1980b - Another Brick in the Wall [part II]

by Pink Floyd

We Don’t Need No Education.

We Don’t Need No Thought Control

No Dark Sarcasm in the Classroom.

Teacher Leave Them Kids Alone!

Hey! Teacher! Leave Them Kids Alone!

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A few of us were ultimately blessed in the Spring of 1980 by the arrival of Edward Gwazdaskas. He was an English Major from Ohio State University who also happened to be the student-teacher for Mrs. Reis (later known as Mrs. Gwazdaskas) at the tail-end of my 5th Grade year.
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Yeah…we all liked him (some more than others) – because he wanted to be something fantastic to everyone’s lives he touched. He took the most simple of lessons about “translucent” and “opaque” or the 13th President of the United States and turned it into a two-hour lesson which was fun, interactive, and (of course) educational.

It was a dreary winter afternoon when we just finished learning about the difference between transparent, translucent, and opaque. Mr. Gwazdaskas showed examples of each with pieces of plastic wrap, cellophane paper, wax paper, and aluminum foil. Additionally, we learned about a fictional lady who sat in front of us in the movie theater and how her head was opaque. “Hey lady, your head is opaque.”

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School lasted until 3:30 and after that, our teachers shooed most of us away. However, there was a group of four of us who stayed behind after school and hung out with Mrs. Reis and Mr. Gwazdaskas. Usually, it was Jeff Merritt, Mark Carpenter, and me. Mrs. Reis would finish grading papers while, Mr. Gwazdaskas cracked open Boggle, Monopoly, or Parcheesi and entertained us for a bit. I’d even made up some board games of my own and Mark, Jeff, and Mr. G. would play-test them for me and we’d make changes as we’d go, making sure the game had the right feel.

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It was not long until someone had talked Mr. Gwazdaskas into creating a class paper. Mark and I were the writers, and soon, Mike Klein joined in to cover the sports beat. We’d write up stories and Mr. Gwazdaskas would be the editor in chief, helping us create our first periodical together, the “MNM Journal”. It featured a few stories about the Olympics (this was 1980, the year of the “Miracle on Ice”) and my piece about the social impact of Pink Floyd’s album “The Wall”.
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I do remember we’d gone on to make a second issue in March – and it was mostly a list of scores for March Madness complied by Mike. Maybe I had written about the latest Electric Light Orchestra or Blue Oyster Cult album. Either way, the inspiration had vanished as quickly as it appeared. In the end, Mark, Mike, and I had all gone on to write for the Reynoldsburg Reporter during our teens. Mike and I had also worked together for the high school newspaper and TV News Programs with John Coffman and Bill Gathergood. After all, there was something truly unique about Journalism – we were expected to create something fresh and new every month – or even every week – and the long hours after school always seemed to pass by much too much too fast. .