McCown-isms To Live By

I have been a part of the Trojan Torch for the past two years, this year being appointed as one of two Editors In Chief. Throughout my time on the staff, I have spent countless hours sitting in Mr. McCown’s room. Because of the sheer amount of time that I have spent in his room, I have found myself adopting some of his mannerisms, (like instead of responding to certain questions, I’ll just widen my eyes and glance around) and using a lot of his phrases. These are some of McCown's commonly used phrases and mannerisms and why I will continue to use them in my own life.“Hello everyone, I am very happy to see you all today.”McCown begins everyone of his classes with this simple phrase. He makes it known to everyone in the room that there is at least one person who is happy to see them. I hope to embody this phrase as I move on into my life because I believe that it is important to let everyone know that someone cares about them, and I would be glad to be that person.“It is, as the French say, le [insert any applicable English word here].”This saying is slightly sarcastic and can be used in almost any situation. For example, if you are offering a critique and you don’t want it to sound too mean, then you say “le garbo,” (garbo as in slang garbage). This helps diffuse the tension of the situation without having to sugar coat anything, so the critique still holds meaning. I will use this in the future to approach awkward situations and make them better without leaving out what needs to be said.Another thing that McCown does is go along with jokes. Yes, I know that this is not a specific quote, but if I typed out every joke that McCown ran along with, I would have to transcribe his whole day which is just be, as the French say “le awful.” McCown's willingness to continue with his student’s goofy nature lets them know that he is listening to what they are saying, even if it is mostly gibberish, and that he understands where they are coming from. Although I can’t say that McCown is my favorite teacher (I have had my mother as my advisory teacher for the past 3 years) I can say that he has been a very big, positive influence in my life. I will never forget the time that I have spent on the Torch, and so I will end my last article the way all of our classes begin. Hello everyone, I am very happy to see you all today. By Sydney Langley