The district and those who pull the strings behind our bumbling puppet do much to “educate,” “engage,” and “empower.” However, there is little going on around ICSD that is more engaging than Skippy’s Slice on Friday mornings.
During the opening minutes of second period every Fridayday a loveable foreign student with a knack for showmanship reads (his own) poems, sings (his own) songs, or plainly vents over the loudspeaker. Though he may seem playful and silly, wacky, or confused (and at times, yes, “grumpy”), Skippy is a man with a lot to say and a story to tell.
A swan in a sea of festering swine, Skippy is an IHS treasure, a man to be remembered long after he walks the final walk donning red and gold. Below you will find a conversation I had with Skippy on March 10.
Luca Greenspun ’17: Tell me about where you were born, how you got to the U.S. and how you came to be at IHS.
Weiqing Zhang ’16: I was born New York City. Okay, so actually my birth was unexpected—so I don’t know, by some accident. Thank you for the creepy useless condom—there was me, right?
And then my father graduated from Rockefeller University and got a Ph.D. in Biology. But due to racial discrimination he’s paid less than most around him and he could not afford to live in New York City. So when he got a invitation from China so he just went back for work and brought me with him. I was six months old I think.
LG: What about your mother?
WZ: My mother … she just came back.
LG: And how long did you stay in China before returning?
WZ: 14 years.
LG: Tell me about your first time coming back to the U.S. since your birth.
WZ: Well okay. So, my father’s student get a visiting scholar position in Cornell so that’s why I came to IHS. And when I first came here, I mean, it was just a different surrounding. With different people with different outlook of people who speak different language. That’s it. [laughter]
LG: Did you like it?
WZ: Ahhhhhh. [contemplatively] Sort of a bit afraid in the beginning, but getting better and better. And I do see good and bad things at the same time. So yeah, I do. At least I like the environment here.
LG: Who was your first friend?
WZ: [repeats question to himself and pauses] You mean really close friend. Conor Coutts ’15 [he states this indubitably].
LG: Tell me a little about your friendship. How it started, what it was. Who he was to you? What he meant to you?
WZ: He was someone I could talk to and someone I can get out with one phone call. Actually, I was volunteering at a church and he went to the same church. That’s how we met each other. And sophomore year, my guardian moved back to China and I moved to Ithaca College where Conor lived. Then on, we rode on the same bus.
LG: So who did you live with when you first came to America?
WZ: My father’s student.
LG: And who did you live with next? Who were you living with when you met Conor Coutts?
WZ: Two other visiting scholars in Ithaca College who brought me a very creepy life.
LG: Really? Describe how creepy, and why?
WZ: [repeats question incredulously] I’ll just give you three examples. So I mean at that time I sometimes would stay up late until like 11:30 to finish my homework and learn vocab to learn English. But they go to bed really early. So they just turn off the heat and it would be like 60 or 58 degrees at night. I had to get my jacket and coat; everything on to do my homework. And they hide everything into their rooms. Also, whenever I open the refrigerator, there was nothing except raw food. So they never waited for me for dinner and ate at 5 o’clock and that’s after school so I would always eat the leftovers.
LG: Did you like them? Did you have a relationship with them? Did they like you?
WZ: No! I didn’t like them!
LG: What year was this?
WZ: 2015. Can you imagine they just like go to a trip for nine days leaving me alone at home and that they were—and I was taking SAT during that period so I ride a bike to school with fever! To take SAT.
LG: Where did you get the name skippy?
WZ: Skippy? Because I love to skip subjects. When I came to the U.S. they sent me into an Algebra class and I said “Oh what the hell, I know all of this. Let’s skip!” And then I skipped all the way to Honors Algebra because .. and actually, my counselor is sort of bad because she never recommend me. She never thinking about if that [class] may fit me or not. She just put me into lowest class. And I think: should I take SAT? She said “No,” [dismissively] or something like that so she just guarantee a easy way for me.
LG: Who’s your favorite teacher here?
WZ: [confident, almost immediate response] Frederick Deppe.
LG: Tell me about your relationship with Mr. Deppe.
WZ: So I was not his student until I took Calculus last year, but we knew each other when I was a freshman, when I went to Math Team, which he advises. I got to learn something called the AMC [American Mathematics Competitions] and I mean he … he just helped me for free. During his lunch period, he’d just stop eating and he just help me go through AMC. And he has very good math skills.
LG: If you could say anything to Mr. Deppe what would it be?
WZ: Just stay happy [laughter] and don’t stay up too late.
LG: I notice you’re wearing a pin that says “I’m entitled to be grumpy.” [he laughs] Grumpy, since you’ve been at IHS, has become one of your trademarks. Tell me a little bit about that. So when I told people I was doing this interview they all said “Ask him about grumpy!” Because when you hear “grumpy”, you think “Skippy!” You know what I mean?
WZ: Well actually, grumpy is just a word that sounds cute to me. English is my second language so sometimes words doesn’t make sense so grumpy is just a cute word. I think it’s cute. And I look, well, very serious when I do everything so sometimes people ask me “Well, you look very grumpy when you do math,” but actually, I just get a bit confused [when doing math].
[much laughter from both parties]
LG: So grumpy is one of your favorite words, tell me some of your other favorite things to say in English.
WZ: Don’t worry be happy, of course!
LG: I hear you use the word creepy a lot, what does that mean to you?
WZ: Creepy? That’s just a word that comes into my mind.
LG: You’re now in your senior year. Who do you live with?
WZ: I have another guardian in Varna right now and I live with a student in high school. Phil [otherwise known as Shanyi Yan ’17].
LG: Tell me about your relationship with Phil.
WZ: So actually when I first saw him he acted like [laughter] a punk. [more laughter] Sorry.
LG: Really?
WZ: Yeah, although he doesn’t always push himself to study hard but he always will forgive your mistake and he will apologize when he makes a mistake and find a way to improve himself. And if he get’s grumpy he will not criticize you but find a way to negotiate. So he’s a very good one to stay with.
LG: It’s beautiful that you have that friendship. So, Skippy’s Slice. Last year, we had Conor’s Corner, right? People went crazy for that. So this year we have Skippy’s Slice, which in my opinion is better. Tell me about Skippy’s Slice; how you got the idea, how you made it happen, and your struggle to fight for more time.
WZ: Yes, Conor Coutts and I have very similar sense of humor so we always made jokes with each other. And Conor started doing Conor’s Corner, it sort of surprised me because I never knew we could say whatever we like through the speakers in the whole school. I used to do announcements and I just read announcements, like a robot. I did that for a year and stopped because, I mean, robot is not human and I don’t want to do that.
But Conor made something come alive there. So when we were talking about this, there was an agreement that I would continue something like Conor’s Corner for this school year. So actually he helped me name Skippy’s Slice and I started to work on it. And the first slice was the first English poem I wrote in America.
LG: Can you recite it now?
WZ: “Homework Party,” everybody knows it man. Okay, it’s:
Homework Party
Surrounded by the homework
My pen is a mountain of worksheets
even answer keys become useless
Hundreds of homework
bring me down
Pen barely breaks, at my side
Losing credit, I will cry
Whenever work does not bother me
I will head out with lethargy
What a grumpy, useless, homework party