Today Burke.Word begins a new feature, Ed(mund)ification. If we were able to look up the word in some twisted version of the American Heritage Dictionary, we’d see that it means: “To be instructed especially so as to encourage intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement with respect to someone or something related to the Edmund Burke School.” (Quick! Submit it to Urban Dictionary).
More specifically, dear reader, Edmundification will be a weekly look inside the heart and mind of one of the many celebrities of the Burke community. Patterned on Vanity Fair’s Proust Questionnaire, we ask residents of BurkeWorld — teachers, students, parents, alumni, pets — 15 semi-incriminating questions (or more if they exhibit some resistance to the idea) which they answer… or else. Think of it as what you might get if you combined PBS’s Inside the Actor’s Studio with gossip rag TMZ.
Nigel
Which is why it is most appropriate for us to begin with the heart and mind (or at least the mind) of our own Nigel Hinshelwood, Academic Dean, literature instructor & maven, storyteller, guitar player, author of Losing the Bronze, pool, darts & card shark (well, an all-around shark), mechanic of engines and ideas, and overall spiritual master of the EBS dōjō:
What is the most embarrassing song on your ipod?
Believe it or not, I don’t have one. I do know a lot of embarrassing songs, however. According to my wife, I know only embarrassing songs.
Who’s in your Fave Five people of all time?
Favorite movies, sure, favorite books, I have those. Favorite people? Do I get to troll among the dead? How about Elmore Leonard, Tony Rice, Phillip Pullman, and Brooks Robinson? Also my mother.
I wish I knew how to…
Sail. If Chris Richardson reads this, he knows what to do.
What was the best present that you received when you were young
I am not a very good gift receiver. I am also a miserable sick person. You don’t want to be around me when I don’t feel well. I guess I liked my Lincoln Logs. We also got a bunch of leftover pieces of 2x4s and other scraps from a local carpenter that my brother and I played with more than any other toy I can remember.
Tell us a piece of good or bad advice you’ve received that will stay with you
“Your job is to walk around and try to figure out what happened 45 minutes ago.”
What can’t you live without?
Pool. You’d think after playing for 40 years that I’d be better than I am, but wherever I go I look for a table and some competition.
What do you really care about?
What a loaded question. I care about my family, first. They cared about me when it mattered most. I care about bluegrass and Burke, karate and crime novels. And pool. Did I mention that already? I used to care about poetry, but not as much anymore.
If there’s other sentient life out in the universe – what’s it like?
Going in the opposite direction, obviously.
What mild mannered person at Burke is secretly a super hero? What’s their power? What’s their super name?
I hesitate to call anyone mild-mannered. That could quickly backfire in unsavory ways. I will reveal, however, that Matt Seiler has the power to recall more obscure baseball facts than anyone I have ever known. You can bid on a silent auction item to find out what I mean.
Truth is…
…where all good lies begin.
Who are your favorite fiction writers? Favorite fictional heros?
Charlie Huston. Richard Stark. Jane Austen. Jonathan Lethem. George Eliot. Jhumpa Lahiri and Neil Gaiman, Jack Reacher, Parker, Lyra Belacqua, Henry Thompson, Hiro Protagonist. Jane Whitefield and Huckleberry Finn
If you changed your name – what would it be?
Jerzy Kocerka.
If you could change one thing about education what would it be?
The myth of the schoolhouse.
Tell us about a time when you were really happy.
Three years ago on the beaches of Belize.
What scares you the most?
My sons.
Is violence ever appropriate? When?
Of course it can be. You’ll know it when you see it.
Close your eyes…. Open them. What did you see?
The next to last question.
What question would you like to ask the next Edmundification Celebrity?
How many emails from Ramaz did it take to get you to do this?
This is Anne, and not Danny, because I don’t really know how to do the Burke Word thing. But I want to say that I love knowing about Nigel, and wonder if he can take my husband, Danny, out to shoot pool because Danny works for the House Democrats and could use a break.
Apparently you DO know how to do the Burke.Word thing! And you do it well. I think Nigel should take us all out – and pay for it from his Losing The Bronze royalties.
Anytime! Just let me know. I would give him the break, and even spot him a couple of balls.
Totally fabulous! I’m sorry I don’t know Nigel. He seems like a truly fascinating person.