Mr.+Shaw

When most McGehee students think of Mr. Shaw they think of the laid-back science teacher who loves music and is married to Ms. Robertson. Who and how he is now, you could never have guessed he was brought up in a strict household.

While Mr. Shaw doesn’t think his parents were very strict, by our standards today we may think differently. “Life was not that different in some ways, perhaps a little more uptight - - church every Sunday, school every day unless you were almost dead, short haircuts, black plastic frame glasses, no wire-rims or parting your hair in the middle because you'd look like that Beatle (John Lennon, which I wanted to) - - basically obey your parents without questioning,” Shaw says. To him they were not strict but square. He still did fun things as a child; “…they played ball with us, took us to the library, trusted us with tools, and let us be boys, as long as we were pounding on each other out of the house somewhere.”

Mr. Shaw went along with his parents and their square lifestyle up until the 9th grade. Up to then music had little influence on him. He remembers going up to the coolest kid in 9th grade and asking him what was the coolest record to buy. The kid said to go out and buy the new Jimi Hendrix record and Mr. Shaw did just that. He took the record home and put it on right next to where his family was sitting and everyone walked out. Following Jimi Hendrix, Mr. Shaw listened to The Doors, Led Zeppelin and Steppenwolf; “…that dam had burst for good.” Music is probably one of the things that helps keep Mr. Shaw sane and calm. When asked about him being laid back he replied; “It’s so funny that you say that I appear laid back. You must not be able to see what’s really going on in my head. People who meditate have a term for all of the useless junk which occupies our minds, keeps us regretting and fretting, and from seeing clearly and breathing freely. They call it ‘monkey chatter’.” So while Mr. Shaw seems relaxed to us, and tends to make people around him relaxed, really he’s always stressing or thinking about something. He turned to music not to calm him but to energize him and make all the “monkey chatter” go away for a little while. “I want music to push me. Fire me up. I don't want to sleep; I don't want to die. There will be plenty of time for that. For now, I need music to propel me headlong, even if the place into which I'm being propelled makes no sense, has no meaning.”

Perhaps the reason for Mr. Shaw turning to music, other than to energize him and take the “monkey chatter” away, is to keep him from living the same, square lifestyle as his parents did.