Parent Night Two: An A+ in Murder

This post is dedicated to my mother

1993: I fondly remember the days when I could come home from school, watch two Episodes of Saved By The Bell and then settle down to read something avant garde. Maybe Killer's Kiss. Or Stepsister 2. Or Who Killed the Homecoming Queen?. The best thing about R.L. Stine books was that it only took you about 45 minutes from beginning to reach the dramatic denouement. I have a pretty good memory, but all I can remember from those books is that once a cheerleader was found dead with an ice skate protruding from her back. My mom even read all of them when she was pregnant with my youngest brother, Baby Troy. I think that may explain a few things, actually...

I thought that people born on the cusp of Generations X and Y were the only ones terrorized by these low lexile level thrillers, so I was quite astonished by what transpired last night at parent/teacher conference. During the conversation with her dad, one of my students asked, "What do I need to do to become a certified translator? It is my dream!" Her English is great, so we were very encouraging and started looking up resources for translators. I imagined her perched above the General Assembly wearing a headset or brokering a peace treaty. As my heart was swelling with pride, she said, "It has always been my dream to translate R.L. Stine's books and bring them to the Turkish people." The nobility of her goal left me speechless.