Friday, September 5, 2008

Welcome to Beard School!

To be honest, I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing with this blog, but here it is. Most likely, I'll be using it to keep track of my reading--just reactions, mostly; not even what you could really call reviews. Knowing myself, though, I'd say it's not unlikely I'll get hooked and start blogging about all kinds of who-knows-what.

Let's start, though, with the name of the blog. Why "Beard School?" A few years ago, at my first apartment in Jersey City, NJ, I got mail from my high school. My roommate thought it was a joke. She came into my room with the letter.

"Is this for real? Morristown Beard School?"

Sure was, but it's pronounced bared, not beered (named after headmistress Lucy C. Beard) and dress code required that I be clean shaven. (Having no choice in the matter of my own facial hair as a teenager might have influenced my adult fascination with beards, but that's another story.) I probably don't have to explain that my roommate thought it was a school of beards, not a snooty private high school whose administrators thought scruffy-faced kids would scare away their funding.

Point is, I liked the idea of a Beard School, and now that I'm simultaneously a teacher and a student, dedicating a blog to both, well, what else would I call it? Plus, you know, I have a giant beard.

No comments: