Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1004948
Ms. Archer and I shared desk space for three years. Both of us are enthusiastic collectors, scavengers, and recyclers—Ms. Damas once referred to our desks as Grey Gardens—so miscellany abounds. And since my move to the terrace windows, the "Arch-desk" (now 150 percent less cluttered!) has become a curated space for thoughtful engagement with the world. Where to look first? The softly lit kaleidoscope of color and pattern delights the viewer, who ought to take some time here. 1. Hamlet Entranced, perhaps, you find Hamlet abutting a stack of poetry books. Ms. Archer explains: "I keep Hamlet at my desk to remind me of two lines: Ophelia's 'I do not know…what I should think,' which still crushes me, and Hamlet's western Zen: '…the readiness is all.'" 2. Laptop atop a dictionary and thesaurus. "Think about it," Ms. Archer says. "The printing press, the dictionary, the computer: for education, for communication, each absolutely changed the game!" 3. Michelle Obama "She's Michelle Obama. We need to keep her in our field of vision." And she's placed on the wall opposite MLK's "I Have a Dream" poster, and says of this juxtaposition, "There's such hope between these two images and the students who pass between them." 4. The Plastic Menagerie Tennessee Williams would appreciate these malleable desktop prehistorica. In the panhandle days, I'd return to the desk mid-period to find a pterodactyl sipping my cold brew, or a stegosaurus trapped in the stapler. 5. News Rack Creative reuse is central to this desk. This relic was found on 72nd and Broadway, and went to Trevor via the M96 crosstown. Unused straws adorn its clips. What was once displayed here, in newsstands' glory days? 6. All-time Great Student Quote Among many Post-its worth noting, Carl S.'s 8th-grade revelation is a treasure: "I'm just so glad the public library exists." This remains posted because it was an interdisciplinary moment when we both realized, "We're doing our job as teachers." 7. Mason Jar of Iced Tea Bodega BZA incorporated in the first warm weeks of spring 2014 at the new East Campus. I'd bring the cold brew. Ms. Archer would brew a jumbo portion of tea, steeping the leaves for four or 400 minutes. To determine who went to the second floor to fill the Igloo, we'd play rock-paper-scissors. Sometimes I won, but I always got the ice. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Amy Archer m Grade 8 English Teacher and Advisor as interpreted by David Zheutlin m Grade 8 History Teacher and 8th-Grade Dean