Freddogg Off The Chain

Back in the school year of 1976 a student of mine named James, who always talked in deep mumbled tones while looking at the floor, was gluing Rice Crispies to a piece of art board which would later be painted blue and red for the uniform, brown for the skin and black for the hair and looked just like Julius Erving of the Seventy-Sixer's when it was finished. I offered to buy it and asked James how much and he said 50 dollars but I can’t take your weekly pay check when you have four kids at home to feed. James had been labeled Educable Mentally Retarded so I don’t know what that made me?

In another class James walked in looking proud and told me he got his health test back and ask me to guess how many he got right out of 25. I guessed 20. He looked at me completely deadpan and said ‘Three. I hope next week to bump that up to five.”

A few weeks later a long term substitute in the room in transition between parishes an Episcopalian minister named Rocky from Wilmington was sitting next to James and kept staring into his soul. James looked back and Rocky asked, “James, when was the last time you cried?”
James mumbled back,” I don’t know man when’s the last time you got off?”
Twelve years later I ran into James who was at the high school to pick up his 14 year old daughter. James was so happy to see me and said he was going to do a piece of art work for me to hang in my living room because much of what he was as an adult he owed to me including having no job.

So he met up with me one morning and handed me the color penciled drawing of Granny, hair in a bun and penis for a nose. There was a picture of Mr. Granny on the wall and he also had a penis for a nose. I asked James why the elderly white people with penis noses?
“It just reminds me of all the good times I had in high school, ’he said. “Put it up in your living room so it can remind you of the good times too.”

And then he was gone. Today while searching for a missing folder I discovered Granny-by the way I am carefully choosing my words here. I decided to scan and share and I know I should teach a class to prospective teachers to hip them to the non text book real things that sometimes happen in public school.

“It’s the little old penis from Pasadena Go Granny Go!”You're right, not so little from the perspective of the artist. Let the good times roll!

Freddogg