The Beauty of Grey. in Whey and Sonic Screwdrivers.

It was 8th grade. She was a new teacher. We’d driven the previous teacher into retirement. (1)

I saw a poem on the side chalkboard. I thought she was being silly. Who is this upstart trying to actually teach us something. Nobody ever said anything about the poem, neither did I. She was a decent teacher, and I recall finishing the year with zero conflicts with her.

My sister had Throwing Copper in our computer. Mind you, it was 1998. I didn’t have a CD player yet. I don’t remember quite when, but I listened to Mental Jewelry and suddenly it clicked. The writing on the side-board. You, ma’am, had good taste in music.

MacDonald. Yes, I remember her name. That was a fucking bad-ass move. I wish you well.

(1) No, seriously. 8th graders are assholes. Imagine an entire class of students quietly humming IN THE MOST ANNOYING TONE EVER. Everyone did it. Well, most of us did. It was supposed to be our reading time or whatnot. And we’d all hum.

This is why I don’t want to be a teacher. A High school teacher, maybe. College, I’d be up for it. But middle school, fuck that shit.

(And if it wasn’t clear, it the lyrics were from The Beauty of Grey, a track on Live’s debut album “Mental Jewelry”.)