MY WALLET AND THE TEACHERS' LOUNGE

My timing may be off. You know, sharing that I used to be a teacher. The Wisconsin mess and all. But I was. And I was upset with funding education and all the issues and mandates and testing that teachers faced. I was equally fed up with the teachers' union though I was a 30-year member.

But that's not what this entry is about. If I had an answer, I'd gladly share it, but I don't. All I know (and I've shared this before) is I was very fortunate to get hired at MTV High when I did. There were stacks of applicants vying for the position. The pay was the highest around. The faculty was outstanding.

Fast forward to 2001, my 30th year at the school. Applicants were few. The pay was about the lowest around. The faculty was not outstanding. Oh, there were some terrific teachers, just not as many as in 1971.

It was about 1975 that a new science teacher was hired. She came to smoke in the Teachers' Lounge where I spent a lot of waking hours. I approached her and introduced myself. I took out my wallet and showed her a picture of our young son, just a baby. Then I showed her a picture of my wife. Except it wasn't my wife. It was a picture of a hideous looking woman, not totally unlike the one pictured. I talked about her and what a good mother she was and how proud I was of her.

The teacher was horrified at the picture and my acting job. She bought the hoax and tried to contain astonishment and laughter. Finally, I could hold it no longer and started laughing. She was relieved.

And that's the initial meeting I had with Mrs. Felicia McGee. Ask her about it if you know her. I can still picture her big brown eyes when I showed that picture.