I have lots
of names by which I have gone over the years, but most people just know
me as Michael.
I was born in San Diego, CA
on 27 April 1969, went
to High School in La
Mesa, CA at Helix
High School, got my BA in Music at Humboldt
State University, and I
now live in Palm
Springs, CA (the weather here is beautiful). I'm a musician by
training and a Music Teacher by profession...I'm currently working for
the Palm Springs Unified School District
as a Music Specialist working with kids, grades 1-5, and I love my job!
And that's where two
of the names for the title of this page come from: Mr. B. and Mr.
Gypsy. Most of the students (and faculty, for that matter) call me
Mr. B., and there are
two reasons for that. One is that very few of
my students can say my last name (it's not
that hard, but for some reason Ukrainian
names have escaped them)...and, this goes for
some of the faculty, as well. The other reason
(and this is why the majority of the faculty
and staff call me Mr. B.) is that there are far too
many Michael's running around! And,
since all the kids were calling me Mr. B., the adults
just sort of followed suit. As for the
Mr. Gypsy, that's more of a joke than anything else.
As a Music Educator
in California,
I'm lucky to have a job...and therefore (I'm told)
that I shouldn't complain about not
having a room. So, I travel from room to room.
And, that, combined with my Romanian
ancestry, my Hallowe'en costume last year, and my
poorly faked Eastern European accent
that my students thought was so funny, I occasionally
get called Mr. Gypsy.
Let's see...I suppose before I go further I should explain the `Spinner/Spin1969
name. I get asked about that a lot, actually...some
questions are really great ("Do you
work for SPIN magazine?" or "Are you a DJ?") and others,
well, are little to crude for
public display. Well, all of them are wrong!
The answer lies in my early adventures in
cyberspace! A while ago (I forget exactly when),
I was part of a collaborative, on-line,
ElfQuest story.
It was loads of fun. Well, my character's name was Talespinner...which
got
shortened to `Spinner....which got shortened to Spin.
And, once again, there was an
abundance of Michael's running around, so on-line
I became known as Spin. And, well, it
sort of stuck.
And, finally, for those of you who didn't pick up on the rainbow
colored "World!"
or may have been wondering why I chose to do that:
I'm gay. Yes, it's true, I'm a gay
elementary school teacher. And, I'm even out!
Well, to everyone but my students. And,
it's not that I'm closeted to them...it's just that
when I'm in a classroom for 40 minutes
trying to teach 20 1st graders how to sing the Star
Spangled Banner (not an easy task, mind
you), my sexual orientation does not often come up.
And, should the question come
up...I'm sure it will be what we teachers call a "teachable
moment." Still, I am out to my
friends, family, co-workers,