He's all button down shirts and frazzled grey hair that frames wire spectacles and a professor down to the frayed tips of his shoes, but he was a gymnast once, or so he tells us, and I believe him because he smiles a lot while he's chatting before class.
_____________
This image has been in my head for a few days. I think it will make an interesting story.
But which story? A story of a gymnast that became a teacher, or a student who has to reconcile their image of said teacher? Probably the second one, so I can file it under non-fiction.
There are two people that have been extremely easy for me to write about; one was a college friend named Bill and the other one has been Minnick. I don't know what it is that makes me see a character in a real person - there are plenty of people in my life, past and present, that could have interesting stories. So what made these two stand out so much?
I don't really have any answers for that. I can draw comparisons between them, and they are alike in some ways, but it's not really enough.
I guess... they just have this sense of life about them. With Bill, it's a sort of potential - he's going places. He'll have stories to tell one day. And with Minnick, it's the other way around - he's been places. He already has lots of stories to tell. And I just love writing about them, or at least my impressions of them.
But I've run off topic - I was trying to make a point about how at odds this notion is one of my professors having been a gymnast. I can kinda see it, but not quite. The man just looks every inch the archetype of what a college professor is supposed to look like. If I had never met him before and was shown a picture and told to guess what he does for a living, my first instinct would be "English Professor."
He's told us in the past that he once worked in a steel mill and for some reason that image never resonated as strongly. Maybe because that was a job and being a gymnast wasn't. I don't know.
Sheesh I'm rambly tonight XD
No comments:
Post a Comment