old copy that I stole), and involved us in classroom activities like playing Avalon-Hill's "Diplomacy" (still by far the best game ever invented) and the Model United Nations. It really tapped my already-strong interest in international politics, and set my course toward a bachelors in International Affairs. Honorable mention needs to go to M. Ayotte's accelerated French class, where he exposed us to the great Existentialists (Sartre, Camus) and Theater of the Absurd (Ionesco) in their native language.
In college, my favorite classes continued in this vein, including American Diplomatic History, International Relations, International Law, Islamic Fundamentalism, Cultures & Societies of the Middle East, Communist Government, Foreign Policy of the Soviet Union, Marxian Economics, History of Modern Japan, and so forth. Honorable mention also goes to my accelerated language programs in German and Russian, which were also a blast. It's really kind of a pity I never went to classes during college!
Although I've only been in art school for a year, so far my favorite courses there have been Typography and 2-Dimensional Design.
Who was your favorite teacher? Why? I really didn't form many close associations with teachers. My seventh grade English teacher read "The Hobbit" to us in class, setting me on a path toward Tolkien fandom, zine publishing, the SCA, D&D, and most importantly fiction writing. I've already mentioned my two main high school influences: Bart and M. Ayotte. In college, I guess Lek Pyle, my Russian instructor, was a favorite because of his easygoing and goofy ways.
What is your favorite memory of school? I don't have any particularly vivid memories of high school, but I do recall enjoying writing a 12-page term paper on "The Role of Antarctica in U.S. Foreign Policy" for U.S. Government, and also giving a speech on it for Speech class; both received A+'s, of course...
In college, there were many memories, but I guess one of the most personally meaningful was the day FSFnet (now DargonZine) was born. It was a Saturday afternoon in December, and the UMaine computer center was absolutely dead because of a heavy snowfall the previous night. With a light snow still falling, the only people around were myself and Murph, the computer operator who was on-duty in the machine room. We hung out for a while and he liked my idea of starting a fantasy and science fiction "zine" that would go out over BITNET. Eighteen years later, it's the longest-running electronic magazine on the Internet, and has transmuted into an all-fiction publication, dedcated to helping aspiring writers improve their craft through collaboration and mutual support.
What was your favorite recess game? Well, dodge-ball will always be a particular favorite, due to its inherently violent nature, and the fact that, like tennis and racquetball, my reaction time and athleticism gave me a natural advantage. Kick-ball was the staple, though. During first and second grade I went to a school that had an immense boulder (think room-sized) on the grounds, and we used climb around on it.
What did you hate most about school? There's really not much I hated about school, other than the constant mental discipline required. Really the only thing that sticks out as particularly unpleasant were the ritualized fights that took place in grammar school, around fourth or fifth grade. That always seemed really pointless to me.