Dear Western

This post is SUCH a copy of my friend Toya's post about our high school, Western!
There are some pretty interesting characters that I came across and the funny part is that those people were PAID to be there! Of course I'm referring to the teachers!
Here are a few of my most/least favorite ones:

(9th grade)
Mr. Gogel: my algebra teacher. He was just funny. First of all, he KNOWS he was the dang Oriole bird but I guess he was supposed to keep the identity of the O's bird a secret. So whenever we asked, he always gave the dumbest answers! Even after we SAW HIM in a freakin' commercial! And I didn't like him because I guess I wasn't prepared enough for math (coming from CALVERTON) so when he asked for questions and I said I didn't understand things, he'd say "that's not a question!" Duh, OBVIOUSLY it's not a FREAKIN' question but I don't understand!" Plus he was just quirky and it was kind of funny!

My English teacher: it's actually funny now but I don't remember his name. He was a White guy probably in his thirties. I think we were his last class because I don't remember him being there after I had him. I guess he was really comfortable with us and we with him because I remember he said something smart to me and I responded "well maybe if you learned to iron" because he had on the most wrinkled khakis in, like, history! Plus, I think he liked my friend Iris and I was like, "CHILL on the jungle fever AND the statuatory rape case!" He was just always getting smart and thought he was funny and I was like, uh, hello, you're not! But he was actually pretty cool, for a teacher!

Mr. Baker: my ancient history teacher. Actually his class was cool, but he had one thing that I didn't like. He used to say that he didn't want us to be too comfortable and fall asleep because he knew that history was a boring subject to some. So he opened the window and turned on the fans, even in the winter! Wow! If he's still there, I really HOPE he doesn't do that anymore!

(10th grade)
Um, no one sticks out so I'll skip over 10th grade!
Wait, just remembered someone, Ms. Windhaus! Yes! How could I forget! My goodness!! There is MUCH to say about her! My English teacher. Wow, she was interesting! First of all, at the time that I had her, Bill Clinton was president! She LOVED this man! I mean, it was unbelievable to me how much one could OBSESS over another person, and at the time I marveled at how a Black woman could be like that over a White man.--Hey I was 15 and didn't know things yet!!--She was very, uh, serious about her class and about things were done. We watched Lord of the Flies and she passed out permission slips and the one girl whose mother was TOO DEEP and didn't sign had to leave the classroom while we watched! Wow, the movie WASN'T that serious! One of my favorite (and by favorite, I mean MOST FEARED) classroom activities in Ms. Windhaus' class was the "impromptu speeches." Sheesh! Basically, everyone in the class was assigned a number. My last name is Bethea so I was probably like number 4, let's say. Well every time we had class, at the very beginning, or maybe sometimes the end, she'd have someone pick a number out of a hat or whatever. So, when your number was called (once the number was chosen she'd tell us whose name corresponded) you had to give a speech. Yikes! It was something I dreaded! She was also the faculty advisor to the Sisters for Black Awareness Club and during the meetings my senior year, when he was running again, she'd wear TWO "Vote for Clinton" buttons! (my favorite memory of her class...when I was too ashamed of a paper I wrote so I handed it in 4 days late, and only then because my friend Yalonda made me. my grade on the paper...a whooping FORTY!)

(11th grade)
Mr. Evans: my algebra 2 teacher. Wow, this tall White man who was really RED and who claimed to LOVE hip hop and R & B, was so funny it was ridiculous! He called us all by our last names, so the roll call was always "Beasley...Bethea..." etc and whenever he did call on us, it was the same thing! One song that he referenced quite often was "Cars that go boom" by uh...Tigra and Bunny, I don't remember their group name! they had 2 songs though and the videos came on the Jukebox. (he even had my friend Toya sing it for a grade! PLEASE go take a look at her blog and the entry is called "Westward, Ho!" That's the name of our yearbook, so DON'T joke it!) He'd always be like "Tigra and Bunny" and make this crazy face! And he was always like "ya know, ya know". When he called on you, it was with the index and middle fingers on both hands pointed! Wow! He was SUCH a funny one!

Mr. Gerhard: (again please see Toya's blog but if you are too lazy, then I'll just describe him here for you) this was my U.S. history teacher. (I also had him the next year for Teacher Prep.) He was the GREATEST! First, his appearance! He took the whole monochromatic thing to the EXTREME! He'd dress from HEAD TO FOOT in one color. (well, sometimes he'd branch out and do 2, but it was always just hues of the same color family...like red and burgundy) He'd wear the same color shirt, and sometimes sweater, pants and shoes AND PLASTIC COMB in the back pocket of his pants. Oh no wait, and he usually wore RINGS that had jewels to match as well! One of my favorite outfits was the yellow one! I was quite fond of the blue (light blue!) one as well! He confused me because I used to think he was gay but he mentioned his "lady friend" often and had all these sexual innuendos and double entendres that he always wanted to involve us in! But the man was the BEST! I actually enjoyed US history and Teacher Prep, so...he did something right!

(12th grade)
Last and DEFINITELY not least is Mr. Rey! Oh yes! Yet another English teacher. You know, my English teachers at Western were very special! (in 11th grade, I has Ms...um, Ms. something with a B. She looked like a Smurf and I thought she was QUITE boring. She was my most boring English teacher, till this very day, actually! But back to Mr. Rey!
Mr. Rey was so many things wrapped into one. He was funny and cool and HARSH (grades-wise) all in one. He pronounced all "S" words and sounds with this extra hissing, so it was like he'd say a story was "exssssciting" and he'd ask "wasn't that sssssensual?" (he seemed to think a lot of things were sensual and sexy!) He gave us the BEST vocabulary words, that we had to use in sentences! (Meretricious, anyone?) Yes! and he graded with such severity that I still, to this day, wonder how I managed to even PASS his class. If you had one subject verb disagreement, it was an automatic C! then, in the 4th quarter (because by then you should have known better!) it was an automatic D! Best believe that I did get SOME Cs and a D during the course of that school year! My proudest moment, getting a B on my exegesis of this WACK poem! (some trash about a sad girl or some junk!) So UMES folks, THAT is why I was able to get As on all Ms. Anderson's papers freshman year. I'd gotten so many Cs & Ds from Mr. Rey that I wanted to NEVER have that feeling again!

That's probably enough so I'll stop there!

Comments

Tonyette said…
Wow, 300 level English, freshman year! THAT is why I should have gone to UMBC. Nope, I decided to go to UMES (it was all b/c of the money!) and the Honors Program was like, "we don't care HOW well you did on your AP exam. You will STILL be taking Honors English 101!" I think sometimes now I STILL remember words that Mr. Rey taught us and I'll be like "when did I learn that?" He was the best!
Anonymous said…
So Mr. Ray had a lisp. Gay, anyone?
Tonyette said…
Well, I always suspected that he was...but I had friends who knew his wife. They had her in middle school and him in high school. But we know that marriage don't mean nothing!

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