Please don’t let this out, but I occasionally will have a tart word, or two, for a student of mine. These thoughts are shared in confidence and in passing, over a beer with friends, and with no malice intended, of course. Student X misses six of 16 classes and can’t understand why an “A” isn’t coming. Student Y no-shows the final exam. Student Z spends the entire class period updating status reports. Ayie. There are the ones that cause the conversations.
The ones who simply work, though, sometimes don’t get a nod. In public, or private. Prior to his collegiate graduation last weekend, I had Tyler DePerro in Intro to Media Writing, Intro to Mass Communications and, lastly, an independent study that yielded the first batch of South Side of Luck videos in the summer of 2011. His latest film project, “Spectacles,” thanks me in the bad-ass credit sequence. That’s perhaps a karmic “thanks” as I remember goofing around as he asked me to look over his “Spectacles” script drafts and then I declined to portray a zombie in the film, basically as it was slated for a six-hour shoot on a Saturday. Not very supportive, that.
On the flipside, I do remember sitting with him at O’Connell’s one afternoon, as he and I discussed our independent study options. George Malich came in and I introduced them. George wound up starring in another short film of Tyler’s and they created a 48 Hour Film together. Through the latter, Tyler met Pete Kruchowski and Greer Geczy, who both appear in “Spectacles.” Maybe there is some good karma in this lousy world.
So do Tyler, myself and maybe yourself a favor. Keep the goodwill rolling. Watch “Spectacles.” And don’t forget to keep watching beyond “The End.” Sometimes, that’s where the good stuff happens.