this week's friday five ...

this week's friday five ...

1. are you going to school this year?
nope, this is the second autumn in which i am not returning for another academic school year ... having graduated from formal education (for the time being, at least), i am now learning life lessons from the great classroom that is human existance.

2. if yes, where are you going (high school, college, etc.)? if no, when did you graduate?
i've experienced four graduations in my relatively short lifetime. the first - kindergarten graduation back in archaic 1986. i recall wearing a pink dress, singing and receiving the gift of a gold necklace from my (now deceased) grandfather. i still keep the necklace in a jewlery box, which is in my room wherever i am living.
next graduation was sixth grade. i remember loving the fact that the seating was alphabetical while hating it at the same time, as andrew and i were deeply entrenched in our "i hate you, you hate me" stage. ah, what a crush i had. i also recall being one of two graduates (the other being mookie) to read the "i remember when ..." anecdotes we had prepared. i laughed so hard during some of them that it was hard to read them out loud.
then there was high school graduation - when i lamented the fact that there was one person between myself and andrew. ah, what a crush i had. ;-) all the girls had a hell of a time once it was time to throw our caps, as we had all pinned them to stay on our heads throughout the ceremony. haha. following graduation, we went on our senior class trip, down to new jersey, where we stayed up all night before hitting up six flags the next day. fun times.
and then college, mother's day 2002. i was a basket case. no one should have to graduate college and move out of college on the same day. it's just wrong - on so many levels.

3. what are/were your favorite school subjects?
"were" makes me sound so freakin' old ... but nevertheless. in high school, favorite subjects were always english, german (because my teacher, frau burke, ROCKED) and communication arts with coach fish.
in college, journalism, theater and english classes. i was/am/will always be an artsy writer girl. i gave up on the science/english route after completing my requirement (astronomy with crazy dr. foley) first semester of freshman year. awwwww yeah.

4. what are/were your least favorite school subjects?
let me begin by saying that as a youth, i loved sciences. i wanted to be an archeologist for years ... and then was class with mort. my high school science teacher (except senior year, when i had physics with arlen, which was a great great class) was a nightmare and had absolutely no confidence in my abilities as a student, which i had never experienced before. i worked my arse off in his classes, but he completely turned me off of the sciences. i sometimes wonder what might have happened had i not had him as a teacher, sad as it is to say.
as far as college goes - crazy dr. foley scared me and i wasn't crazy about astronomy anyway, but i think the ultimate bad class experience was with prof. case. ethics. i always thought that philosophy courses were supposed to challenge you to think and question - not with case. you were supposed to recite back exactly what he said in class. nothing more, nothing less. plus he was a spitter. ugh.

5. have you ever had a favorite teacher? why was he/she a favorite?
i've been blessed in the respect that i've had some absolutely amazing teachers come into my life (not even counting the friends who are now teachers!!!). i would find it difficult to name one as a "favorite" simply because each gave me something unique. for example, frau was the first teacher i had who treated her students like contemporaries - we had to work for her respect rather than simply praise. arlen was a longtime family friend who made something like physics fun. then there was barney, my high school soccer coach, who took a chance with a timid incoming freshman and completely changed my life.
then college - where i truly feel as if i made friends more than i met professors. from falling in love with james cagney after prof. shea's film class to the glow of self-confidence after liz referred to me as a writer; paul staying in the lab until 4 a.m. to help me put the paper to bed to kirk making me think and, with louns' help, making me a theater person to all the others who molded me ... there's just no way i could ever pick one person. i've just been too fortunate for that.