max s. gerber(the latest shot)

i teach a portrait photography class at a college in orange county, california. very often students will neglect to turn in assignments. generally, the excuses are as wild and exotic as saying “uh. . . the printer was broken”, or “i don’t have a car” or simply staring blankly and sort of half-shrugging. none of these excuses make much of an impression, and frankly, then there’s less for me to grade. every once in a while, though, someone will have a really good excuse. i’m sorry to say this one didn’t happen to me, but to my buddy john thawley who teaches at santa monica college.

here’s the excuse (and accompanying pictures. it’s important to note that the student had the wherewithal not only to photograph the squirrel who attacked her, but also the resulting injury and treatment process. that gets an “A” in my book. (pictures related to the incident copyright by toni ciaravino, reprinted with permission):

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From: Toni
Date: 8 October 2007 6:25:30 PM
To: john thawley
Subject: absence from class tonight

i was feeding and photographing squirrels in the park today. this cute squirrel mistook my finger for a pecan. it chomped down so hard on my finger that it was pulling me. it would not let go. finally my husband scared it off. then we went to urgent care and i got a tetanus shot and antibiotics. we just got home and i am not going to make it to class–especially considering the pain i’m in right now.

i will not be bringing you my assignment. i am in a lot of pain and cannot drive. that tetanus shot really messed up my arm. maybe there’s not enough muscle or fat there. it’s pretty excruciating. truth be told, i was at the park finishing my assignment when the ferocious beast attacked. i didn’t even get to my homework shots, so it’s not even done. i would shoot it today but i can’t hold my camera and the finger that was bitten is my trigger finger.

i am an idiot.

please feel free to laugh and share this with the class.

toni ciaravino

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