Big Picture Saved My Life. Really.
Publishing this story on behalf of John Dubie, a senior in the Big Picture program in Burlington, VT. John is also a stand-up comedian (catch his act in various locales around Vermont) and an organizer for IDEA. This is his autobiography.
For as long as I can remember I was the kid in class who was never expected to succeed. Whatever the opposite of an honors student was, that was me. I was the Dishonor student throughout elementary, middle, and high school.
My earliest memory of this pattern was in second grade. The teacher would go through each assignment we had throughout the quarter (which then consisted of worksheets and word searches) and name the people who hadn’t turned one in in front of the class. I heard my name called for most of the assignments every time. Every time she would look at me like I was doing it to spite her. She was mad at me. Not doing my homework was ME hurting HER; as if my intention was to piss her off by not being able to focus on homework. Worse yet I believed that was true. That not doing homework was mean to the teachers.
I spent my K through eighth grade years at Mater Christi School, a private Catholic school. I’d wake up every
For as long as I can remember I was the kid in class who was never expected to succeed. Whatever the opposite of an honors student was, that was me. I was the Dishonor student throughout elementary, middle, and high school.
My earliest memory of this pattern was in second grade. The teacher would go through each assignment we had throughout the quarter (which then consisted of worksheets and word searches) and name the people who hadn’t turned one in in front of the class. I heard my name called for most of the assignments every time. Every time she would look at me like I was doing it to spite her. She was mad at me. Not doing my homework was ME hurting HER; as if my intention was to piss her off by not being able to focus on homework. Worse yet I believed that was true. That not doing homework was mean to the teachers.
I spent my K through eighth grade years at Mater Christi School, a private Catholic school. I’d wake up every
