Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Thank you letters from Portland, TX 6th graders

On 5/7/15, I had the pleasure of speaking for the third year in a row at Gregory-Portland Intermediate School in Portland, TX. My kind host Cati Partridge made sure the visit was as lovely as the previous two years, and the kids again showed the kind of manners that never go out of style by writing me thank you notes.

Favorite passages:

  • “You’ll be famous, but not in the way Bob Kane was.”
  • “If you write back to me, I’ll tell my grandma she doesn’t have to get me a PS3 for my birthday this year! I’ll just frame up the letter and hang it on my wall!”
  • “I wasn’t expecting that Bob Kane would take all the credit for Batman. I so totally would have gone all Joker on him.”
  • “You shine like Batman in front of the moon.”
  • “I think about Bill Finger and how he never got the fame or recognition that he so deserved so I think that the fact that you’re informing people all over the U.S. is a big thing.”
  • “You looked like an ordinary guy, but when you talked about all your discoveries, I was wondering how you have not sold a trillion copies of Boys of Steel!”
  • “I’m now and forever in your army!”
  • “May your army unite!”
  • “You changed how I think about writing.”
  • “I went home and told my parents all about it. They loved the story.”
  • “I saw a connection between the creators and Batman and Superman. Joe and Jerry were like they were from a far-off planet, like Superman. Bill was living in secret, like Batman.”
  • “If Superman is the ‘Man of Steel,’ and human bones are five times stronger than steel, does that mean I’m five times stronger than Superman?”
  • “I told my family, Batman fans, about what I learned and they were amazed that I knew this. I credited you, of course.”
  • “Soon you can come to my house and my dad will smoke up some deer sausage.”

Note: Some students referenced an army because near the conclusion of my presentation, I say some variation on this: “You’re in my army now because you now know the truth about Bill Finger. The ability to tell the truth is the closest we mere mortals come to having a superpower. The truth can change history.”

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