Day 6: 10, 247 Words in Which A Plot Is Trying and Failing to Emerge

I started my writing sesh by creating a couple of very cryptic text exchanges: 

Between Cass and Principal Iesha:

Between Berto and Cody Simpson:

I started Chapter 3 today, and it's called "The Substitute." Here is an excerpt:

The hallway was abuzz with the news that there was a new substitute teacher at Barnaby Secondary School. Chad from Legal had apparently raised the alarm that given all of the layoffs, the teacher to student ratio had fallen below what was legally required by the province, and rather than hire the additional teachers required, Chuck from HR had made the questionable decision to hire one substitute teacher who would be a permanent member of staff, though paid far less than permanent teachers, and without any job security (we all win when we’re terrified of losing our jobs!) Dr. Gordon Toodie, they were assured, possessed the requisite qualifications to teach any subject, any time, any where. They were also informed that the administration had decided to add two new administrative positions- the Director of Experimental Foucauldery and a full-time Compliance Monitor. All staff were encouraged to apply but were reminded that they were unlikely to possess the minimum requirement of 15 years of experience in a similar role. How all of this was addressing the apparent “existential crisis in funding” was a mystery to everyone except for perhaps Brad from Finance, the newest member of the Wifi Coordination and Contemplation Committee for Quality Education, and apparently a real whiz with Bitcoin. Staff were encouraged to hand over their life savings for a once in a lifetime opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something really major.

Where is Principal Sanders, you might be wondering? Well, no answers here as I wasted most of my words discussing the swaps that the teachers made of their Foucauldian Discourse Analysis aids. 

Logan’s idea to start swapping items in their Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Aid kits had stirred something among the faculty that Cass had feared was dead: hope. It had started with the simple swap of Cass’s red whistle for Logan’s burned mixed cd (labeled “Summer Jams 2002”). During her mandatory supervision of the new mandatory rotating Saturday detentions, she left the students unattended while she explored the sub-basement of Barnaby High. There she discovered a dusty but still functional cd player. Assuming that the cd was a duplicate copy of the Official Summer Jams 2002 cd (the much loved soundtrack of summer), she had already excitedly created a lesson plan based on the lyrics to summer bops like Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind, and The Impression That I Got by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. When Cass discovered that rather than a beloved throwback to the early aughts, thought by many to be the golden age of pop music, the cd was filled with tracks by only two artists: Creed and Nickelback. It was a crushing disappointment, at first, but then the mix-up gave her an idea… she could keep trading! She could keep trading, and she could bring in her fellow teachers.

She approached the Religious Studies teacher, Parm Pettipiece, and asked if she wanted to use the cd as an example of early twenty-first century Christian Pop in her Gr 12 Comparative Religions course. Parm was all too delighted to offload a VHS tape of the Land Before Time IV. Cass got Berto to commandeer the abandoned VHS player from the sub-basement during their turn on Saturday detention supervision and she had the best class of the year so far watching the beloved classic with her English Lit class. And on it went, Ben Jones trading a dead Tamagotchi to Carmela Luongo in exchange for a rare unopened pack of Gushers. Carmela got the students in her Grade 10 Family Studies class to revive and take care of the electronic pet, and Ben got his grade 10 Chemistry students to analyze the chemical properties of the long-expired Gushers. It wasn’t much, but the small seed of resistance was growing. It felt good to break the rules. It felt good to work together again. And, despite Cass’s denial in response to Berto’s gentle ribbing, something was awakening in her heart along with her burgeoning friendship with Logan “Bam Bam” Brewster.

Also, one final little excerpt- just to shout out Windigo Esmort: 

Cass and Berto were there, engaged in a hushed but tense conversation about the potential whereabouts of the former Principal of Barnaby High, Iesha Sanders; also, Berto would not stop showing Cass the “143” text from Cody Simpson, which they had made the background of their phone and somehow had already turned into a t-shirt, despite having only received the text hours before, and despite the fact that they no longer had access to the expertise of Windigo Esmort, who could turn anything into a t-shirt, and could instantly turn any t-shirt into performance art.