Mr. Lopate and three...darling little...Nightmare-before-Christmas-somethings wish everyone a Happy Halloween, 1998, Brick Middle School, Brick, New Jersey.
Obviously, it was a day for a costume.
B'wahahahahahah.
Obviously, it was a day for a costume.
B'wahahahahahah.
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On a side note: I dressed like this for the first day of Comp I at Brookdale Community College, in Lincroft, NJ, for five years (including summer class). It was my way of meeting the students and gauging their attitude toward meeting their instructor. I had some fun one morning when I convinced a Spanish adjunct to pretend to be "me" for a few minutes before class--just make an appearance but leave without saying anything.
(My students were annoyed when I showed up. My routine was to sit in the back of the class and listen. I never heard anything trashy or ugly from students as they waited.)
(But I had a BETTER response one night from Diedre, a woman who was taking Comp II, and she had taken Comp I several semesters before that. And as I stood in front of the class in "normal clothes," she started telling a classmate next to her about her memories of Comp I with a teacher. She mentioned some of my quirks as well as my attributes--and it was fun to listen in on this front-row conversation.
And then Dierde stopped--and stared up at me.
And she began to wail.
"It's him! It's HIM!" She recognized me--and had been sharing all of these insights without realizing my identity.
Too bad--I should have worn the biker outfit.
That's just a tee-shirt, jeans, and a bandanna. A 25-second change of clothes.
Nothing like the real me.
This is the look I did for a brief appearance at the Roselle Part, NJ, St. Joseph the Carpenter variety show at the end of 1999, my very first year as a teacher. "Yo, Faddah Gillen: I'm heah for duh job. I parked next to yaw car. I dig yaw hubcaps."
