Molding Young Minds

I felt like taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to share with you what is probably my favorite daycamp story of all time.
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Back in my Cy-Fair Discovery College days, there was a kid named Andy in the acting class I worked in. Now, an acting class always brings an interesting variety of kids to daycamp, and Andy--a towheaded nine year old, who liked to wear sunglasses and black shirts, and who performed the worm for us in class--was no exception. He performed the worm several times actually; he got a good audience reaction when he did it, and actors love to please the crowd, you know.

Andy liked to fix his hair. No, he was not gay--more of the "metrosexual ladies man in training" type. He showed up one day with a fauxhawk which I of course complimented him on.

*side note*
I'm dating myself now--this was back when David Beckham was still a soccer player with hair, which he--like Andy--liked to fix. David Beckham was still a new commodity in America, which made him very popular, add to that the fact that he was British and "so dreamy", and it's no surprise that everything he did got copied by everyone else. When he decided he wanted the look of a mohawk but not the inconvenience of shaving the sides of his head, the phrase "fauxhawk" was born, and shortly thereafter it became a household word.

*now back to my story*
So, I told Andy I liked his fauxhawk, and he asked me, "What's a fauxhawk?" Well, I couldn't have one of my trendiest little students wandering around clueless about his own hairstyle, so I educated him. He took in the information and returned to his snack.

The next morning, Andy showed up again sporting his fauxhawk; he must have been pleased that it got a good crowd response the day before. Ruth, another daycamp worker who was not as well-versed in the ways of pop culture, unwittingly told Andy she liked his "mohawk". Andy turned to her with this jaded, worldly, "I can't believe you actually called this a mohawk" sort of look on his face, and he said to her, like she was so stupid for not knowing this already, "It's a fauxhawk." Then, without another word, he went quietly on his way.

I was so proud of him.
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