Rick Smith – Letting Teachers Voices Through the Media Embargo
I met Rick Smith for the first time in person this summer in Washington, D.C.
He had traveled to our nation’s capital to cover the Badass Teachers Association(BATs) Congress of which I was a member. Though I’d seen pictures and videos of him and even been on his daily radio show a handful of times, I was surprised to see him standing there in the lobby. He looked exactly like his pictures.
Often when you meet someone like that in the flesh, you get a glimpse behind the mask at how much the persona differs from the person. For example, when I was a journalist and interviewed Marvin Hamlisch, he was much more the cranky old man than the consummate showman.
But Rick was just… Rick. Faded denim, golf shirt, tousled hair under a ball cap.
He treated me to breakfast in the hotel restaurant and we talked about politics, activism and education. In a way it was like being on his show except there was no audience. Maybe he didn’t speak as loud and didn’t feel the need to explain the background of a subject for listeners at home, no station identification, but other than that it was pretty much the same.
He’s the real deal. What you see – or usually hear – is what you get.
I remember thanking him for trucking all the way from northern Pennsylvania to be Rick Smith – Letting Teachers Voices Through the Media Embargo | gadflyonthewallblog:
