Notes from the Life of a Total Genius (18 page)

From: Von Ipo ([email protected])

To: Arthur Bean ([email protected])

Sent: April 27, 9:58

Hey, Arthur!

Crazy day on Friday, hey? I still say we stick to our guns! My auntie works for the CBC news, and she said that we could meet with her if we wanted to do something for the news. It would basically be the headline news if we want. Can you imagine? Kraleigh would lose it! I bet she doesn’t think we would do it!

Anyway, the gang’s all coming over this aft to rehearse and we can plan what our next move is. You free? We could basically film a whole news piece if we want. We can use one of my video cameras!

Let me know! Cheers!

Von

April 27th

Dear RJ,

I spent all weekend worrying about the Leg Breakers and the grad being cancelled. I told Kennedy that Kraleigh would change her mind over the weekend, but what if she doesn’t? Did I get the whole grad cancelled? I mean, I’m the one who wrote the articles about being censored. And what if everyone else starts to hate me the way Kennedy does? The whole school could turn against me. What if all the Leg Breakers have changed their minds over the weekend, and it’s just me and Von? I’ll have no friends again. And I really like the Leg Breakers gang. I want to hang out with them still!

Yours truly,

Arthur Bean

From: Arthur Bean ([email protected])

To: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])

Sent: April 29, 19:06

Dear Kennedy,

OK, so Kraleigh didn’t change her mind yet, but did you see the Leg Breakers Stand Up! posters that were up today? I didn’t have anything to do with those, but clearly there are other students who think that we are right!

Yours truly,

Arthur Bean

Assignment:
Macbeth
Review

We’ll be attending the matinee of Theatre Calgary’s
Macbeth
on Friday. This is an excellent opportunity to see Shakespeare come alive onstage! I want you to keep notes about what you like and don’t like about the production. Things to keep in mind:

How are the characters the same or different from how you pictured them?

How well does the set work?

What themes are they trying to emphasize in the production? How do you know this?

How do the costumes and lights add to or distract from the play?

How easy is it to know what is happening?

Who is your favourite character in the production? Is he/she different than your favourite character when we read the play?

Due: May 8

From: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])

To: Arthur Bean ([email protected])

Sent: May 1, 18:23

Arthur!

You have to stop your fight against Ms Kraleigh!!! She’s NEVER going to back down! It’s NOT FAIR!! I’ve worked SO HARD on grad and now you and your friends come in and ruin it?! I don’t know what your problem is! They are just little plays! You’ve written THOUSANDS of things, so why do you care about this one so much?!?

Kennedy

From: Arthur Bean ([email protected])

To: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])

Sent: May 1, 20:50

Dear Kennedy,

I wish you could see the bigger picture here! It’s not just me. Maybe you don’t understand the whole story; it’s not just about our plays, it’s a question of free speech! I know you care about this too, otherwise you wouldn’t be on the newspaper. You said that you supported us before. Don’t give up now!

I wish I could help you, but this is too important. I’m basically the president of the Leg Breakers, and I need to stand by them.

Yours truly,

Arthur Bean

From: Kennedy Laurel ([email protected])

To: Arthur Bean ([email protected])

Sent: May 1, 21:32

But Arthur, it’s NOT about your plays anymore! It’s about the fact that you were told not to do something, and you did it anyway!!
That’s
the problem!! I BET that you would have been allowed to do the plays if you guys hadn’t been SO STUPID about doing them in the cafeteria and writing that dumb article!

Kennedy

May 4th

Dear RJ,

Two more people joined our Leg Breakers Stand Up! group today. (That’s what we’re calling ourselves. I thought of it. I think it’s pretty funny.) Akaya and Yolande said that they wanted to be part of it, so Von invited them to our rehearsal. I don’t exactly know how we’re going to get them to be part of it, but I guess we can write more parts into the plays for them. We rehearsed for most of the afternoon, and then after that, Millie and I met Joie and we worked on my Social Studies presentation. I got special permission to have Millie help me do my presentation on the Plains of Abraham even though she’s in the other class. We’re going to re-enact the fight scenes between the French and the English. That way, we can fence in class! It’s going to be awesome. I’m actually getting to be pretty good at fencing. Deeter said that I have a good chance of doing well at the competition in June. That would be awesome. It’s cool, because I think I look pretty badass with all the bruises on my arms and legs. Robbie said that it just looks like I lose a lot because I’m clearly getting stabbed, but I told him that everyone gets hit on the arms and legs, and it’s the shots to the kill zone (chest and back) that count in foil fencing. (It’s not actually called the kill zone, but I like to say that because it annoys Deeter so much!)

Yours truly,

Arthur Bean

May 5th

Dear RJ,

Just giving you a history lesson here. It turns out the Plains of Abraham battle wasn’t fought as much with swords as with cannons. I definitely don’t have a cannon. Maybe we can do something with spitballs?

Also, I think Kennedy really hates me. I tried to talk to her, and she won’t even acknowledge that I exist. I hate that she hates me. I don’t like knowing that there are people who hate me. I want everyone to like me. But mostly, I really want Kennedy to like me.

Yours truly,

Arthur Bean

Hey, Artie,

I’d love it if we could meet today and discuss what you were thinking about posting in your JOGO article this week.

Cheers!
Mr. E.

By Arthur Bean

There are times when we have to choose sides. I think that being in junior high is practice for being adults. From what I know about voting, there’s never a perfect option, but it’s important to choose anyway. (At least, that’s what my friend Anila would say. My dad says that when you vote, you vote for the least terrible person out of a sea of terrible people.)

There will be more times in our lives when we have to choose between two options that aren’t perfect. The way I see it, the best option is to choose what your friends are choosing. This way there won’t be as many arguments, and you’ll still have friends.

The more people that believe in the same thing you do, the easier it is to believe in it yourself. Sure, maybe you’ll go home and wonder if you’ve made the right choice, but the next day you’ll be back with your friends and realize that it’s not so hard if you all stick together.

So, when you choose, choose your friends. But hey, that’s …

Just One Guy’s Opinion.

Hey, Artie,

This article is an interesting choice of subject. It’s vague though; I’m not sure if our readers will fully understand what you’re trying to convey — that you make a choice on principle and stick to it, or you side with the majority. I think we can work on making your point clearer and more focused!

Mr. E.

By Arthur Bean

Theatre Calgary’s version of
Macbeth
was a hot mess that left me cold.

First of all, I hated that they modernized it. Making it all about Canadian politics was a terrible choice. I wanted to see epic sword-fighting scenes and giant, elaborate costumes. Instead, there were suits and cell phones. Adding technology was so stupid! I feel like they were trying to modernize the play so that kids would think it was cool, but instead, I think that adults are the most boring people on earth. Turning portions of the script into text messages on screens beside the stage meant watching the play was more like reading it. And take it from me, watching people text is about as interesting as watching paint dry.

And let’s talk about the set. I hated the high platforms; I couldn’t even see the witches. What a stupid choice to make; even amateur directors know that you shouldn’t put the best parts of a play on parts of the stage that aren’t visible from the crappy seats. Sure, we don’t have a lot of money, but in Shakespeare’s time, they made sure that the poor people could still see the play. Although, maybe the theatre company didn’t have any money? That would explain the boring costumes and lame set that was designed to look like an office building. The only cool part of the whole thing was the glass elevator between the top level and the stage.

If they had no money, it would also explain why the acting was so bad. I was hoping there would be lots of screaming and crying, and there wasn’t. Also, why was Lady Macbeth thirty years younger than Macbeth? It was just plain creepy.

I wish I could say more about the play, but I fell asleep in the second act, and only saw the last fight scene (which I would have done a way better job at, being a fencer and all). If this play had been interesting at all, I’m sure I would have stayed awake. I actually liked reading the play, and I was excited to see it. Now I’m annoyed that they wrecked the whole play for me. I’ll never see it again.

Arthur,

I think you make some valid points here, but I feel you could have given a more thorough description of the production. What did you like about it? Who was your favourite character? How did modernizing the script bring out different aspects than you expected? You didn’t speak to any of the themes of the play, or any of its strengths as a production. Focusing only on the look of the play and the staging of it isn’t a complete picture of the production as a whole.

Ms Whitehead