The Ultimate Racial Reconciliator
I'm going to hold a racial reconciliation workshop for youth. I came up with the idea on the bus home from camp last week, when I stumbled upon an untapped power. It seems I now know one a power that crosses all boundaries and should be able to unite the masses under the banner of laughter.
Napoleon Dynamite, sucka.
I've been on a lot of bus trips in my life. Almost ended my life outside of Memphis a few years ago when we hit an ice storm and the bus almost careened off a bridge (true story). I've had bus drivers lecture kids at 2am in the parking lot of a Western Kansas rest area. I've seen bus drivers who look like they came straight out of the Beastie Boy's Sabotage video. I've stepped straight off of am all night bus ride and onto ski slopes, thus getting a horrible altitude/dehydration headache. Against my better judgment, I've woken up in the middle of the night and gone straight from a bus to the food line inside a White Castle. I've learned the hard way that you should follow those signs inside a bus bathroom that tell you not to stand up when you pee.
Every bus trip has been different. Some with kids from the 'burbs, some with kids from the 'hood. But there is one common denominator. Every single trip I've been on with students has included a screening of Napoleon Dynamite. I was a little shocked when it blew away the competition in a two-stage democratic process with all of my inner-city friends, because the film is very different from most that they find funny. But they were hungry for it. They giggled at all of the appropriate times. They even made fun of me because I bear a striking resemblance to the title character. It was just like all of the trips that I've taken with groups of suburban kids. There is power in that kind of ability to unite.
So don't steal my idea.
Ok. You can steal it. But use it for good. And give me a little footnote of credit. Thanks.
Fair Dinkum
Napoleon Dynamite, sucka.
I've been on a lot of bus trips in my life. Almost ended my life outside of Memphis a few years ago when we hit an ice storm and the bus almost careened off a bridge (true story). I've had bus drivers lecture kids at 2am in the parking lot of a Western Kansas rest area. I've seen bus drivers who look like they came straight out of the Beastie Boy's Sabotage video. I've stepped straight off of am all night bus ride and onto ski slopes, thus getting a horrible altitude/dehydration headache. Against my better judgment, I've woken up in the middle of the night and gone straight from a bus to the food line inside a White Castle. I've learned the hard way that you should follow those signs inside a bus bathroom that tell you not to stand up when you pee.
Every bus trip has been different. Some with kids from the 'burbs, some with kids from the 'hood. But there is one common denominator. Every single trip I've been on with students has included a screening of Napoleon Dynamite. I was a little shocked when it blew away the competition in a two-stage democratic process with all of my inner-city friends, because the film is very different from most that they find funny. But they were hungry for it. They giggled at all of the appropriate times. They even made fun of me because I bear a striking resemblance to the title character. It was just like all of the trips that I've taken with groups of suburban kids. There is power in that kind of ability to unite.
So don't steal my idea.
Ok. You can steal it. But use it for good. And give me a little footnote of credit. Thanks.
Fair Dinkum