Daniel Ferrante

I got up early today to go running. I’ve been running semi-regularly since arriving in France and the recent cold weather makes running difficult with my lungs - but the cool weather also makes it easier for me to go longer distances before giving in to exhaustion. Generally when I went running in the U.S., I had a former marine chasing after me, telling me that I’m worthless scum. But here in Dijon, there’s nothing to motivate me other than a desire to lose weight and stay in shape.

It was snowing today when I went running. Small flakes that seemed to melt into the air before touching ground; yet flicks of ice and tiny flakes clung to me. I ran maybe half a mile before returning home where I took a long shave and a shower, packed up my stuff and headed to class.

The Number Five dropped me off downtown where I caught the Number Two to class.

I sat down at the computer, plugged my USB drive in and started printing my lesson plan (did you know that the French phrase for “roller coaster” is “montages russes” - which means “Russian Mountains” - those pinko commie frogs.)

But it wouldn’t print. It kept telling me that it couldn’t find the printer and to contact my network admin. Quoi?

Turns out that the network here can detect external drives being plugged in. Once I plugged in the drive, the security protocol kicked in and shut down the entire system!

Yes, I used to work at Apple and no, I never really bothered to learn much about Windows.

I brought most of the school to a screeching halt - during the grading and grade entry period of the term.

Ironically enough, this doesn’t happen with CDs or diskettes, just external drives. So, this isn’t too secure - in my opinion. And having thought ahead, I had my lesson on CD, so all was not lost.

Today’s lesson was on Johnny Cash’s “Man in Black“. Some of my students got excited, thinking we were going to study Wil Smith.

I was uncertain about how this lesson would go over. I’m admittedly a difficult teacher and I push my students to move beyond textbook conversations and discuss things that matter - like religious freedom, democracy and poverty.

Discussing the life of a former drug addict who began working in the fields at age 5 then talking about the meaning of his music is not easy. It was made more difficult when we read about the fact that he watched his brother be cut in half by a table saw.

We talked about his addiction, his life struggles and how his life would have affected what he wrote. Then we listened to “Man in Black” three times. While listening, the students had to take his lyrics, which were cut into lines and arrange them in order.

On the third time through, I was staring out the window watching the snow fall outside. Thick white flakes sticking and clumping to the trees and blanketing the ground. I heard some murmuring, turned around and saw my students singing along, tapping their feet and actually enjoying Johnny Cash.

The discussion went well, and I found myself getting more passionate about his message than I had anticipated. I would play Devil’s Advocate and encourage the students to question why they agreed or disagreed with what Cash had to say.

The bell rang, the students filed out. I grabbed my effects and walked towards the teacher’s room.

As I crossed the quad, the snow fell harder covering my black clothing with a fine dusty white coat.