day in the pants

a day in her pants: the posh deluxe interview with rebecca schmitt root

mike myers: this poem sucks <– from “so i married an axe murder.” you have no idea how many times becky and i performed this poem.

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for today’s interview, i am happy to present another illustrious pigbutt: rebecca schmitt root.

that’s becky on her wedding day (duh). doesn’t she look fabulous?!!!

i’ve known becky since the seventh grade (errr, right?), when talena introduced her to our circle of friends. back then, she was kinda quiet, even shy, but i liked her immediately. for one, she was super artistic, and i’ve always admired artistic people. becky was like my own claudia kishi. once, she made a paper maché combination of a pig and frog known as “prog,” and it’s still one of my favorite pieces of art of all time. two, she struck me, from the get-go, as a person with a strong sense of loyalty, which i have to say is not exactly a common trait in the treacherous hallways of middle school.

i always loved going over to becky’s house… her parents, like mine, were incredibly friendly and welcoming, and her family, compared to my only child status, was HUGE! there were five kids total, which meant there was always something going on (usually loud) at the schmitt house. the constant activity and, well, chaos made it easy for me and the rest of the pigbutts to feel like we were a part of the family.

in high school, becky was involved with art, talena with choir (well, she later switched to theater) and i was involved with theater, but our friendship never wavered. we spent hours watching “the mickey mouse club,” together and rewinding all of the parts where JC or tony looked particularly hot. becky and i had a penchant for quoting our favorite movies– i particularly recall watching “clerks” and “so i married an axe murderer” over and over and WRITING DOWN certain lines so we could memorize them.

becky is famous in the pitre household for claiming a certain green chair in the living room. to this day, it is still known to as “becky’s chair,” and i’m pretty sure my parents have legally willed it to her.

our sophomore year in college, i visited becky in boston, where she was attending boston university. i have extremely vivid memories of that trip, not just because it was awesome (my first time to boston), but also because i was just so *impressed* with becky’s independence. she was the closest thing to felicity for me, a girl who had moved across the country (although not for a boy) and was making a life for herself in a big city. i’ve never forgotten the strength and determination i saw in her… esp. because it’s still there, forming her into a fantastic art teacher and amazing aunt/mother.

two year ago, i was honored when she asked me to officiate her wedding (i got ordained online, holla!). i can’t express how wonderful and AMAZING it feels to be a part of joining one of yr dearest friends with a man who deserves her. plus, i’m pretty sure the mickey mouse club and “newsies” have never been mentioned together in a wedding speech before.

becky and her kickass husband, raymond, at the cy-creek reunion.

so becky, let’s start off with yr career as an art teacher. what’s it like to teach art to middle schoolers? what are the best and worst parts?

This is the WORST time of year to ask me that question, because right now, teaching middle schoolers sucks since neither them nor myself want to be there.  I’m going to forget that I had a student rip off part of the table today, and the 3 students that got written up for hitting one another, and focus on the good ones…  I love teaching art because I get to see my art students grow up through their 3 years in middle school.  Since I have my fantastic students that stick with me more than one year, I really get to know them and they get to know me, so by the end of 8^th grade they know that whenever they need help in high school they can contact me.  I’m super excited about my group of 6^th graders this year since they are talented, bright, helpful and all around fabulous.  It means that the next two years will be great.  The worst part about middle school students is the attitude and sense of entitlement.  For example, I have one student who says that I never help him.  It is not that I never help him, I just won’t do his work for him.  This coincides with the worst part of teaching art in middle school, the idea by the students and public that the fine arts, not just art, are not “important.”  This is compounded by the fact that students do not need to make a passing grade in their elective course in middle school to be promoted and the high emphasis placed on TAKS testing.  I am extremely lucky that I have a great principal that supports me and gives me technology to work with and money to purchase supplies.  Not all art teachers, not even all of the art teachers in my district, have it so good.  Here is a shameless plug for my website for school.  The sixth graders animations are online right now and they are fun to watch.

why do you think it’s important to teach art in school?

I personally feel that it is important since the first language we really learn is a visual one.  We start with picture books before we ever read books with words.  Unfortunately our society concentrates much more on verbal literacy that visual literacy.  I feel that I could communicate with anyone who did not speak English because I can draw to get my point across.  This is why I have often had students in my room who have just arrived from other countries and do not speak a lick of English, but speak Spanish, Chinese or Russian.  The second reason art in schools is important is because the students do not realize how much art is around them every day.  If I’m not pointing it out to them they never think twice about who designed the background on MySpace or the T-Shirt they are wearing.

do you still make time to create yr own art? what sorts of pieces are you working on?

We just talked about this at our last district art teachers meeting since we all felt it was hard to find time during the school year for your personal art.  During the school year I focus more on photography since it is a little faster and more instant gratification.  Every once in a while I will get my classes working so well that I have some time where I can work on projects with them, but that really has not been the case this year since my classes are 26-28 students.  During the summer I try to stick with my school year hours for as long as possible and wake up at 6 each morning to work on oil paintings in the garage before it gets too hot outside.  Last summer I was really fascinated by clouds and I painted lots of skies… I’m not really sure where this summer is going to take me yet.  I’m going to be teaching some summer camps in watercolors, digital photography and bookbinding, so I am sure I will at least be working in those mediums!

one of becky’s pieces, entitled “new mexico highway”

how/when did yr passion for art begin? how did you (and/or yr parents) cultivate it?

I have always loved art.  I can’t remember when it started, but when we lived up in Colorado they had a great parks and recreation department so I can remember getting to take art classes through there.  I also took part in some sort of “pull out” type program in 4^th grade where I got to leave my regular class and go do extra art class during school.  My elementary school was great.  They had a darkroom, so the first time I developed and printed film was in 5^th grade.  Ever since then, I’ve just always been a really crafty type person.  I truly did not learn to draw, in my opinion, until college.

while most of us stayed in texas after high school graduation, you moved to boston to attend BU. why did you make that decision?

I knew that I wanted to study art education, and so I looked for schools that had a program.  I knew that I did not want to attend UT or A&M since I did not want to go someplace where it would feel like high school again.  My thoughts were confirmed when I went to help Talena move in at UT and Se was across the hall, and someone else I knew was down the hall, and someone else I knew was one floor down.  I felt I would have had all the same friends and not had the opportunity to meet new people.  I never went to BU before I decided to go there and I had never even been to the East coast.  I went to their college program at a hotel in the galleria area, I knew they had art education, and they gave me the best deal financial aid wise out of all of the private universities I applied to.  It had the possibility to be a bad decision, but it ended up being an excellent decision (and I remind myself of that every month when I pay the loans).

talena and becky, looking gorgeous at our prom dinner (in a restaurant that later became mark’s).

how did yr college experience, esp. being so far away from home, shape and influence you? what sort of things did you learn about yrself?

It really made me to grow up fast and become very independent.  I was so homesick that first semester, but after Christmas break I realized that I really had become an adult.  So that was the big life lesson I learned at college: how to take care of myself.  I was on my own, and while I could call for advice, ultimately I had to make all of my decisions for myself.  I also had to support myself, and with the exception of a few plane tickets here and there, my parents did not pay for my school, which really forced me to be responsible.  Art supplies are expensive! 

tell me about yr favorite places in boston!

First, I love Dunkin” Donuts coffee so it is great that you can find them all over the place.  Finale is the best dessert place ever, which is why on my 21^st birthday I went there with one of my friends and we spent way too much money on desserts.  Newberry St is awesome for people watching and shopping, plus some of my favorite stores are available in Boston but not here in Houston like Paper Source and H&M.

shifting gears again, i know you and raymond spend a lot of time taking care of mason, your sister’s son. how has his presence affected your life?

Well, since we have him stay with us almost every weekend, we have quickly learned what it is like to be a parent and have to tell our friends “no, we can’t go party with you.”  Since we only have him one or two nights, it feels wrong to have a babysitter.  That’s not the point of having him stay with us.  But, it is an amazing feeling to feel that unconditional love.  Also, I now watch a lot more Thomas and Friends and have learned what it is like to feed a growing boy.

raymond and mason, being awesome (photo by becky!).

how has mason influenced your perspective on parenthood? do you feel like a parent? is that weird, ever?

I do feel like a parent, and there is a point now where ½ the time I refer to him as my son to my students and ½ as my nephew.  It’s just easier than trying to explain the whole story to 7^th graders.  I think that my perspective on parenthood has been influenced more by the parenting (or lack thereof) that I see at school than by Mason.  He’s a pretty good kid, but he is trying at times.  He can be so hyper and then the minute you want to go someplace he moves slower than molasses.   

tell me a funny mason story!

I have two recent ones.  Last weekend we went to the Zoo, and we were looking at some African cattle that have really large horns.  Raymond asked Mason “Do you see their horns?” and Mason replied “I see his butt!”  Pretty much from there on out, Mason talked about every animal’s butt. “The monkey has a red butt!”  The other one involved my parents.  Mason, who is 4, came home and ate a whole box of kraft mac and cheese, and then they all went out for dinner.  As he was eating his dinner he got full and said “Ohhh.  My tummy is big.  Just like Grandma and Poppy’s.”  My Aunt turned to my mom and said “Did he just say what I think he did?”

i can’t resist asking you about the mickey mouse club. you, talena and i all watched it, but i think you were always the most devoted. who were yr favorite mouseketeers? what were yr favorite moments from the show?

My favorite mouseketeers were JC, Tony and Keri (totally jealous of her!), which is why I am really excited that Tony Lucca is going to be playing some shows in Texas again finally.  I can actually do a video clip of one my favorite moments:

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7LLWLr2_Tw]

I actually like the Tony and JC version of More Than Words better, but the clip on youtube has the video and the audio out of sync and that annoys me.  I had tapes and tapes and tapes of clips from MMC.  Now I just find them all on youtube.

becky, with JC (n’sync, holla!) and jennifer from the MMC. the existence of this picture rules my universe.

since it was so fun to dig through talena’s memories, i’m going to ask you the same question: tell me one of yr favorite stories from high school!

Well, there is the memory of when we used to go on trips various places and since there were so many of us we would have to take more than one car.  Since this was before we all had cell phones we would write notes on whatever was handy and hold them up in the windows.  One of the signs said “in the trunk” and so we would hold that up with whatever else we had…  We’ve got Keanu…in the trunk.  We’ve got Spot… in the trunk.  We’ve got Christian… in the trunk.

Also there was that time in 10^th grade English where we were reading Much Ado about Nothing, and of course, our presentation was a abridged version of the play in which you played Beatrice.  The entire time you were practicing you would get to “Kill Claudio” and crack up laughing.  I think Claudio was played by Seth.  Fond memories from 10^th grade English!

Remember when we died our hair blue for homecoming?  I had green hair for weeks.  But one of my most favorite memories that I have of you is actually from middle school when Se had her pool party and we had a soda fight and there was so much soda in the pool.  Her parents were really calm about the whole thing.  We tried to recreate that “food” fight so many times at so many other parties and it was just never the same.

becky and me, complete with blue hair, on our way to the homecoming game in 1996. that’s my old volvo, maurice. rest in peace, homey.

what is yr secret power?

My secret power is my ability to see colors no one else sees…  To this day, my mom and I still argue over what color our old couch was: Green or Brown.  Other people see white clouds, I see tints of violet and orange.

do you sleep in jimjams? what kind?

Usually an old t-shirt and some pajama pants.  I have a harlem globetrotter circa 1983 and a pink shirt from my dance recital in 1990.  The pajama pants are Strawberry Shortcake.

what is yr #1 favorite food?

That is a hard choice… probably crème brulee.

what is yr top restaurant recommendation in austin? what’s the best thing on the menu?

Juan in a Million is awesome.  We go there for breakfast every time we are in town.  We always order a Don Juan taco with extra tortillas.  I actually wanted to have brunch there the Sunday after our wedding, but they would not host a large group like we had on a weekend.

thank you, becky, for scanning our senior group portrait. because its awesomeness must be known throughout the internets. i mean, my khaki pants alone… wow.

tell me about yr top area of expertise.

My top area of expertise is in making gaudy earrings out of recycled items.  I used to sit around and make the BIGGEST pairs of earrings in the early 90s.  My jewelry tastes are now much more refined.  I think Jennifer’s younger sister actually wore one of my creations last year though.

what was yr favorite item of clothing as a child?

I was looking through pictures to figure this one out.  It has to be either my collection of Strawberry Shortcake clothing or the violet and yellow cheerleader outfit (complementary colors!).

what do you plan on doing when you’re 80?

It will be 2059 and who knows what the world will be like, I’ll probably still be teaching since they will have raised the magic number that allows you to retire as a teacher in Texas…  I’ll say making an art hover car for the art hover car parade.

remember the titanic halloween party talena mentioned in her interview? here’s a few of the passengers, including becky (i love that viola was the cook, btw).

and, because i can’t resist, here’s the captain (christine), the captain’s wife (talena), and of course, the iceberg (known as rachel).

if you could assemble yr own ocean’s 11, who would you pick and why?

Well, you of course, and Talena and Raymond.  I would also have Seth since he would be our engineer guy, and my friend Anna since she is all around a renaissance type person and good at everything.  Phillip would add to the brains of the group.  My friend Amy would help in building anything since she is the shop teacher and Leigh Ann and Jason would be our Furia bodyguards.  For my last spot, I’ll say Mason…  he does his own stunts.

what is yr best karaoke song?

Ummm.  I don’t usually karaoke.  There is a reason that I teach art.  I did just sing Dead or Alive on Rock Band and I didn’t do too bad.  Probably after that it would be Ice Ice Baby or Baby Got Back.

do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? who?

I used to get Shandi from America’s Next Top Model whichever season that was.

tell me something scandalous!

I don’t really like cupcakes.

WHAT?!!! i think that is the most scandalous thing that has EVER been said on this blog.

in spite of that comment, i think you’re awesome, becky. thanks for letting me interview you!

now, just one more question: can i trade you the green chair for the prog?

officiating becky and raymond’s wedding, i.e. one of the specialist things i’ve ever done. photo by heather mabry, eclectic images.

LINKS

ZOOMGGGGGG THIS IS THE CUTEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN AND I REALLY MEAN IT THIS TIME!!!!! MINIATURE PIGLETS!!! i want one SO BAD. please. someone. 30th birthday. next year. pretty please.

“runaways,” one of my favorite comics, is gonna be a movie!! yesss!!!  i can’t WAIT to see who they cast… (thanks, hilary, for the link).

jack black, ben stiller and robert downey, jr. = the new pips. that’s all fine and good, but uh, can anyone tell me why gladys knight hasn’t aged since 1968? girlfriend looks GOOD.

did you guys know that the founder & owner of urban outfitters is a huge republican? well, you know, hipsters love their irony.

josh m. sent me this video of a super cute little baby penguin! oh hai!

 

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