One of the reasons my 2nd grade teacher sent me to the principal's office:
I grew up listening to the academics talk at cocktail and pot parties of the seventies. My permissive parents enjoyed my precocious ability to not only maintain a conversation at an adult level, but genuinely engage with insight and wit.
I was a stronger reader than the public school in Schuylerville, NY was accustomed to. During a social studies lesson, asked to read aloud a paragraph from the chapter, "The Exploration of the West," I made it the 'exploitation,' thinking it would get a laugh from the room. Both were words I knew. I had spent (minimal) time on a reservation, learning how the Iroquois remembered the loss of their world. The wordplay was a slam-dunk witticism.
Also, I had already become annoyed with the representation of history in the big hardback text book. I was watching The Smothers Brothers and Flip Wilson at the time, and hearing the albums. I was a hip seven year old. I read Mad Magazine while NPR played on the component stereo hi-fi system. I waited a beat for a laugh that never came.
I was way too hip for the room. Way. Too. Hip. The teacher said, "No. Read that word again."
I sighed the disappointed sigh her obtusity deserved, but she didn't take the hint and realize it was a pun, not an error. She said, "I think you mispronounced... ex... plor... ation. Exploration. You said, 'exploitation.'"
I said, "Okay. But yesterday during the chapter about 'The Fertile Lands' you mispronounced 'massacre*.'"
She said, "What? When? What did I say?"
I waited a beat. I already knew the timing. I said, "Manifest destiny."
Instead of the laugh I was certain I had earned, someone gasped as though I had cursed and a tension hung in the air. Then I had to go to the principal's office.
*I wrote "genocide" in my first telling of this, but I knew it wasn't right. It would make for a better line, but I remember the exact day that I learned the word 'genocide' and it was a few years later than second grade. I had to do a synonym search to find 'massacre.' I'm not sure that's the word I used, but it rings true to my memory of my vocabulary at the time.
This is probably my favourite piece of yours, Eric. Love the natural, relaxed tone. Your enthusiasm for history. The history itself, of course! And the Dylan quote! (What a gem.) Brava!
Fun story ET. Press Parker reprised his Davy Crockett role as Daniel Boone on TV for six years, 64 - '70 . My 12 -year-old and plus self loved that show.
One of the reasons my 2nd grade teacher sent me to the principal's office:
I grew up listening to the academics talk at cocktail and pot parties of the seventies. My permissive parents enjoyed my precocious ability to not only maintain a conversation at an adult level, but genuinely engage with insight and wit.
I was a stronger reader than the public school in Schuylerville, NY was accustomed to. During a social studies lesson, asked to read aloud a paragraph from the chapter, "The Exploration of the West," I made it the 'exploitation,' thinking it would get a laugh from the room. Both were words I knew. I had spent (minimal) time on a reservation, learning how the Iroquois remembered the loss of their world. The wordplay was a slam-dunk witticism.
Also, I had already become annoyed with the representation of history in the big hardback text book. I was watching The Smothers Brothers and Flip Wilson at the time, and hearing the albums. I was a hip seven year old. I read Mad Magazine while NPR played on the component stereo hi-fi system. I waited a beat for a laugh that never came.
I was way too hip for the room. Way. Too. Hip. The teacher said, "No. Read that word again."
I sighed the disappointed sigh her obtusity deserved, but she didn't take the hint and realize it was a pun, not an error. She said, "I think you mispronounced... ex... plor... ation. Exploration. You said, 'exploitation.'"
I said, "Okay. But yesterday during the chapter about 'The Fertile Lands' you mispronounced 'massacre*.'"
She said, "What? When? What did I say?"
I waited a beat. I already knew the timing. I said, "Manifest destiny."
Instead of the laugh I was certain I had earned, someone gasped as though I had cursed and a tension hung in the air. Then I had to go to the principal's office.
*I wrote "genocide" in my first telling of this, but I knew it wasn't right. It would make for a better line, but I remember the exact day that I learned the word 'genocide' and it was a few years later than second grade. I had to do a synonym search to find 'massacre.' I'm not sure that's the word I used, but it rings true to my memory of my vocabulary at the time.
Always a bit too clever for the 2nd grade!!!
Thanks for reading, Dylan. Good to see your name.
Eric
ps. Can u also do me a favor and LIKE the post? Thanks.
This is probably my favourite piece of yours, Eric. Love the natural, relaxed tone. Your enthusiasm for history. The history itself, of course! And the Dylan quote! (What a gem.) Brava!
Thanks SO MUCH, Meeems!
Fun story ET. Press Parker reprised his Davy Crockett role as Daniel Boone on TV for six years, 64 - '70 . My 12 -year-old and plus self loved that show.
Fess, man! Fess!
Thanks for reading & commenting!