LEFT FIELD

Like most non-driving fifteen-year-olds, she endures morning drives with her father on the way to school. Unlike most fifteen-year-olds she attends the same school as her dad. This week we welcome to LEFT FIELD Alayna Joy, daughter of the resident English teacher in room 118.

What’s it like seeing your dad in the school hallway every day? I’m pretty much used to it by now, having lived with it all my life, but it can still be embarrassing, especially when he’s wearing his ugly, deer colored jacket.

Rumor has it you forced your dad into a secret pact to ensure that he would not use your name or any embarrassing stories during his chapels. Has he kept up his part of the pact? Yes, I think so. But I can't say the same for my brother.

At this young point of your high school career, what’s the best experience you’ve had? Getting to be a pinch runner in the district softball game last year and scoring a run.

Finish this analogy: Being on student council is like… Shopping for that one last gift on Christmas Eve: hectic, chaotic, exciting, and unorganized. Although the meetings may seem frenzied and discombobulated, everything seems to get done in the end, even if it means staying to clean up after dances or discussing Powder Buff with Miss Haupt after school.

Word on Blogger Boulevard is that your parents are very close to giving you a 2009 car of your choice when you get your license. What could you say that would make that dream a reality? I don’t think anything I say can convince them to give me a chrome and white Cadillac, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try.

Your dad seems to believe that texting is the downfall of personal communication. Is he right? No! Texting is a vital part of a teenager’s life. Welcome to the 21st century for those of you who are still stuck in the ‘80s (Father). It is so much easier to keep in touch with people you don’t see every day via texting and if you don’t have time to make a phone call, you can quickly just send a text.

If you could have your own television show, what would it be and what would you call it? Definitely a cooking show with some scrapbooking and crafting tips also. Shake and Bake with Alayna Joy.

You’re on Lutheran North’s varsity softball team; do you feel like a muzzled bear wearing that mask on first base? It’s not too bad, although it’s impossible to chew gum or spit out sunflower seeds. It’s hard to communicate how many outs there are or where the play is because your voice just comes out sounding muffled. Also throughout the game, you have to keep wiping off the sweaty chin pad. It’s all worth it because I am not afraid of any hard hit grounders or a ball taking a bad bounce because I’m fully protected by the cage of the mask.

How did you ever talk your parents into letting you see the premier of High School Musical 3 at midnight on a school night? One of my best friends, Anna Kasper, wanted me to go with her to the midnight premier, but I figured my parents wouldn’t let me and that it was a lost cause, but I asked anyway. The answer, of course, was no. But Anna, being the persistent and cunning friend that she is, decided to get some help from the President of the United States. I’m talking about George Bush here. She somehow convinced him to write a letter to my parents, explaining why it was imperative for me to go to this midnight showing, stating that by denying me permission to go, they were practically denying me freedom and that my grades would suffer. When my dad got the letter in his school mailbox, he was surprised that George W. had known where to reach him. After the initial shock wore off, he realized what was going on. If the President of the United States commands you to let your daughter go to see High School Musical 3 then you let her go...even if the letter happened to be typed by your daughter’s best friend, pretending to be the President. I’m not sure it my dad still thinks it really was George Bush, but what I was allowed to go and want to take this opportunity to thank the President for all his help. I guess he must be a big fan of Zac Efron.

Your brother spent the year on the west side of Michigan attending Grand Valley, what did you miss most and/or least? I missed many things about my brother being gone: he was my method of transportation to many places when Mom or Dad didn’t want to take me somewhere. With him around, my parents’ attention was not focused solely on me, and his sarcastic mutterings always made me laugh. But the thing I missed the most about my brother going to college was hearing him talking to himself in his room. I still don’t know where he comes up with the things he says. I’ll be in my room and suddenly I’ll hear him say “It is not a tumor” or “Hit it with a hammer” What does that even mean? When you figure it out let, let me know because I am still clueless.

Your parents think you are too loud at times. What don’t they understand? They don’t get that in order to be heard above the roar of the hallways or cafeteria, you must raise your voice a little. Okay, you pretty much have to yell at the top of your lungs. How else are you going to be heard? Also my friends are just as loud as me, if not louder, so I am constantly competing with them for talking space and instead of actually listening to what they have to say, it’s easier to just yell over them. Besides, my dad is one to talk. I’ll be sitting in my Spanish class across the hall from his room and I will hear him yelling or shouting about something, even with both of the doors closed. I guess it’s genetic, so he has no room to reprimand me.

POP FLIES

Jolly Ranchers or sunflower seeds? Sunflower seeds. I’m always afraid I’m going to choke on Jolly Ranchers.
Mount Rushmore or apple juice? Mount Rushmore.
Rides to school with mom or dad? Mom—she knows not to talk to me that early in the morning.
English class with your dad or having your dad as a sub in a different class? Sub in a different class.
i-Phone or no-phone? i-Phone, duhh.
The Book Thief or Mike Mulligan’s Steam Shovel? The Book Thief. Who’s Mike Mulligan?

HSM 1, HSM 2 or HSM3? HSM 3
Michigan football or MSU anything? Hail to the Victors all the way.
Murphy or Willy Shak? Murphy. After writing my freshmen research paper, I’m not even sure Shakespeare ever existed in the first place.

Apples to Apples or Jr. Clue? Jr. Clue—I HATE Apples to Apples. It’s the dumbest game ever.