Balloons and Banjos March 17, 2009
Posted by velorucion in Education, Mortality.1 comment so far
My student B. is sitting next to me, waiting as I check the polynomial she has just factored.
“Oh . . . there’s my neighbor. Her husband just died. But she looks happy,” B. says, looking out the dining room window at a large woman with thinning hair, laughing out loud as she walks down the sidewalk.
“She has three sons. So . . . there is no shortage of men or anything.”
I shoot her a quizzical look, she continues.
“I mean, I know it’s different . . . you know what I mean. I’m just trying to look at the bright side of things. One less mouth to feed.”
Now my quizzical look turns to comical dismay. Sleep-deprived thirteen year olds say the darnedest things.
“Balloons and banjos. And sunflowers. That’s what I want at my funeral,” she says.
Now I smile at her, pass her solution back to her and tear a small piece off a sheet of our scratch paper.
“I’m going to write that down,” I say.
“What? As if you’re going to need that information any time soon?”
“No . . . because I like it and I want to remember it. Balloons . . . and banjos . . .”
“And sunflowers,” she adds, “although it doesn’t fit.”
“Right. It’s not alliterative like the other two. Do you know what alliteration is?”
“Yes.”
“I thought so. And sunflowers.” I finish writing the phrase, fold the paper into fourths and put it in my back pocket.
“Now try sixty-four x squared minus ninety-six x plus thirty-six.”
