Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Child bride and Mendelssohn's

Where to start....

I'm back at work, and my students have arrived - new ones as well as my old classes. Seeing again my sophomores yesterday was a weird experience. It turns out that one of my students, a girl at 17, who has been engaged since late spring, was about to get married that very same day.

Oh my!

But I don't think that receiving those breaking news freaked me out as much as the reaction of my co-class teacher did. This is a drama class, and my co-teacher is a drama teacher. For those of you who know the sort, it can hardly come as a surprise that some of these have somewhat eccentric ideas about how to proceed in life. So, what does my co-teacher suggest? Oh, nothing less than commanding this girl to stand on her desk whereas we, teachers and co-students, should hum the melody of Mendelssohn's Wedding March. He, the drama teacher, should start out very softly, then I should join him, and then, one by one the other students, until this fine humming orchestra reached the bride-to-be, where it should enter into an ecstatic humming symphony tutto la forza.

My oh my.