Part of the reason I've been so quiet lately is due
to the looming shadow of fall that no self-respecting person looks forward
to. No, it's not my birthday, but rather, what I'm referring to is
returning to the schedule of academic institution. In 2002, after
receiving two associate's degrees, I left college because I was offered a
full-time job that just happened to fall into my area of study, so to say I'm
behind on my schooling is a bit of an understatement.
I finally returned to college last year and while I
kid about the pains of schools in my opening anecdote, it's been a very
knowledgable endeavor for me and being six years wiser, I can see even more how
important an extensive education is. What comes as a shock to me, though,
is how culturally relavent gaming is even in schooling today. When I go
to school today, fliers line walls, informing people of when they can attend
the next "Gamers United" official school video game club, public use
televisions line an entire hallway and on each one you're hardpressed not to
find video game consoles hooked up to at least 80 percent of them and the
student gathering lobby features a small lineup of fine arcade cabinets.
Not only that, but colleges are actively seeking and teaching students in the
field of video game development. When I gather my collective memories of
what school was like for me in the '80s, I would only have wished my elders
were equally supportive in my supreme interest of video games.
I find it amazing how time changes things. It
should be most obvious to any living entity that time does work that wonder,
but, sometimes I just sit in awe at the degree of which time can change
something. How could gaming be so acceptable now when my adolesence was
filled to the brim of people telling me I was wasting my time with my
aspirations, I needed to grow up and how I needed to place my ambitions on
something more worthwhile that would actually bring ample finanical support to
myself and my future family? It's just not fair, but in c'est la vie
fashion, life isn't fair and that's something I have to accept in today's
world.
I can easily remember people constantly nagging me
about how seriously I took games, but how is that honestly any different than
someone who can tell you the exact date that Babe Ruth hit his 139th career
home run? Diversity is what makes the human race a fantastic being.
What severely interests one person is "poo-pooed" by another - that's
just another example of how society coexists via individuality. I never
really cared about what light other students made about my interests, and in
all fairness, I can't honestly recall someone saying I was stupid for enjoying
video games or being called a "dork" because of it - they just made it
a priority to point out how much I enjoyed them. However, to this day,
there are two specific instances through my inital schooling where teachers
called me out on my hobby, and they still grate me to this very day.
In second grade, in order to learn the ins and outs
of writing, we did a variety of works ranging from writing a letter to
recalling a personal experience. One of the assignments was based on a
one-page creative paper where, essentially, anything was fair game. I
can't even begin to tell you what my paper was about, but I do know I tailored
it toward a short role-playing adventure. A few days after handing in the
piece, I was singled out and called over to the teacher's desk and the closer I
came toward the desk, the teacher's scowl became more and more detailed.
She was clearly annoyed over something I had done and the back of mind raced
with possible solutions as too why this teacher was ticked off. Did
someone find out about some trouble I had caused on the recess
playground? Did someone tattle on me for a name I called them?
Upon reaching the edge of the desk, the teacher
holds up my creative writing assignment, complete with the messy Crayola
drawing that was supposed to somehow represent a person with a sword and
shield. My mind instantly went blank and my face narrowed with
confusion. What could I have possibly done in a writing assignment to
piss off my second-grade teacher?
"Do you think everything is a game?" she
scowled. At this point, I honestly didn't know what to say. Did it
even matter what my answer would have been? My mouth was agape,
indicating I wanted to answer but I couldn't, so she continued regardless of
what my opinion on the matter was. "You need to learn that life
isn't a video game. I don't want to see anything like this again.
Ok?" Again, sensing it didn't matter what I thought, my body
slumped down and I slowly sulked back to my desk. Oddly, that's the only
time I ever "had it out" with that teacher. Judging from that
encounter, you'd have to assume she was a total and complete b*tch, but I have
to insist that wasn't the case at all. But given how supportive she was
of my education efforts throughout that year, that's one thing I'll never
forget, and it still bugs me to this very day how blunt and destructive she was
toward my work merely because it resembled a video game.
The second case is a pretty short story, but,
regardless, it irritated me beyond belief. Once again, much like my
second-grade teacher, my eighth-grade literature teacher was very supportive of
me and was a nice teacher, but through one negative interaction, this is pretty
much all I remember of that class through the entire school year.
In order to stimulate our interests in reading, we
were required to bring in a book of our choice and silently read it in class
for half an hour or so and this continued for a couple of weeks. Around
this time, Doom was the biggest thing happening in video games and my friend
had come across a series of novels based on the game. Since I was required
to have a book, I thought "why not?" and my good friend was more than
happy to oblige when I asked if I could borrow his book for a couple of weeks.
At about the third day into this reading session, I
was actually about halfway through the book and the silent reading was going
pretty smooth - that was until the end of that period where the teacher did a
big no-no. While like my second-grade teacher, she seemed to have quite
the problem of me injecting video games into my education, unlike my second-grade
teacher, she scoffed at having the courtesy of pulling me aside and dealing
with the issue. In front of the entire class she took a deep sigh and
sternly belted out, "... and Mr. Auzins ... next class I expect you bring
a 'real book' into class. I don't want to see this again."
I guess "I don't want to see this again"
was some sort of official slogan for teachers of my time before high
school. I suppose it's acceptable if you loosen your belt and drop trou
in front of a teacher or whatnot, but, what did I do wrong in bringing a legit
text novel to school? Once again, singled out for enjoying video games
and while I could put up with what the student said, those two instances are
forever etched in my mind.
I would say those instances are etched in my mind
not because they scarred me for life, but they serve as food for my soul.
I've been published in magazines and tons of online Web sites and I've had a
hand in a few very popular online Flash games and make a simple living off of
doing so and if I were a complete d*ck, I'd take examples of my work, return to
those very schools and shove them in those teachers' faces while I do my
"You're seeing this again" dance. Thankfully I'm more mature
than that. I doubt those teachers even remember those encounters, but an
"I'm sorry" would bring an instant grin across my face. It just
shows you, though, that what other people think doesn't matter. Just be
who you are and strive for the person you want to be because when you become
that person, you've just overcome the odds and the icing on the cake becomes
even sweeter.