Callysta wrote:
Story!!
When I was in elementary school, when the music program became available to me, I joined. That was 4th and 5th grade.
In 5th grade, we had to choose a "major" for our Intermediate School. Band, Strings, Art, General Tech, etc. We also had the option of Spanish, Italian, or French. Those who chose band had to get recommendation from the current music teacher. I had that. Those who wanted strings or general tech got an auto-invite. Those who wanted art had to submit a portfolio, because apparently many parents think their child is an artist.
I chose Band & Italian. When I entered the 6th grade, I looked at my schedule and went... "Art? What the hell? I can't draw!" Turns out I was the only band-requester that also wanted Italian. So, instead of, you know, giving me say, spanish and band, no, they put me in
art.
I brought this frustration up to the teacher, and I was told I would have to wait one year. Maybe I'd like it, she said. "I can't draw."
"Not all art has to be perfect, it just has to have a solid message, but that's my opinion on it." She said.
"But I thought art was also about how you could interpret it in another way?" I questioned.
"Yes, you can interpret anything how you'd like, but when there's a clear defined message that cannot be ignored, you have something special." was her reply.
So I was in art. I made up for my horrible skill at drawing by being the sink bitch. I helped clean. Then one day, we had to draw a poster for the NYC Fire Prevention Poster contest. I hated this project, I was to get a grade on something that was going to hang up in the school halls.
I drew a poster, the one shown above. I built it around a message. It was selected along with 2 other posters to be submitted to the school district. Months later, I go to some award ceremony for that.
7th grade begins, and I'm in Band and Italian, happy to be free of Art. A couple months later, I receive a letter. I'm invited to Rockefeller Center, for winning the entire city. I meet Rudy Giuliani and Howard Safir and sit on a makeshift stage surrounded by fire trucks, wondering how in the windtunnel that is RC, Rudy's hair didn't move. That retarded poster winds up at every single firehouse in the city.
Then it was put in the 8th graders' yearbook when I was in 7th grade. It was weirder because it was one of 3 color pages in the entire book.
ALL BECAUSE I WANTED TO TAKE ITALIAN FFS.
