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Episode 04: Mean Girls

If you ever went to school – so basically everyone –  you knew a pack of Mean Girls.  Gretchen Wieners, Karen Smith and the ultimate Queen Bee, Regina George, rule the school. They wear pink on Wednesdays and are SO Fetch.  When homeschooled Cady Heron moves from Africa to the Chicago suburbs, she becomes “mainschooled” and becomes entangled with the Plastics – both alluring and repellant all at the same time.  This 2004 film, written by Tina Fey, was an instant classic and now a Broadway Show.

Join Carla and Bill as they talk about this school movie and all the mean-ness that girls can bring.  It’s about status. One day you are on top and the next day you are a social outcast.  It’s girl world and anything can happen.

Listen on Wednesday.  Wear Pink.

You can sit with us!

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Epsiode 03: Remember The Titans

Based (oh, so very loosely) on the real events of the  T.C Williams high school football team in Alexandria, Virginia during 1971 as the school is integrated.  Black and white football players are forced to play together AND get to know each other as human beings.  This is a story about leadership  through change and also about how school is often a place where students experience huge social change.  Denzel Washington stars as the hard-ass Coach Boone.  Ryan Gosling, in his early, awkward days, can’t be missed.  If you ever had a coach who taught you about much more than just “the game” then take a couple of hours to watch this movie (free now on Disney +) and then join us as we talk about it.  Because that is what we do; we talk about movies that talk about schools.

Our guest this month is our friend Issac Vaughn, the Senior VP of business operations at Zenefits, Trustee emeritus at Hillbrook School, and a terrific storyteller.  Issac shares his stories of playing football at Lincoln High School in San Francisco before he became the first (and last) African American QB at Santa Clara University.  You’ll want to hear the full B-sides interview later this month!

Side note: Lots of people talk about the soundtrack of this movie.  You can listen to it here on Spotify. Thank us later.

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Episode 02: Dead Poets Society

If you are a teacher today, there is probably a small part of you that wanted to be as inspiring and passionate as John Keating.  And if you were a student – ever – you probably yearned for a teacher who stood on desks, encouraged you to rip pages out of the text book, and enticed you to read poetry in dark caves.  Join Bill and Carla for a walk through Dead Poets Society as we discuss these and many other questions:

  • Was John Keating responsible for the death of Neil Perry?
  • Was he a “progressive” educator?
  • Is there such a thing as “pedagogical charisma”?
  • How is it that nobody ever smells the cigarette smoke in the dorm rooms?
  • Is standing on desks an essential quality for inspiring teachers?

Not everybody loved this movie, including Roger Ebert who wrote “Dead Poets Society” is a collection of pious platitudes masquerading as a courageous stand in favor of something: doing your own thing, I think.”  You can read his full review of the movie here.  Kevin Dettmar, English Professor at Pomona College, composed an inspired hate letter to the movie in the Atlantic Monthly in 2014 writing, “I’ve never hated a film quite the way I hate Dead Poets Society.”

What do you think about the film?  Take a watch,  then tune in as we discuss the good, bad, ugly and ridiculous of Dead Poets Society in Episode 02!

And. . . be sure to watch the SNL parody, Farewell, Mr. Bunting, if you have an extra few minutes.  Gruesome but hilarious.

If you want to hear the full, unedited interview with Joe Romano, listen below!

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Episode 01: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Welcome to our first official episode! And there was no debate on our pick to kick off  this podcast.

It’s spring in Chicago and Ferris Bueller opens his shades, peers out at a glorious blue sky and asks, “How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?” Thus begins his adventure – a day off of school with his best friend, Cameron, and girl friend, Sloane. The 1985 John Hughes film, which portrays high school as pointless, dull, and filled with adults who are unimaginative buffoons, was an instant cult classic. So join us,  Bill and Carla, as we relive the moments you loved and talk about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Never seen the movie?  (Have you been living in a cave under a rock?) Here is the original trailer.

playbill from Brighton Beach Memoirs

Carla mentions swooning over Matthew Broderick, having seen him perform the previous summer in Brighton Beach Memoirs on Broadway. Here is her signed program that she has save for 35 years.

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Episode 00: Trailer

Greetings, and welcome to Heads Down, Two Thumbs Up, a new podcast. We like to talk about movies that talk about schools, and we bet you do too. Take a listen to our trailer to hear what it’s all about. We’ve picked an iconic school movie to kick off Episode One about one young man’s heroic effort to avoid school on one beautiful spring day in Chicago. We bet you can guess which movie we picked. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer and stay tuned for Our very first episode, coming soon!
Episode 00: Trailer
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