MONDAY, MARCH 28, 2011
FEATURES
James Mallinson Substitute teacher
The SPOKE: Why do you like to wear bow ties? J.M.: When I was in banking, we were expected to wear standard four-in-hand ties, so I couldn’t wear bow ties except on weekends. Now that I teach, I can do as I please. TS: How did you start singing to your classes? JM: One time a teacher suddenly got sick and I was called in at the last minute. It was a French teacher, and the teacher hadn’t left any plans. I
Favorites:
remembered a song that I had been taught in third semester French, “La Bergère”—the one Books: “Th F. Scott Fitzg is Side of Paradise” by people usually call “The Cat er thing by P.G ald and nearly everySong”—and I tried to teach it . Wodehouse . to them, and that filled up the period. It wasn’t long before Movie: “Th David Niven e Silken Affair” with I was asked to sing. That was . in ’96, and now every class hears about it. Food: I tend more than se to like sandwiches riou serts of cours s food—and desTS: Describe yourself in one e. word. JM: Absent-minded.
TS: If you could have dinner with any three people, living or dead, who would you choose and why? JM: The Queen, the late Queen Mother and the late Sir Winston Churchill. I’ve always admired the royal family and Churchill was always a hero. TS: What do you like to do in your spare time? JM: I’m active in a lot of organizations— veterans, military and patriotic organizations. I play bridge and go target shooting. I just started archery again. I haven’t shot bow and arrow since I was a kid, and I thought it would be fun to get started again.
Karolis Panavas photos/The SPOKE
Substitute teacher James Mallinson fills in for Scott Holland. Mallison has been substitute teaching in T/E for 15 years, and has taught almost exclusively at ’Stoga for the last 13 years.
PAGE 17 THE SPOKE
TS: Can you tell me more about bridge? JM: I started again a couple years ago. It’s a great social game—lots of fun. I don’t play for money or championship points or I’d lose my shirt. It’s just a lot of fun to get together with people and play. TS: Can you tell me about your time in the military?
T much TV V: I don’t watch other th I like the British co an the news. medies b don’t hav ut e more. “M them on Channel they 1 asterpiec e Theatre 2 anygood thin ” often h gs. as Quote: English te I had an eighth gra ac de one of he her who used to q r teachers uote :“ you spea k at all. C Speak clearly if before yo arve every letter u let it fa ll.” JM: I spent two years active, and the rest of my life practically in the reserves and National Guard. Before you ask, I never saw combat, and just had a good time basically. I spent six months in Virginia, seven months in the Panama Canal Zone, where I improved my Spanish, and 11 months in Philadelphia, living at home and commuting to work. TS: What’s your biggest pet peeve? JM: People who drive slowly in the left lane.
Page design by Brooke Weil. Interview by Mary Turocy.
Go online to
.com
stoganews for a video of Mallinsons’s songs