No. 241: MAGISTER SMITHUS / The last day of classes back in '74 was a cliffhanger for me, but for our Latin teacher an unwanted exit

It would make great theatre, something along the lines of a one-man show, which he was. At 17, we recognized our teacher's discontent. He'd been heroic, but everything was being undone by philistines

A few years back I fooling around with a script for a television series (working title: Privilege), a coming-of-age deal set in an exclusive prep school and featuring a couple of loveable working-class kids who land there as an attempt to social engineering. A period piece, it was set in 70s and took some serious runs at classism and racism that are less of that time than you’d want to believe.

The script borrowed from my experiences at Upper Canada College, where I was the ultimate fish out of water, the 14-year-old son of an auto mechanic amidst the sons of pillars of the Canadian Establishment. Yeah, the character in Privilege whose backstory lined up close to mine borrowed equally from Holden Caulfield and Sammy Glick, more than I ever did—but hey, I had to make him a lot more interesting than me.