I grew up playing the saxophone. I joined the jazz band in high school, but somewhere along the way I realized the guys who strummed acoustic guitars at parties were the ones who got the attention. So I asked a friend to show me a few chords, and whe...
You can do and use the skills that you have. The schools need you. The teachers need you. Students and parents need you. They need your actual person: your physical personhood and your open minds and open ears and boundless compassion, sitting next t...
I think the only time I doubted myself was my senior year in high school. I was not offered a Division I scholarship. I remember a scout from Ohio State coming in and looking at my film. He was all excited to meet me. Then he met me and I was 5'10" a...
Yes, but another writer I read in high school who just knocked me out was Theodore Dreiser. I read An American Tragedy all in one weekend and couldn't put it down - I locked myself in my room. Now that was antithetical to every other book I was readi...
From fifth grade on, I worked at our public library. The pay, a pittance, was almost superfluous. All through high school, I looked forward to summer as the time when I could work at the library four or five days a week. I was never a camp counselor,...
I became an electrician after high school. But I always had this thing in me to write. But it was always a little shameful. To say you were a poet was saying you were kind of crazy, and I carried that around for a long time. I still kind of carry tha...
My grandmother taught me how to read, very early, but she taught me to read just the way she taught herself how to read - she read words rather than syllables. And as a result of that, when I entered school, it took me a long time to learn how to wri...
There were high school coaches such as Charles Boston that took me under his wing and taught me the fundamentals of football. And when I went to college there was Robert Hill who took me there and he showed me what hard work and determination would d...
When I was teaching Latin in girls' schools before I became a writer, I didn't much like it if parents would come in and say, 'We'll have less of the Ovid and Virgil and more of the grammar, please.' After all, I was the one in charge. That's how I f...
The truth of why I used to listen to Arrested Development on my Walkman was because if I didn't, it would take me 20 minutes to walk to school. If I did, it took me 15. That's the reason I loved it. I just had more of a kick in my step, more of a bou...
Jedediah Leland: Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt? Am I a horse-faced hypocrite? Am I a New England school marm? Mr. Bernstein: Yes. If you thought I'd answer you any differently than what Mr. Kane tells you...
[Nemo and Marlin are heading off to Nemo's first day of school, they stop at a busy traffic street] Marlin: Wait, wait... [Red fish darts out and uses its color as a stop light, Nemo and Marlin cross] Marlin: Hold my fin, hold my fin!
Nemo Nobody aged 118: At my age the candles cost more than the cake. I'm not afraid of dying. I'm afraid I haven't been alive enough. It should be written on every school room blackboard: Life is a playground - or nothing.
Lou Bloom: Why hire you? Sell yourself. Go. Rick: Okay. Well, I'm Rick, of course. I took three buses to get here. I finished high school. I need a job. I'll do just about anything. That's me. Hire Rick.
Lou Bloom: You see, Rick, they've done studies, and they found that in any system that relies on cooperation, from a school of fish or say even a professional hockey team for example, these experts have identified communication as the number one sing...
Detective Susan Avery: Mr. Mill, have you been going to detective school? Griffin Mill: No, actually, we're doing a... a movie right now, called Lonely Room, and Scott Glenn plays a detective much like yourself. Detective Susan Avery: Is he a black w...
Skip: I'll see you at school, Mary Sue. [Jennifer smiles as Skip drives away] Jennifer: Who's that? David: Skip Martin, captain of the basketball team. Jennifer: Does he like me? David: As a matter of fact, he does. [Jennifer's smile turns slightly l...
Jim Stark: I don't think I want anything, I'm nervous. Frank Stark: My first day of school, I was so nervous, Mother made me eat so much, I couldn't swallow until recess.
Rupert Cadell: Well well well Kenneth Lawrence, how you've grown. Kenneth: Hello ,uh, Mr... Rupert Cadell: Come on, Ken. School's out, you can say it. Kenneth: Rupert, you're the same as ever. It's awfully good to see you again. Rupert Cadell: Why?
Sheryl Yoast: In Virginia, high school football is a way of life, it's bigger than Christmas day. My daddy coached in Alexandria, he worked so hard my momma left him, but I stayed with coach, he needed me on that field.
Wayne: School's gonna be closing in about fifteen minutes. Toby: Wayne, this is really hard. Do you think you could give me a hand? Wayne: Sure - what subject? Toby: [Toby stands, pushes down his surfer shorts] Sex education.
