Post

I've told this story before and I suppose now it's time to do it again. When I was in 9th grade, my English teacher was the elderly sort of man who always wore a gray flannel suit and had a cigarette before class and a cigarette at the end of class every period.

My class was the last one of the day and by that point none of us wanted to be there, least of all him. One day he kind of lost his temper with a gothy sort of girl who always had snide remarks about "when is this ever going to matter in her life?" whether we were reading Homer or Shakespeare. 2/

Then he added, "So there is literature that you enjoy and is meaningful to you. That's good. That's a start. Now what is it about the works of Ayn Rand that you enjoy so much?" "I dunno, really, there's just something about sexy vampires that really gets me involved in the story."

I will never forget the look on his face. He had to cough and look away and then look away again, and then put his head in his hands and then he was like "Ah. Okay. I see. I think you mean Ann Rice. I have nothing more to add to that. We're done here." And he had a smoke break.

Ahahahaha. That's actually so much better than Ayn Rand! Or at least, there are moral directions that it's easier to nudge someone to using Anne Rice as a starting point. And it's a shame that your teacher was that sort of guy. I'd like to think a good teacher would at least suggest some Gothics.