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Authors: Jennifer Close
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school, teaching classes in sociology and in cultural anthropology. His most popular class was Society and the Cyberworld, which looked at the way culture changed because of technology. He used the name change of the college as his first example, pretending to be a prospective student as he searched the Internet, then faking his surprise at what he found. He always made the kids laugh, as he covered his eyes and shook his head at the results. His students loved him, found him entertaining and engaging. Theybegged to get into his classes, even after they were already full. He was almost a campus celebrity.
Will had written a book in the late eighties called Video Kids , which had become something of a phenomenon. It was a look at the effect that television and video games had on children. He hit something in the culture at that moment, and his book had become a best seller. He’d appeared on talk shows, and was still invited to sit on panels and give speeches.
It had been somewhat of an amazing time when the book came out. They’d been plugging along just fine, and then all of a sudden Will was a celebrity. He’d gotten a two-book deal with the publisher, and the movie rights to the book were snatched up. The good news just kept coming, and Will’s job as a professor turned into something much more profitable.
Of course, the next two books that he’d written, Video Adults and The Anger We Teach , hadn’t done nearly as well. The movie rights were still being optioned by the production company, but at this point there was almost no hope of those books’ ever being made into anything. Will was at work on his fourth book, which he was reluctant to talk about at all. Weezy understood that. She knew he’d been shaken after the mild reception of his two follow-up books. She reminded him that since he started out so high, anything would seem like a letdown. And Video Kids was still used as a textbook for college classes all over the country, which made for some nice royalties. But Will had seen his requests for speaking engagements and panels diminish in the past few years, and Weezy knew that he was anxious for another success.
Will had even cut back on his classes this year, and now was home three full days during the week, which took some getting used to. He was teaching three different sections of Society and the Cyberworld, but he could do the class in his sleep and he had teaching assistants, so it wasn’t a big time commitment.
It was amazing to Weezy that Will could spend days locked away, studying how other people lived their lives and what it meant for them, and how the culture influenced choices, and vice versa, but she could barely get him to talk about his children for more than five minutes.His attitude was that they were grown, that he and Weezy had done their job and now it was up to the children to choose their own paths. It drove Weezy up the wall.
“What do you want me to say?” Will would ask sometimes, when she went on about Claire’s calling off the engagement.
“I want you to have an opinion,” Weezy said. “I want to know what you think.”
“I think Claire’s a smart girl. I think if she thinks it was the right decision, then it was.” And that was all he offered. Claire’s a smart girl . Like she was just a distant relative he didn’t know that well, instead of their own daughter. They’d always assumed Claire would be fine. She was the most independent one, the one who was ready to live on her own by age five. But then, last year, Claire’s plans had all fallen apart, and Weezy felt like they’d failed her, like they hadn’t been paying enough attention. Will still believed she’d work it out.
Weezy wanted to shake him until he got some sense. “These are our children,” she wanted to say. “Our flesh and blood, the people we made, and you really don’t care what they do with their lives?”
WHY DID EVERYONE ACT LIKE it was so wrong of her to want her children to be
Will had written a book in the late eighties called Video Kids , which had become something of a phenomenon. It was a look at the effect that television and video games had on children. He hit something in the culture at that moment, and his book had become a best seller. He’d appeared on talk shows, and was still invited to sit on panels and give speeches.
It had been somewhat of an amazing time when the book came out. They’d been plugging along just fine, and then all of a sudden Will was a celebrity. He’d gotten a two-book deal with the publisher, and the movie rights to the book were snatched up. The good news just kept coming, and Will’s job as a professor turned into something much more profitable.
Of course, the next two books that he’d written, Video Adults and The Anger We Teach , hadn’t done nearly as well. The movie rights were still being optioned by the production company, but at this point there was almost no hope of those books’ ever being made into anything. Will was at work on his fourth book, which he was reluctant to talk about at all. Weezy understood that. She knew he’d been shaken after the mild reception of his two follow-up books. She reminded him that since he started out so high, anything would seem like a letdown. And Video Kids was still used as a textbook for college classes all over the country, which made for some nice royalties. But Will had seen his requests for speaking engagements and panels diminish in the past few years, and Weezy knew that he was anxious for another success.
Will had even cut back on his classes this year, and now was home three full days during the week, which took some getting used to. He was teaching three different sections of Society and the Cyberworld, but he could do the class in his sleep and he had teaching assistants, so it wasn’t a big time commitment.
It was amazing to Weezy that Will could spend days locked away, studying how other people lived their lives and what it meant for them, and how the culture influenced choices, and vice versa, but she could barely get him to talk about his children for more than five minutes.His attitude was that they were grown, that he and Weezy had done their job and now it was up to the children to choose their own paths. It drove Weezy up the wall.
“What do you want me to say?” Will would ask sometimes, when she went on about Claire’s calling off the engagement.
“I want you to have an opinion,” Weezy said. “I want to know what you think.”
“I think Claire’s a smart girl. I think if she thinks it was the right decision, then it was.” And that was all he offered. Claire’s a smart girl . Like she was just a distant relative he didn’t know that well, instead of their own daughter. They’d always assumed Claire would be fine. She was the most independent one, the one who was ready to live on her own by age five. But then, last year, Claire’s plans had all fallen apart, and Weezy felt like they’d failed her, like they hadn’t been paying enough attention. Will still believed she’d work it out.
Weezy wanted to shake him until he got some sense. “These are our children,” she wanted to say. “Our flesh and blood, the people we made, and you really don’t care what they do with their lives?”
WHY DID EVERYONE ACT LIKE it was so wrong of her to want her children to be
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