(I guess she thought my skin looked kind of red, which I suppose it does, now that I look at it. I've got a minor case of rosacea, and have for some time now.)
This brought me back to Satellite, when my students used to love to comment on my skin tone. "Yo, Dan, whattsup? Why you so RED??"
"Because that's my skin tone," was my standard answer. Sometimes I'd use it as a "teachable moment" and talk about the rosacea.
"Yeah, but you MAD RED, Dan!" Of course all the attention would then make me turn even redder.
I learned early on not to take these moments personally. And what am I going to say, really? "Stop looking at me."? These poor children had to look at me six hours out of their day.
I can remember some teachers getting really upset by the direct nature of the way our students addressed our appearances. One of the talk shows that were wildly popular with our students at that time -- Springer, maybe -- had a recurring spot that allowed kids to bring in their teachers for a makeover. My students were wild about the notion of a makeover.
When they asked me whether I'd be willing to go on the show, if they could convince the show to have me, I said, "Sure, why not?"
I never heard anything about it, so I assume they never got the call to bring their teacher in. I know, I know, it would have made a better story had I been on the show. The way I prefer to think of it is that they sent in a photo and the producers decided I was too pretty to be a "before" picture. (The photo below, notwithstanding. My wife STILL gives me hell about that shirt...)
Anyway, I'd like to officially thank Liz for her concern about my skin, and I'd also like to thank all my former students about never being too shy to speak their minds. I love and miss them all. (Well, almost all...) ; o )
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