Part III: Snippets of Somers Teachers

Mr. Delafield

Mr Delafield was a little scary. He looked like Boris Karloff after all. He also had really bad handwriting and then stuck his fingers into a snow blower. Then he had really, really bad hand writing. But our 8th grade science teacher pulled off one of the most remarkable social experiments right under our noses.

You were not allowed to say "like" in class. The penalty : You had to cough up a penny and into the jar it went. Maybe not much of an incentive in the face of - well - such a presence but we bought in. We all endeavored to not be hit head on by the abrupt disruption from teacher and our classmates when the infraction slipped.

Now, the so called experiment might seem silly. But when you consider the - like - so poorly positioned use of the preposition in youth culture, he was definitely onto something. I didn’t notice what he was doing in 8th grade. But it became clear in high school - especially when interacting outside of Somers.

Their dialogue was proliferated by the unnecessary interruption and had us seem light years ahead of our fellow peers. I don’t know if any other students noticed, but Mr Delafield made sure that the rest of the world did.

Mrs. Lutkenhaus

Mrs. Lutkenhaus was never one to be high fiving football players on Monday morning or keeping up with the basketball stat sheets. She taught English and went about her business without all the rah-rah.

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw her in attendance at one of our wrestling matches. But even though I would get dispatched yet again on the mat, her support was a nice little thing to note. There she was taking part in something she wasn’t usually involved with, and I assumed, in regard to a student she liked having around.

Then the funny part of snippet came around. Not uncharacteristically, I was misbehaving in class, and it was now Mrs. Lutkenhaus doing the dispatching. "If you don’t quiet down, the next time you go out there to wrestle, it won’t be against some wimpy 91 pounder. It’s going to be me and I’m going to sit on you," she took the upper hand.

I was pretty much at a disadvantage weight class wise to everyone. So the class got fully behind Mrs Lutkenhaus in approval, and I took the fall again. But yet another loss added up pretty good in my estimation and another memorable moment in Somers.

Mr. Gross

Mr Gross definitely stood out and not necessarily in a good way to the less enlightened at the high school. In the rough and tumble culture of football and male toughness, he exhibited the unforgivable sin of showing a feminine side. Of course, as an English teacher, he was literate and introspective, while most of us skimmed off the top and took everything at face value.

He also went where few teachers would go. I'm referring to a course I took with him senior year. The name escaping me, we delved deep into sociology, sexuality and human relations. We read the Lord of the Flies, The Naked Ape, and the discourse explored life in a manner in which only seniors could be privy.

In doing so, Mr Gross bravely used himself as an example. He discussed personal conversations he had with men and women in his life that went beyond our shallow discourse

We - including me - were taken aback. How could you possibly have conversations like that - especially with women. So high school - and this course - had Mr. Gross seem even a little bit more out there.

He added to the perception by a set of rules he laid out at the beginning of the year. If you were late for class, were unprepared (without pen, paper or pencil) or a few other nit picks, you lost a half point off your quarter average and had to stay after school. Going beyond eclectic, his stance had many reviling him.

But in this regard, I was not like my classmates - despite being one who was often out of sorts with the necessities. I could observe that many teachers set the parameters, but quickly changed course, because they could not manage the pushback.

Conversely, Mr. Gross persevered with his rules and I respected that. In fact, I mostly was able to keep up. Now that is remarkable, and given 20 years working as teacher’s aide, I can fully understand the challenge. I mean I’m lucky if I can maintain consistency from minute to minute - forget about over the course of a year.

As for giving of himself so we could get a peak into adulthood, I was soon having those same conversations in college. Trust being the missing element, I had friends that made personal revelation second nature. So for those who haven’t figured it out yet, Mr. Gross was ahead of his time and was just trying to bring us along.

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