Pretense

This afterschool program uses characters as teachers in various classrooms each day, which is a really neat idea, and adds to the creative energy in the space, to be sure. The woman who runs the center asked me explicitly to photograph these "professors" in action. After I had finished shooting (of course), she tells me I can't put their real names in the newspaper because it would ruin the illusion. Unfortunately, the reporter had decided to do that in the body of her story, which put me in a tight spot. I was very straightforward with her and said that we couldn't run a picture of anyone in the paper that we couldn't positively and accurately identify. Besides, if we're writing about the creation of these characters, we've already let the cat out of the bag. It doesn't matter whether his name is Joe or Bob, I've already told you he's acting. For some reason she seemed astounded that I wouldn't just lie to maintain their illusion. As though anyone who reads our paper would just believe that this hobo-like, 19-year-old, professor is actually an elite scientist for the U.S. government in D.C., but chooses to spend 5 days a week at an afterschool program in Cleveland, Tenn.
On a different note, did you notice the kid in the front picking his nose?