Dr. Frank's What's-it

True to Your School

That's the cafeteria of Capuchino HIgh School in San Bruno, where I did an "author event" last night organized by those swell gals of Books, Inc./NYMBC in concert with a student reading group called "You Say Read, We Say Party." (Food provided by the "catering class," who had little chefs outfits.)

I was really amazed at how many kids showed up - around 150, believe it or not. The kids got extra credit for attending, which partly explains it maybe, though that probably wouldn't have tempted me when I was in high school, I have to say. A handful of students had me sign charming little scribbled "forms" saying "I went to that dork thing" so they could prove to their teachers they had been there. (It wasn't a sure bet though: when one kid asked a kind of smart-ass question, I could hear a teacher say "he's not getting extra credit...." in the background.)

The teachers are in the midst of a contract dispute and (if I have this right) are withholding their participation in extra-curricular activities, so the ones who showed up were either really dedicated or risking some kind of "scab" situation. Sadly, this meant that the faculty rock band (yes, that's right) that was scheduled to open the show with one or more King Dork songs didn't show up. Several of the teachers who were there did stand up and read their favorite bits, though. The assistant principal read a Mr. Teone excerpt with considerable enthusiasm.

For my part, I simply played a few songs, as usual, and answered questions. It was great talking to the kids, a pretty good cross-section of high school society overall: geeky guys, semi-nerd girls, some not-at-all nerd-in-any-way girls, quite a few nice normal-looking kids, a hip-hoppy dude who called me "blood," the athletic types clustered in the back. As usual, I recognized most of the "types" even from my own high school experience so long ago. I even got a few of my favorite kind of comment from teens, the one that goes "you really get it, this is exactly what high school is like." There are those who believe that contemporary kids could not possibly relate to King Dork, and it's always nice to know that some of them actually do. I also got what is perhaps the saddest question of them all: "can I get your records in stores?" Sigh.

They did buy quite a few books, too, which kind of surprised me:

The "You Say Read, We Say Party" girls made that sign.

One thing really has changed since I was in high school, though: there was this unbelievable amount of "school spirit." I went to Mills HIgh School, which is down the road from "Cap," and the two schools are allegedly locked in a fierce rivalry. I crossed out that "allegedly" because when, in answer to a question, I said I went to Mills, the entire room erupted in booing and catcalls. Back in my day, that wouldn't have happened: everyone was too stoned to care about anything, maybe. And as for me, I always thought of my own school as the enemy, which it pretty much was. That school spirit stuff (e.g. where there's this other school somewhere for which you have a bitter hatred and whose football team you really, really, really want to lose) always seemed fake and manufactured by teachers with the image of Ronald Reagan in his yearbook photo vaguely in mind. Granted, in my day, no one would have shown up to this event, either.

To indicate something of my background: the last time I was at Cap, it was late one night in order to use a sharpie to cover a doorway with graffiti in Elvish. Last week. No, actually it was around twenty-five years ago. Time flies.

Posted by Dr. Frank at September 28, 2006 05:20 PM | TrackBack