As I was looking through my much narrower selection of t-shirts today, I was wondering what t-shirt I wore a year ago. It was one made from homemade presents from my nephew and niece, so I thought today I would scan the original drawings.
I think my favorite part of these is that Yoda has a smile and Jabba has a frown. For more on the t-shirt and these drawings, you can go here. May the Force be with us all…
It was the end of the 2003-2004 school year, and I had been teaching 4th grade students with disabilities that were new to me: Down Syndrome and Autism.
One of my students with Autism loved the Pats…and elephants. At the end of the year, he gave me this drawing in a frame. It’s been on my desk ever since.
In addition to the day he gave me this drawing, one of my favorite memories with this student happened when we were walking inside from recess. I wanted to see if I could make him laugh, so I pretended to walk into the lockers in the corridor. Instead of laughing, he turned and asked me if I was okay. If you’re not familiar with Autism, that’s huge.
For more info on Autism, you can check out the Autism Society of America and Autism Speaks. And in case you didn’t hear about the doctor who fraudulently reported a link between vaccines and Autism, you can read an article about it here.
It was the summer of 1994, and I was a counselor at Med-O-Lark in Washington, ME. This is a drawing a camper named Deb made for me. Judging from its contents, I guess the things I liked weren’t much of a secret…
Front and center is alcohol. There is a liquor bottle (vodka?) with a Boston Bruins symbol along with the “Brewum Partium” motto of the University. The “Babum Tunum” part of the motto goes along with the “Chester Chick” female depicted – she represents a major college crush of mine who was from a town called Chester (Chester Chick is how the campers referred to her when they asked me about her). Surrounding the alcohol and woman are three of my favorite fictional characters. There is the Punisher skull, Tasmanian Devil, and Homer from The Simpsons (a show I’ve watched a few times). The “If it’s inappropriate, it’s Dave” is a perfect summation of how I was living when I was 20. I drank a lot, got into trouble, and didn’t really care who I upset.
I’m glad to report that it has been almost 16 years since I last drank, and I am still a big fan of the Bruins, Taz, and Punisher. I also think I’m acting at least a little more appropriate than I was at 20…
My mom sent this to me during the first semester of my freshman year at BC. She mentioned in her note that this was my “favorite postcard”, along with things she and “Gram” were getting done on The Island. I know having it up on the wall of my Gonzaga Hall room helped me to deal with my last round of chemo. Thanks, Mom!
GO B'S, make it two in a row!
This is what I wear around my neck every day…
The dog tags are my grandfather’s from Word War II. His name was David Michael Hayes, and he was from Worcester, MA. His blood type was O, and his rank was captain. His father was Patrick Hayes who lived at 3 Lily Street in Worcester (which doesn’t exist anymore). He was 26 when he went away to fight (the day after he married my grandmother), and he didn’t return for over 3 years. I only knew him for the first 9 years of my life, but I’m pretty sure he’s been looking out for me well past then (like the time I got hit by the Ford Bronco, perhaps?). Anytime you think I’m being a wiseass, he’s partially to blame.
The ring is my grandfather’s wedding band – it was resized after he passed away so my grandmother could wear it. Although there are many, I will share my favorite “Gram” story. My uncle, who had just started dating my aunt, was picking her up one night. This night happened to be “Bridge Night”, when my grandmother got her friends together to drink, smoke, and play the occasional round of Bridge. Her beverage of choice that night was Harvey Wallbangers, and she definitely had a few in her when my uncle showed up. When she answered the door slightly slurring her words she told my uncle something to the effect of: “You’ll have to pardon me, I’ve had a few Harvey Wallbangers, and now I don’t know who I’m banging, Harvey or the wall…” (Welcome to the family!) Even though neither of my grandparents are here now, their love has certainly been passed down to my generation and I’m glad I get to wear a symbol of it around my neck.
If you didn’t know, Saint Rita is the patron saint of impossible dreams (You can read more about her here, here, and here). A couple of those have prayers to say to Saint Rita, but I came up with a poem of my own:
Saint Rita,
Are you still there,
Or has it been too long
Since the earth
Saw you here?
My dream impossible
Is to see your image
With fire,
A pass around the world
And everyone’s colorblind.
Saint Rita,
I call upon thee
To save us,
And why not tonight?
How much more desperation
Before we get your
Interventional light?
No matter what your religion or what/who you pray to (if you pray at all), I really do think things like world peace are possible if enough people believe and want it to happen. This is what I wear because this is what I believe in: Family, Love, and Dreams. I hope you have a lot of each of those in your life…
I wish I could tell you that those wings spreading out by my collar were just shadows. Nope, that’s my hair. In my defense, sporting a mullet was the only way I could have anything approaching long hair at the Ol' SJ . There's no way they would have even let me take this ID picture if my hair were longer on the sides or in front. I believe the actual written rule was anything "past the collar", so even this picture is "rebellious" as far as Saint John's standards. I think my lack of troublemaking for the SJ teachers let me get away with this atrocious hair. (If you want to see other great mullets, you can see AND rate some here)
I did have to meet with one of the Deans of Students (Mr. Robert Moynagh) my very first day at Saint John's. It wasn't because of my hair or any rule breaking. Instead, I had lost the combination for my lock and the Dean had to chop off my lock with a bolt cutter. The funniest part about the whole thing was when my mother came to pick me up. As we drove away, Mr. Moynagh was standing on the sidewalk and saw me in the van. When he waved to me, my mother wondered who he was and how he knew me. I told her that he was the Dean, but had "no idea" how he knew me and thought he was just waving to everyone.
New note: If you are reading this and are a Canadiens fan, I know how you’re feeling. If a Habs captain took out one of my players, I’d be really pissed. But I wouldn’t want to press criminal charges against him. Even though he’s a lot shorter, Gionta plays just as tough as Chara. They are both great leaders, and neither player has ever been suspended. Chara’s hit on Pacioretty was definitely interference, but to think that it was a crime is just ridiculous. I honestly thought Chara would be suspended after I saw it, but I thought Cooke would be suspended after taking out Savard last year too. I’ve played hockey my whole life and gotten into my share of scuffles on the rink. If you’ve played hockey, you know that hurting other players isn’t part of the game and if you do injure someone, you feel horrible about it. If Gionta did the same to a Bruins player and said he didn’t mean it, I’d believe him. I’m hoping you can do the same for Chara. Hating Chara is not going to make Pacioretty heal any more quickly, is it? I wish the best for Pacioretty and his speedy recovery. Let’s not have the best rivalry in hockey get too ugly…
That said, here's why I love Gionta, but will always root against The Habs!
I’ve been rooting for him for over 13 years, but now he’s the captain of the NHL team I root against the most…
Listed at 5’7”, Brian Gionta is the first American-born player to be the sole captain of the Montreal Canadiens (US Native Chris Chelios was co-captain with Guy Carbonneau). However, he wasn’t always on the “Hated Habs”.
Gionta was a major part of the revival of the Boston College hockey program. He made it to the Frozen Four in each of his four years at BC, finally winning an NCAA championship in 2001 – another team he captained (This, by the way, was the first time one of my favorite teams won a championship).
As you can see, like many NHLers and BCers, Gionta started playing when he was young.
I believe this card was a stocking stuffer one year for Christmas, and my parents got it autographed for me after a Bruins-Devils game. I wonder how many people watching “Littler Gionta” play as a North Star thought he would be playing in the NHL someday. In this feature I found on YouTube, Gionta says he used all the naysayers comments as motivation. It seems to have worked out pretty well for him.
Tonight, the Bruins will face the Canadiens and continue one of the biggest rivalries in sports. Although Gionta isn’t the shortest current NHL player (that distinction goes to another former BC Eagle, Nate Gerbe), he will be playing against the tallest NHL player, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara.
And in case there was any question as to where my NHL allegiance falls, you can look at my Canadiens Suck t-shirts from last year's blog here and here - both on sale at Dave's Shirts for Hope!
