The Cadi Corner: Hi, my name is...

You know what’s awesome about having new people around?

Everything.

We have 11 new staff members at The Pole this year. Eleven! And that’s not even counting our new groundskeeper, Fred. Meeting new people is so great. They will laugh at all your jokes and they can’t make fun of you for all the the dumb things you’ve done in the past (like the time your mom spelled your name wrong). It’s a clean slate. It’s just like the first day of school minus the cheerleading uniform.

You know what’s not awesome about having new people around?

The learning curve.

For me, not them. For instance, you could say to a new person,

“Hey, can you put this baby A in the corral please?”

and all they heard was

“Hey, blah di blah di blah di toodley poodley what now please?”

I keep forgetting that you don’t just show up here knowing how everything works. Your welcome bag does not include the extensive list of Totem Pole traditions. Maybe it should, then I wouldn’t have to be the one explaining things. I’m not very good at it. That’s why I could never be a teacher. I just assume that everyone knows everything already. I’d show up to teach a kindergarten class and say,

“Ok, so you know how when you add 2 + 2 you get 4?”

And they’d look up from their graham crackers and apple juice long enough to say,

“Math? I don’t even know how to spell my name.”

And speaking of names, I have a horrible time remembering them. I think most people do. There are a few people I know that are impeccable about it, Carl Schurr among them. I mostly remember people by their hair color and one random attribute, like “brunette who smells like peaches”.

Tonight we are trying to amend the absence of knowing. We are having the annual staff viewing of This is My Father. It is the documentary that John Putch made about his father Bill. It explains so much about how special this place is and how much it has meant to so many people. Plus you get to see Pablo chain smoking in a zebra print oxford. The coolest thing about this year’s viewing is that John himself is here to watch it with us.

Meanwhile...try to catch Sisters of Swing before its gone! Tickets are selling like hotcakes and you only have till Sunday. If you do miss it, never fear! Neil Simon’s 45 Seconds from Broadway directed by the aforementioned John Putch opens on Tuesday! Lordy be we are flying right along, don’t miss out on all the fun!