1576: Be Cruel to be Kind

[scotticus]

The slaughter house thing reminded me of a field trip I went on in 7th grade to visit a local medical school. The tour involved a lecture, a trip to the gross anatomy room, and concluded in the cadaver room where med students learn anatomy by dissection.

It was the first time I had ever seen a dead body and it made quite an impression... it seemed like there were hundreds of them, all cut open and some were being actively worked on. The med students there were super cool and gave us literal hands-on lessons in anatomy. Kids were touching hearts and kidneys and tugging on forearm tendons to make fingers move.

One (sloppy) med student I talked to was pulling all of this yellow spongy fat out of this guy's leg so he could examine the underlying muscles and it got all over the floor. I didn't realize until I got back to school that I had stepped in some of this dude's leg fat and found myself scraping it off of the bottom of my sneaker during a math exam with my pencil. Very gross, and the type of thing that would make the news today had I been one of those pussies that tells their mom everything. Don't get me wrong... I was a pussy. Just not that kind of pussy.

Anyway, the teacher only took the top 20-30% of his class and made no mention of the cadaver room on the permission slip. As far as I could tell, everyone loved it except for one kid who had a hard time with the smell of whatever preservative they used to keep the bodies from decaying. Personally, I learned a ton... it was probably one of the more meaningful experiences I had during my education and it's one that I obviously haven't forgotten almost 20 years later.

I don't know if the teacher ever got in trouble for taking us there, but I really hope he didn't. I think he was pretty wise in choosing people who he thought could handle it and who were mature enough (for 7th graders, anyway) to experience seeing dead people cut wide open. I imagine it wouldn't have gone so well if he had just brought everyone.

I like to think that experiencing something that intense at such a young age didn't affect me in a negative way, although I'm sure there are plenty of folks around here who would disagree, so who knows.

[dannyhatch]

Originally Posted by Boozerz

Anyone have a link to Micah's youtube channel? his website only links to some really old stuff and the facebook link on it is broken.

professionaldork - YouTube

[Edward's Screen Name]

Good show! I only wish it was longer!

I love Michael Sherman, he's one of my favorite KATG guests, along with Ben Luhrman, Jonef O'Donnell and Mike Lawrence, among others!

[Jessica332]

The slaughter house thing was so wrong for the kids but so funny to me. I made everyone listen to it at work today making sure they knew this was my favorite podcast Keith and The Girl. They all laughed and loved it. I will convert them to be fans if it is the last thing I do.

[fluxquanta]

I listen to the podcast at work with one earbud in on the right side. Today I was listening to the slaughterhouse bit while some guy on my left was trying to tell some joke/funny story. I busted out laughing at the "find your buddy" part and he thought I was laughing at him. I don't give laughs out lightly.

[Enunciated Piffle]

Michael Sherman brings the funny. Top notch KatG guest.

[alannanana]

I've listened to this episode three times, beginning to end. I always lose it at "STAMPS DOT COM ITS A GOOD WEBSITE!"

EDIT: I was raised in a zero tolerance household when it came to drinking. There certainly is a stigma when it comes to the appeal of underage drinking. For me, I drank to lower my inhibitions and to feel more comfortable in my own skin. When I got to college, I was still fairly new to drinking. Not only did I drink to get obscenely drunk, but I thought blacking out was the norm. Within the span of six months, I completely blacked out at least ten times. On one occasion I woke up completely naked in my own bed with no idea when and how that happened. Another morning as I was walking downstairs after a night of partying, I found my underwear on the stairwell (of course not knowing how it got there.) Looking back, I'm completely horrified by how unfazed I was at the time by that. Then I got my ass arrested for being drunk in public and blew a .22. I left school early in the spring semester of my freshmen year.

I've been sober for over a year now. For eight months, I've lived in a residential treatment center for young adults with substance abuse and emotional disabilities. There was one kid here who got kicked out for drinking hand sanitizer. Others have resorted to stealing wine, drinking mouthwash, or smoking spice (which evidently doesnt show up on urine screens.) More recently, my friend went completely crazy after snorting bath salts and subsequently running away and trying to steal a car. What all of us share in common is that up until recently, we were "normal" college students who mistook overindulgence and addiction for ain't nothin' but a good time.

In the past year I've managed to move into my first apartment, go to school, work part time, and adopt a cat. Staying sober was a necessity for getting my shit together. At 20, I'm reluctant to call myself an addict or alcoholic. With my 21st birthday right around the corner, I've decided to revisit the possibility of drinking given my stability, awareness, and sense of maturity but until then I have no problem staying sober.

[DWarrior]

You managed to get into rehab and be sober a year by 20? That's pretty impressive.

[lizsquiz]

Originally Posted by darlingnikki

I've fucked plenty of guys and only a handful of them were nice... And even then it wasnt my day.

Fuuuuuuuuuck you, welcome to the forums.

[sarahbb]

I have been a teacher in the past, and think it's kind of ridiculous that this teacher is being fired! I mean, he was actually trying to make a "teachable" moment, something that teacher's are always told to do, to have it more hands on.
I can't imagine taking kids without permission of course, but I don't know of any school that would allow a teacher to take kids anywhere without all the authorization filled out prior. So maybe it's different wherever this took place, I don't know.
But teachers really should be able to do more hands on things, perhaps fifth grade is a little too young for a slaughter house, I don't know, but it's possible that now there will be twenty more vegetarians in the world?