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BOVRIL ENTERTAINMENT: THEN & NOW

Dec 2, 2012

AB
Stage· 216 messages
Dec 2, 2012
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Rachael Workman · 10:45 PM

drogan
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Andrei Berman · 10:48 PM

this is he
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Andrei Berman · 10:48 PM

So Rach, take it away
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Rachael Workman · 10:48 PM

this should feel fairly intuitive to a message board aficionado like yourself
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Rachael Workman · 10:49 PM

i'm just glad you have dani there to help guide things along. what would all of us do without her.
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Andrei Berman · 10:49 PM

Well the message board medium is different. It's not as live action as this, though in fairness, I did spend way too much time on one this morning in lieu of law school finals prep
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Andrei Berman · 10:49 PM

Dani is quite savvy. That's for sure.
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Rachael Workman · 10:50 PM

before we get into the beauties of bovril I just want to suggest to people in the forum that they go into the audience and listen to everyone else in the room so they see all the action in the forum.
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Andrei Berman · 10:50 PM

This seems like a perfectt new venue for a self absorbed person like myself. kudos.
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Rachael Workman · 10:50 PM

that's how this works - you only see the comments of the people that you're listening to. so you can curate your own little comment stream - kind of like your twitter feed.
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Rachael Workman · 10:50 PM

hahaha indeed
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Rachael Workman · 10:50 PM

i've thought of you literally since day one of this project.
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Andrei Berman · 10:51 PM

are the masses going to be able to see my name in perpetuity
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Rachael Workman · 10:51 PM

yes as a host you're seen by everyone
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Andrei Berman · 10:51 PM

like I kinda wanna change it to some pseudnym lest prospective employers fine me and learn about all of the childhood silliness we engaged in and are about to share for the world
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Rachael Workman · 10:52 PM

i would think that any knowledge of bovril would only help your chances at getting a gig
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Rachael Workman · 10:52 PM

but - pseudonyms are doable.
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Rachael Workman · 10:53 PM

★ Spotlighted from Blake Ian

“Self absorption...one of my favorite absorbtions”

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Andrei Berman · 10:53 PM

Surely, employers are intrigued by ficitious rap labels
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Rachael Workman · 10:53 PM

would we really limit it to just rap?
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Rachael Workman · 10:53 PM

i guess that was the core genre
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Andrei Berman · 10:53 PM

well that's the origins
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Andrei Berman · 10:53 PM

but it really wasn't about music
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Rachael Workman · 10:54 PM

not at all
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Andrei Berman · 10:54 PM

unless you can call the beauty of the bovril experiment "lyrical" in its beauty
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Rachael Workman · 10:55 PM

if we're being fully honest it was a lot about exclusivity, as most named high school cliques are. but i'll give us points for being creative... and diverse in our admissions.
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Rachael Workman · 10:55 PM

i think we had like 40 countries represented in bovril
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Andrei Berman · 10:55 PM

well 40 immigrant groups
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Andrei Berman · 10:55 PM

notably puerto rico and cambodia
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Rachael Workman · 10:55 PM

camobida was big.
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Rachael Workman · 10:55 PM

cambodia*
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Andrei Berman · 10:55 PM

actually i can't really think of any others besides cambodia and pr and the US
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Andrei Berman · 10:56 PM

I mean Sergio Caldieri wasn't Bovril A list
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Andrei Berman · 10:56 PM

so Italy is out
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Rachael Workman · 10:56 PM

what was most impressive about bovril is how it persisted/grew even after we graduated
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Andrei Berman · 10:56 PM

And DBird was a mix of non existent nation states
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Rachael Workman · 10:56 PM

like each of us went off to our respective second and third tier colleges, and recruited people for Bovril
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Rachael Workman · 10:57 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“puerto rican = not technically an immigrant group”

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Andrei Berman · 10:57 PM

right. True story: Gabe was in a first yr anthro seminar cum writing class at Harvard and wrote a paper about the bovril language
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Andrei Berman · 10:57 PM

and his prof was mesmerized
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Andrei Berman · 10:57 PM

can I mute Dani for her scholarly corrections?
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Rachael Workman · 10:57 PM

i never knew that. that's the best thing i've ever heard. we need to get gabe in the audience
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Andrei Berman · 10:57 PM

★ Spotlighted from Rachel Pietrangelo

“Could someone kindly define "bovril" for everyone ...”

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Rachael Workman · 10:57 PM

drei we forgot to define bovril
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Rachael Workman · 10:57 PM

@rachel pietrangelo wants to know
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Andrei Berman · 10:57 PM

Bovril is a British beef extract
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Rachael Workman · 10:58 PM

hahahaha
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

with avante garde advertisements
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

these ads were hung all over Will Bigwood's house
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

his mom, a brit, loved the ads
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Rachael Workman · 10:58 PM

Rach, Will's mom is obsessed with Bovril
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

sort of clever graphics and slogans
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Rachael Workman · 10:58 PM

she has a Bovril vanity license plate
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

so Peter, will's dad, bought Liz vanity license plates that said BOVRIL
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Andrei Berman · 10:58 PM

somehow the plates become will's
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Andrei Berman · 10:59 PM

and will was simuktaneously dabbling in hip hop production
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Andrei Berman · 10:59 PM

so since all rap stars have vanity plates, we needed them to serve a purpose
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Rachael Workman · 10:59 PM

speaking of Bovril's international reach, the one and only Sam Sturgis has joined the audience all the way from Kenya
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Andrei Berman · 11:00 PM

SAMMY STURGIS
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Andrei Berman · 11:00 PM

talk about a young bov pup
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Andrei Berman · 11:00 PM

when we were coming up as a crew he was a 13 yr old bus boy
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Rachael Workman · 11:01 PM

yeah but the kid could always hang
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Rachael Workman · 11:01 PM

and now he's literally lapped us
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Andrei Berman · 11:02 PM

not surprising. We have a dynamic social media relationship but havent chilled in person inc lose to a decade.
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Andrei Berman · 11:02 PM

sort of like me and most of my "friends"
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Rachael Workman · 11:03 PM

sam is actually a great example of what i wanted to tawk about with you -- the whereabouts of some of our more successful alumni. it's pretty crazy where everyone's at.
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Andrei Berman · 11:03 PM

truth.
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

coco is a dynamic visual artist
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Rachael Workman · 11:04 PM

and i'm including characters like Rappaport in this assessment
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

I am a strugglign ghost writer and shoddy law student
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

struggling* (hence why I'm struggling)
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Rachael Workman · 11:04 PM

coco IS a dynamic visual artist. and like, really buff all of a sudden.
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

get it?!
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

Yeah coco was NOT a special snowflake
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Andrei Berman · 11:04 PM

grew up the right way
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Rachael Workman · 11:05 PM

no i don't
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Andrei Berman · 11:05 PM

old man was the plumber at Smith College and Coco was not some pseudointellectual "tawker" type
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Andrei Berman · 11:05 PM

get it?
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Rachael Workman · 11:05 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“don't give drei any ideas about starting an alumni magazine”

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Rachael Workman · 11:05 PM

yeah he was the anti-snowflake
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Andrei Berman · 11:06 PM

interestingly, we had a lot of anti snow flakes
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Andrei Berman · 11:06 PM

Tamill
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Andrei Berman · 11:06 PM

but i think post hs, there was a slight class schism
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Andrei Berman · 11:06 PM

whereby some kids didnt go to college (gleason) and some did
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Andrei Berman · 11:07 PM

thing is, the ones who didn't are the ones who made money
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Rachael Workman · 11:08 PM

haha, so true.
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Andrei Berman · 11:09 PM

so did i finish that story about gabe at harvard
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Andrei Berman · 11:09 PM

because basically his professor almost did like a second dissertaiton on the "bovril language"
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Rachael Workman · 11:09 PM

no, PLEASE tell more
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Andrei Berman · 11:09 PM

tho in truth a lot of that actually emerged later, at HS baseball practices with Mologhan
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Andrei Berman · 11:10 PM

Mologhan was a power player in the formation of a bovrilian dialect
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Andrei Berman · 11:10 PM

extended voul sounds, excessive shouting
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Andrei Berman · 11:10 PM

got it became "gaaaaaaaaatttt ittttt"
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Andrei Berman · 11:10 PM

(wish tawkers had a voice function)
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Rachael Workman · 11:10 PM

hahah we'll work on that
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Rachael Workman · 11:11 PM

i wish you tube had been around for our high school hay days so we could link back to some fun footage
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Andrei Berman · 11:11 PM

speaking of which here's a great question: how might social media have changed the bovril dynamic
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Andrei Berman · 11:11 PM

see, lots of people were in the bovril order
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Andrei Berman · 11:11 PM

but many were off shoots
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Andrei Berman · 11:11 PM

and onyl loosely connected
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Andrei Berman · 11:11 PM

sort of like the bloods
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Andrei Berman · 11:12 PM

everyone thinks there in, but really they're not
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Rachael Workman · 11:12 PM

god it would've gotten out of control. i'm glad there wasn't a bovril facebook page, a bovril twitter feed, etc. we would've ended up in counselor KGB's office way more than we already did.
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Rachael Workman · 11:12 PM

★ Spotlighted from Will Staton

“am I being told that a professor found it fascinating that a group of HS kids came up with their own fun mispronounciations, colloquialisms, and words?”

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Andrei Berman · 11:13 PM

yes will you are
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Rachael Workman · 11:13 PM

yes Will that's apparently what we're all hearing
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Andrei Berman · 11:13 PM

side note: KGB refers to Kathy Goodwin Boyd
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Rachael Workman · 11:13 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“@Rachael: I and my future children are VERY GRATEFUL youtube was not around in your high school days, because if it had been, @andrei would be unemployable right now, undoubtably”

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Andrei Berman · 11:13 PM

tho her function was effectively that of the kgb
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Rachael Workman · 11:14 PM

i once got called into her office
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Andrei Berman · 11:14 PM

really?
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Andrei Berman · 11:14 PM

i got an in school suspension with gabe will and kevin for getting food after some ap test i think
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Andrei Berman · 11:15 PM

best day ever
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Andrei Berman · 11:15 PM

with about 15 mins left bigwood just lost it and started screaming
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Rachael Workman · 11:15 PM

i got called in after someone unearthed a poem i wrote for the likes of Andrea, Leah, Kim, etc. one verse dedicated to each of our new year's eve exploits
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Andrei Berman · 11:15 PM

then he took the monopoly board and tossed it all over the room and we all started laughing hysterically
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Andrei Berman · 11:15 PM

maybe the most joyful moment of my existence to date
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Andrei Berman · 11:15 PM

ahh new years eve exploits
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Rachael Workman · 11:16 PM

hahahaha ISS was like a PRESENT for students.
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Andrei Berman · 11:16 PM

for those not in the know: Northampton hosts a "first night" each year
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Andrei Berman · 11:16 PM

culminating in a ball drop
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Rachael Workman · 11:16 PM

it was a big deal
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Andrei Berman · 11:16 PM

the only thing any hs kid goes to, since the other events feature 4th rate african drumming by aging white people and shitty ska bands
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Rachael Workman · 11:16 PM

though the bigness of the deal is not really translating in chat
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Andrei Berman · 11:16 PM

ooo SHIT WAS HUGE
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Andrei Berman · 11:17 PM

but junior yr i got "detained"
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Andrei Berman · 11:17 PM

by an undercover cop
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Andrei Berman · 11:17 PM

of course, i see said dude aroudn town now when ever I"m home
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Rachael Workman · 11:17 PM

oh i vaguely remember that
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

anyway i wasnt even that drun
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

drunk
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

but i was holding andreas water bottle
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

of vodka
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

about 1 10th full mind you
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

he grabbed me all herocially
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

and said "you're done"
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

i called my dad from the station
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Andrei Berman · 11:18 PM

one of my few groundings was the result
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Rachael Workman · 11:18 PM

haha! it seems so ridiculous now.
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Rachael Workman · 11:18 PM

i'm sure you were terrified
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Rachael Workman · 11:18 PM

at the time
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Andrei Berman · 11:19 PM

but i didnt care because, shit, nothing happens in western mass in jnuary and umass hoops sucked that yr anyway so what was i missing?
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Andrei Berman · 11:19 PM

well iw as sort of worried but then i got to the holding room and sarah zj was sitting there btiching about how it was illegal for them to steal her bowl
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Rachael Workman · 11:19 PM

should we tawk a little about the other cliques we were up against in HS
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Rachael Workman · 11:19 PM

namely
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Rachael Workman · 11:19 PM

NLS
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Rachael Workman · 11:19 PM

and the AOD
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Rachael Workman · 11:19 PM

hahahah
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Andrei Berman · 11:19 PM

well, by the the time bovril was fully formed, there wasn't much competition
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

AOD (army of darkness) was pretty scary
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

but they were older
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

lighter burns in their arms of an A
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Rachael Workman · 11:20 PM

yeah, truly hardcore.
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

lots of wannabes who threw parties on their behalf
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

who was NLS?
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

oooo yea i do remember that acronym
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Andrei Berman · 11:20 PM

but i won't divulge it to the masses
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Rachael Workman · 11:20 PM

most of them were decent dudes. the fact that they named themselves the Army of Darkness is beyond bizarre.
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Rachael Workman · 11:20 PM

it's like straight out of harry potter
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Andrei Berman · 11:21 PM

AOD'd leaders were shrewd
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Andrei Berman · 11:21 PM

and very skillful
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Andrei Berman · 11:21 PM

but they had followers who were just hangers-on
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Andrei Berman · 11:21 PM

devoid of independent thought and dangerously manipulated
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Rachael Workman · 11:22 PM

kind of like Tea Partiers
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Andrei Berman · 11:22 PM

let's not gloss over the fact that their symbol was the heil hitler sign...and that they had Jews in their crew
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Andrei Berman · 11:22 PM

The AOD is what some leftist academics would call a personificaiton of "white privilege" but that's giving them too much credit.
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Rachael Workman · 11:23 PM

yes i should say so
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Andrei Berman · 11:24 PM

I just invited Rey Harp by the way
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Rachael Workman · 11:25 PM

hahaha good call
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Andrei Berman · 11:26 PM

what happens when you're ont awkers and need to go pee
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Andrei Berman · 11:26 PM

do you just go?
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Rachael Workman · 11:26 PM

haha yeah, you typically wouldn't tell the whole room, but by all means.
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Rachael Workman · 11:26 PM

while you're gone i'm going to go a little rogue and address Dani in the audience -- dani i'm wondering if you could see an application for Tawkers in schools?
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Rachael Workman · 11:28 PM

and actually, @staton could speak to this as well, as could Drei.
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Andrei Berman · 11:28 PM

back
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Andrei Berman · 11:28 PM

I could see Tawkers as a platform for a teacher to exchange back and forth with another teacher while students asked questions
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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“yes, actually while you've been tawking i've been thinking about it being used in schools--I think that it could be super useful for students and teachers as well”

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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

Yeah, it was built with education in mind
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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

★ Spotlighted from Will Staton

“@rachael, I could see it as a good forum for students to engage with one another, can you have more than two hosts?”

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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

really hoping that teachers feel the same way
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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

and administrators
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Rachael Workman · 11:30 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“the stepping block would be--do you have to have a fb log in? b/c many schools prohibit facebook interactions b/t students and teachers--NYC does, for example”

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Rachael Workman · 11:31 PM

No - you can sign in independent of FB
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Rachael Workman · 11:32 PM

Will, for now it's two hosts. the philosophy behind that is that we felt the best and most productive conversations take place between two people. that said, the technology of it is not hard to change if a lot of people want to be having group tawks
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Andrei Berman · 11:32 PM

I see Tawkers as a hub for niche interests
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Andrei Berman · 11:32 PM

and for experts on those niche interests to communicate
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Rachael Workman · 11:32 PM

totally drei
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Andrei Berman · 11:32 PM

sort of a message board thread playing out in real time
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Andrei Berman · 11:33 PM

but if you allow too many hosts it becomes a shitty chat room
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Andrei Berman · 11:33 PM

I think for students, it's relevant but only if the teachers are facilitating
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Rachael Workman · 11:34 PM

we are able to add in a moderator. that component was built for the purposes of a debate but could be really helpful in classrooms.
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Andrei Berman · 11:34 PM

if i was still a teacher, i'd moderate the shit out of a class debate
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Andrei Berman · 11:35 PM

and by that i mean, i'd mute them if they made stupid points
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Rachael Workman · 11:35 PM

Oh, i love that idea @dani
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Andrei Berman · 11:36 PM

but dani, who would be the second person hosting the conversation
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Rachael Workman · 11:36 PM

There is a gaming component to the platform that i feel kids might like. For example, if there's 30 people in the audience. you have to work to get your comment overheard and acknowledged by the host. you have to say something meaningful.
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Andrei Berman · 11:38 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dina Fein

“@drei willy workman here, are you proposing an "around the horn" scoring and muting situation?”

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Andrei Berman · 11:38 PM

Willy, I am. But this is why I left the classroom
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Andrei Berman · 11:39 PM

siden otw illy: when i sent you that text yesterday i hadnt seen that you lost to springfield...my bad.
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Andrei Berman · 11:39 PM

thought you were still undefeated
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Andrei Berman · 11:40 PM

somehow i muted willy
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Andrei Berman · 11:40 PM

how do i fix that
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Rachael Workman · 11:40 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“If I were to use this forum right now for education, I would probably give credit for showing up, participating, and getting your comments spotlighted....”

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Rachael Workman · 11:42 PM

Drei you have to exit the tawk and go into "my profile" on the homepage, from there go into "my users", "my muted users" and unmute him.
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Rachael Workman · 11:42 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dina Fein

“I think that it could be a successful tool in a college classroom or even a challenging prep school where the kids are inclined to achieve acae”

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Andrei Berman · 11:42 PM

I view tawkers as a better platform for live chatting
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Andrei Berman · 11:42 PM

when i do live chats on deadspin, it's hectic
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Andrei Berman · 11:43 PM

there was discussion in ryan parents class? yeah, i guess, btu mostly discussion of why grady little left pedro in
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Rachael Workman · 11:45 PM

yeah most live chats are hectic, thats why there was a need for someone to build an actual venue designed for conversation
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Andrei Berman · 11:45 PM

ok pedagogy experts, I need to teach myself some corporations law. it's been real. Let's do this again soon.
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Andrei Berman · 11:45 PM

get it (i told the pedagogy experts i need to TEACH myself something?) ooo
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Rachael Workman · 11:46 PM

haha ok. sorry we veered off of the subject but I think it was to everyone's relief.
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Rachael Workman · 11:46 PM

thanks so much to the peeps in the forum for your input
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Rachael Workman · 11:47 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dina Fein

“It also gives a shy student, one that might not speak up in class the comfort of sharing their thoughts behind a screen”

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Rachael Workman · 11:47 PM

past and present teachers in the house: help put Tawkers in schools!
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Rachael Workman · 11:54 PM

★ Spotlighted from Dani Lerro

“Which is why we design things like reflections on class discussions--something like "What was the comment that most stuck with you today? Why?" and "What comment did you disagree with the most?"”