Sesame Street Is Invading My Brain

I used to be cool. Well, not really, but I used to be able to at least fool the students into thinking I was. I knew what they were into and what they watched, the music they listened to and the jokes they thought were funny. I could bring the cool things up when they least expected it and win them over to my side.

Today I realized that all has changed. I no longer reference cool, hip, "in" shows or songs. I no longer make jokes that relate to the newest fad or most popular movie character. No, I compare things to Sesame Street. I am so lame.

Today one of my students was making a joke about living in a trashcan. I threw her a look and she said, laughingly, that she lived in a green can. And I said, embarrassingly, "like Oscar the Grouch." I wanted to die of embarrassment, though the student kindly laughed.

This caused me to flash back a few days when I was talking to a student about his thesis statement for his essay. He asked if he should use third person and talk about himself in the thesis instead of saying "I." I said, "No. You shouldn't talk like Elmo." And everyone knew exactly what I was talking about, and again they laughed as good students should, but I know they must now be thinking that I am so lame. So lame.