Write Or Wrong 73

Role Reversal

I always hated teachers. Growing up, I was that quiet kid in the corner who did all his work and the proceeded to read his comic books. And while I wasn't one of those generic troublemakers that drew the ire of the teacher, I still hated them. Why did I hate them? Simply because of what the represented. I hated the fact that they lorded over us, giving us tons of work and telling us what to do. Even when we finished our work they'd give us more work. And god forbid we tried to exercise some autonomous thought! It simply the type of situation where the teachers just seemed to not know when to relent from making us youngsters keep our minds busy.

Flash forward a bunch of years and here I sit as a teacher aide at a local high school. I have the task of working with kids to make sure they do their teacher mandated work, make sure that they also don't sneak out of the school to cut class, as well as being somewhat of a disciplinarian. It sucks. I now know why even the coolest of teachers could be hated sometimes. As chummy and friendly as you can get with a kid, there is always a certain personal and emotional distance you have to maintain from them. You can't cross the boundary of truly being their friend because, for all the good kids out there, the majority of kids will fall back to the side of their personality that makes them try to use and manipulate you. They will use that friendliness against you, or for their own ends. But I digress.

What I was trying is that being in place as an educator now, I have a better understanding of the professional nature of the job. There are certain things expected of you when you are in a position of power or importance. And in a student/teacher relationship there are certain boundaries that cannot and should not be crossed. And because of the way folks like us adhere to that expectation of professionalism; we are really hated by kids. As I stated, even the coolest teacher can be that jerk that you're ranting about less than ten minutes from now. No one likes not getting their way and with teachers students rarely do.

Go Down Swinging

Now up until two years ago my television viewing habits consisted of watching "Alias", "the Sopranos", and the occasional viewing of "The West Wing". But my friend Mike decided that he hip me to the goings on of the "Buffyverse" by getting me to watch "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and it's spin-off, "Angel". I dismissed Angel almost immediately and moved straight into watching Buffy. I was hooked.

As a fan of comic books and genre fiction in general, I was intrigued by the shows mix of horror, action, drama and humour. And when the show was cancelled I eventually gravitated towards "Angel". Suffice to say that I became hooked again. So much in fact, that I went back and watched all episodes of the previous four seasons. I kept watching, getting my weekly dose humorous vampire-action but was eventually disheartened when I heard the news that the show was also getting the axe. Sad news indeed.

But this season was an amazing one. Full of twists, awesome battles, epic storylines and a final episode like none I've ever seen before. The main hero and his team gather for one final battle against the forces of darkness . . . and that's how it ends. We don't find out what happens.

Sure, we can surmise that Angel and his "Fang Gang" perish in their battle against the final evil, but it was series creator, Joss Whedon's way of allowing the show to go out with a noble and heroic bang AND leaving the door open for more stories. Now I just have to find something else to watch. >sigh<