P.Q. Quatlbaum

As I have said before, when I was a kid, I went to a very Liberal alternative Co-Op school called Project Learn (PL). We called our teachers by their first names, and each parent had their own job. One parent’s job was teaching me and my two friends how to program in Quick Basic. Every month, there was a Town Meeting, where all the parents from school got together and talked about the issues. Everything was done by consensus, so being a product of PL can really help you in collaborative processes. Hell, I’m a Theatre nut who is a Software Engineer. I don’t think that this is a coincidence.

What I loved about PL was the people and the environment. I mean, they are “my people” if there ever was any. They are mostly smart, middle classed, liberal intellectuals who work in the public sector or own their own Business. I have never met a PL parent who worked in Corporate America. And despite all the beef Liberals get about being “anti-family”, you will never meet people with more traditional family values. All the men who are a product of PL respect and deeply love strong women and are generally the types who mostly seek long term relationships, even in their 20’s.

I think that it was the right fit for me, because the school is a community that really seeks out what is best in each member and nurtures it. I always had a problem with English, even though I am a pretty good writer with the help of spell check (God bless modern technology). So a few days a week, I would get extra tutoring after school, after it was found out that this was something that I had to deal with. IN other schools, I would have fallen through the cracks or been labeled “incorrigible”. At the same time, I was a year ahead in Math, so instead of doing Math, I took a class in programming, and now, I am a programmer, for better or worse. Perhaps, some day, I’ll get a real job. ;)

So last week, it was an end of an Era. The after school teacher who taught me how to draw, carve, and was a mentor early in my life retired. We had a big party for him. I have to tell you that I never thought that he would leave. I kind of thought that he would just stay there till he died, and then we would all chip in to rocket his remains to Mars. You have no idea how to many times I have heard him filibuster about the face and pyramids on Mars and the merits of not being a one planet person, but I digress.

It is always great to see old friends and get back in contact with people who you should have never lost touch with in the first place, especially if they knew you when you were a little whippersnapper. It’s always good to get a little old dose of PL from time to time too. But what is really great is becoming friends with people who raised you while you are now a man. The conversations that I have with this teacher now are eye opening, because now we can talk about things that we couldn’t before. The same goes with my parents. When you are a man, you are less worried about getting “in trouble” than you are in just having an open and honest conversation. And this time, more or less, you are on the same level with your elders.

I remember I saw a guy in a Bar who I used to go to a pool with every summer when I was a kid. His son is the same age as I am. I asked him whether he ever thought that he and I would have a beer together. He seemed to not be as freaked out about the whole thing as I was. I guess we all grow up and our relationships change. But we always have to keep our eye on the ball. We always have to remember who we really are and where we came from.

I make it a policy not to name anyone I know in my writings on this blog. All I have to say is, this post is dedicated to P.Q. Quatlbaum. You have touched many lives more so than you can ever imagine. May your retirement be divine, whether it’s in the Pyramids in Egypt, or the face on Mars.