Detention & Reading Retention

There were certain teachers at my high school that would not let you sleep in detention if you had to stay after class. Still others who would not let you read a comic book or rock and roll magazine or anything that wasn't assigned for one of your classes. Your head was up, your eyes open, and you were doing homework. One other option they did provide was to pick up trash around the schoolyard. I quickly figured out that I could take a paperback book that I wanted to read, say, the latest Stephen King novel, and just hide behind the building and read for 90 minutes. I would sit in the grass and lean against the building, sometimes even dozing off for a little nap. As the minute hand drew closer to the end of detention, I would walk around the building to the dumpster and fill up my trash bag. Then I would simply walk back into the classroom and show the teacher all the evidence they needed to see to prove that I had been picking up trash for an hour and a half. I would wash my hands, hop on the bus, and read some more on the ride home.

I got decent grades and I was a good kid. But by the time I graduated from high school all my brain power was applied to learning how to play guitar and beating the system, such as it was. I was an avid reader, an artist, photographer, and a pretty good musician too by age 17. But I hated school. Every single day of it.