On Leaving.

It feels so strange that the new school year has begun and I'm not part of the action back at Tech. For twenty years I saw one after another of my colleagues leave, most to retirement, a few, alas, to death, and a lucky few to new careers. It is always bittersweet to stand, handkerchief in hand, waving to the metaphorical ocean liner as it yaws seaward, an old friend on deck shrinking to nothingness. And as we turn from the shore, back to our quotidian routine, a melancholy descends like a fog. I usually fight this sadness by concluding, with practiced shadenfraude that the ship in question is the Titanic, but it's always sad to be left behind.

The most painful of these send-offs was with Bonamo. His departure was so sudden and unexpected, unlike the many sad though organic retirements I've endured. He was the future of the school, no doubt about that. Brilliant, hard-working, honest, kind, tough, a man who loves life and brings his energy to everything and everyone he touches. What a loss for us as a school, and for me personally. We had become such good friends. I knew I could trust him. I knew I could work with him. The future was very bright.

Then, in May I came in to his office and the teachers were all aflutter about an inspection the superintendant from Queens was going to visit upon us. I said nothing, but waited until everyone but Bonamo had left the room. He peered at me guiltily, fully anticipating the interrogation which was to ensue, an onslaught that he well knew he was ill prepared to withstand.

"What's the story, Bonamo?," I asked. He hemmed and hawwed and looked at his shoes, and finally said that he would prefer not to say. I narrowed my eyes and lowered my voice, and let him have it with both barrels. "Oh, you'd rather not say, huh? Now you listen to me, you fat f***, we can do this one of two ways. Either you tell me right now why that big mucky-muck is coming, after which you and I will concoct some cock and bull story that I will help you feed to the staff, thereby keeping your secret intact with my help, .... or you can continue to lie, in which case I will go to every person in the school and tell them that there's a big secret afoot and Bonamo's up to no good and we all have to figure out what it is. So, big-boy, what's it going to be?"

He stared at me for a long time, then he sighed and said simply, "I'm going to be the Principal of Townsend Harris High School in Queens."



I walked back to my room, closed the door, sat down at my desk, and wept. What a loss.



Anyway, this year was my turn.

Casablanca

This truly remarkable film was on TCM again last night, and I happened to tune in toward the beginning. It is almost impossible to turn this film off. It draws the viewer in, with an almost Svengalian power. I find the same thing happens when I watch a scene from The Godfather. I can't shut it off. I think it has to do with what critics call "pacing." I never looked up what that word means, but i think it refers to the quality that some films have of being consistently interesting without any letup. And, Casablanca is such a film. The plot is rather complex, but is described brilliantly, and clearly. THe characters are fascinating, and fully explored. The dialogue is first rate all the way. If you've never seen this film please take the time to see it.

Some truly memorable lines of dialogue, one of which is NOT "play it again, Sam." This is one of several immortal lines that never were uttered in film, "you dirty rat" by Cagney, and "Judy, Judy, Judy" by Cary Grant being two others that spring to mind. Anyway, the line that gave me the most pleausre last night came from Captain Renault, responding to Major Strasser's dismissing Rick Blaine as a "blundering American." Says Renault, "we must not underestimate American blundering. I was with them when they blundered into Berlin in 1918." Touche'.

By the way, forgive me for being so self-centered, but I would like to know if anyone is actually reading this blog anymore. Say hello to your old teacher and friend. I hope you're all enjoying your first or second week of colllege. I'll try to write a bunch of essays in this blog to provide you with plenty of material with which to procrastinate during the time you should be working on your essays etc.