I have some time to kill while I wait for the shower to be free, so I figured I'd post song number three.
"Never Been to Spain" by Three Dog Night.
This song was first discovered by my friends and me in eleventh grade, when Mr. Downey (the best English teacher I've ever had) had us watch Scotland, PA after reading MacBeth. It stands to be one of my favorite movies ever still.
For me, being in eleventh grade English Honors was a huge deal, and the most academically exciting thing for me up to that point in life. You see, previously I'd been placed in the regular CP level English and to word this as politely as I can, I'll just say that it was filled with morons. And I mean morons. One girl, in a tenth grade English class, was reading out loud one day and pronounced the word "yacht" as "yat-chet."
I needed out.
More than simply being stuck with idiots that drove me insane, English was my favorite subject (save for photography when I took it). I was still writing then, often. I cranked out poetry and stories like a machine... man, I miss those days.
Anyway, I requested to be moved in English Honors. I had straight A's in English, my placement testing scores were in the 99th percentile. I belonged there.
I needed my current English teacher to sign a slip saying that I was up to par for EnglishH. I'd had the same teacher for freshman and sophomore year, who constantly praised my lack of retardation in comparisson to that of my class mates. I went to ask her to sign the slip and she said she would love to, and thought I really did belong in the honors class... "but if you do poorly, it'll be on my head."
So she didn't sign it.
And the school decided they wouldn't allow a parental override for me (while I know one other girl who had the same exact problems I did, but they let her in without a problem). Instead, they told me to right an essay. It could be on anything I chose and as long as I wanted.
I churned out an eight page essay about the different European myths that Tolkien based the Lord of the Rings on. It was awesome.
Instead of welcoming me joyously into the honors class, they accused me of plagiarism because "it was just too well written."
I know: isn't that sort of the point?
Well, I managed to get them to let me write another fucking essay. This time, they gave me a topic based on books we'd read in class and I had 45 minutes to write it. And my current English teacher had to watch me write it.
After writing a kick ass essay about Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) and John Proctor (the Crucible) in which I managed to quote them exactly without the book there, they decided my skills "would do" for English Honors.
I had to fight so much and went through a lot of bullshit red tape that existed only for me in order to get into English Honors my junior year. And it was totally worth it.
I had class with my friends, which was nice. But the best part was I had great teachers for the next two years; Mr. Downey was amazing, and Mrs. Fernicola was just as fantastic. But Mr. Downey will forever my favorite because he was my rescue ship after years trapped on a desert island with morons.
When I hear this song, I remember junior year English class, and though it may be weird, I get very happy. I am reminded of the first time I ever really tried for something and succeeded, even after so many setbacks.
I wonder if I still have that determination somewhere in me? I haven't seen it again since.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
That Three Dog Night song is fantastic. I can never think of that band without thinking of the movie Gremlins ever since I learned that Hoyt Axton (the father in Gremlins) wrote their most popular song ("Joy to the World").
He wrote a couple songs for them. Strangely enough, this is the other one.
Post a Comment