Teacher of the Year by Joe David

Precocious teenager offers freshSpin to Hamlet’s soliloquy ___
WASHINGTON, DC – Horace Mann High School Senior Roger Murphy received huge positive response from National Government Radio listeners yesterday for his insightful comment to a 14-year-old caller who expressed concern about her married boyfriend’s aggressiveness. "As the old Dane would say, life’s too short to worry if it’s to be or not to be," Murphy said in his reference to the play Hamlet. "Just get a hot video, pop a few pills and go with the flow." America's First Lady, Elizabeth Jones, told reporters how impressed she was with the precocious teenager’s outstanding interpretation of Hamlet. During an hour-long interview on the Kathy Perkin’s NGR Radio Show, Murphy demonstrated to Kathy’s national listeners that the First Lady was right. Serious learning does occur in the public schools. Murphy who hopes one day to be a teacher and follow in the footsteps of his favorite teacher, Frank Hamme, is presently earning money for college by selling vitamins and producing adult quality art film for the Internet. The young high school student is a fictitious character in Joe David’s outrageously funny book and play, Teacher of the Year. Reviewers have referred to the book, from which the play is adapted, as “unique fun, startling” (Jennifer Stephens, WXCD-FM); “a good read” (Bob Madigan, WTOP-Washington); “a madcap, often twistedly comic satire” (Sam Weller, New City Newspaper, Chicago); and “wonderfully humorous...with serious messages about teaching and education” (Mike Bowler, Baltimore Sun).