Mr. Sanders is the Current Events and Economics teacher who resides in B105. He lived a very different life before working at RAHS, and was the star of a movie! I interviewed him for our special issue. My interjections are highlighted in bold, and his answers are not.
Why did you choose to become a teacher? Being a teacher became a second career for me after working on Wall Street and working during 9/11, I decided that I no longer wanted to work in New York City or work in that business. I decided to move to Minnesota because that’s where my kids’ grandparents lived. I said, “You know what, I always wanted to be a teacher, and this is a great opportunity for me to go back and go back to school, get a teaching license and start a new career.
Going off that point, do you have any interesting stories from your time as a commodities trader? I do. Do you wish to elaborate? No, it would take far too long. I don’t know how I would consolidate it into a thing for you.
What would you say is your greatest personal accomplishment in life? I think my greatest accomplishment for me would be that I am continuing to learn, and be humbled by what I learned.
For those who don’t already know, you were actually the subject of a documentary film. How did
that happen? “Some former students I had for a semester while they were freshmen graduated and went into the film industry. They decided that they wanted to make their own film, and they said, ‘You know, that guy Sanders from Current Events was interesting. We liked his stories about 9/11, we liked his stories about people he’s met, and we asked him if we could do a film.’ I didn’t take it too seriously, but six months later, they show up with lights and cameras and sound guys, and the next thing you know, it’s a movie.
For those who don’t know, the film actually played at several festivals. Yes, it played at some South Korean film festivals, in London, South America, and a whole bunch of other states in America.
You’ve obviously seen the film, do you think they did a good job at encapsulating your life? Well, I think they did a really good job of telling a story. Now, it happens to be my story and I think they were honest in how they did it. They went from black and white to color and made their own music, so they were very artistic, and it was a really accurate portrayal of my life, from growing up in New York City to my career on Wall Street. They portrayed my transition after 9/11 from being a commodities trader to becoming a teacher in Roseville very well. I think they did a really good job.
What are your thoughts on 9/11? I think 9/11 was a transformative thing that happened for this country. I think there is an invisible scar that runs down most people that they are unaware of. There is September 10th, and there is September 12th. The world of September 12th is a whole lot different. I think you young people born after 9/11 were robbed of a certain part of your youth. You were robbed of a little bit of experiences of growing up in a world that was just so different than it is today. There’s more hatred, more anger, and more tension, more division than I’ve ever seen, and I grew up during the civil rights movement and a whole bunch of other things, and I just feel like there is so much more outward anger than I’ve ever seen.
What is one of the biggest misunderstandings people have about you? I think they mistake my passion for anger. It’s a New York thing; we’re very passionate and very animated about how we feel and how we express ourselves. It took a while for me to understand that Minnesotans just see me differently and that I have to tone down what I am because they just misinterpret my passion for anger.
As a New Yorker, do you have an opinion on what the best pizza place is? The best pizza place here, in Minnesota (I don’t get paid for this), is Broders’ Cucina on 15th and Penn. It’s the closest thing to a New York pizza. I’d rate it about a 7.5/10, and I’d rate everything else about a 0.
What do you enjoy most about school here? First of all, I enjoy my colleagues a lot. One of the reasons I keep working here is because I really enjoy them. I love the kids, the kids keep me, and I probably learn as much from them as I feel I teach them. I think they make me a better person. I am involved in Quiz Bowl, and I’ve coached the Quiz Bowl team for around 13 years. We have a bunch of kids, and I look forward to our practices a lot. I look forward to competing with them and hanging out with them, and it’s been a source of joy for me, my Quiz Bowl team.
It has been heavily rumored that this will be your last year teaching. Is this true? I’m 95% leaving, it’s true; 5% that I’m holding on to because I want to make sure that I can leave emotionally. I don’t want to say that it is my last year in case I change my mind, but as of now, I’m 95% sure that I’m going to leave if I can just make peace with myself. I’m afraid that if I leave, I’ll lose some relevancy in my life, and that worries me a little bit that being at school keeps me moving and keeps me young. I love hanging around these kids here. I just feel that I’m not a hobby guy; I don’t have hobbies, you know what I mean? And all the things I could do, I already do. I like to read, I do read. I like to go to the coffee shop, I do go to the coffee shop, so I don’t really know what to replace these 7 or 8 hours that I’m here with if I retire. Can I emotionally and physically be healthy not being here? If you ask me again, [I’m] 95% sure that I’m going to be gone.
What advice would you give to anyone reading this article? Go out there and make mistakes. You are young; go out there and make as many mistakes as you can, and all you have to do when making your mistake is to turn the page and start all over again on something else. It’s ok to fail. Go out, and remember to be grateful and have some compassion for yourself. If you are going to beat yourself up, use a feather, so it doesn’t hurt as much. And this is kind of the theme of the movie too, is that you need to find meaning in your life. Not happiness, because it comes and goes, but meaning for your life will sustain you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Sanders, for agreeing to this interview, and if you wish to check out Ira (2021), you can rent and buy it on Vimeo. I make no money on it; it all goes to the creators, and it’s worth your $5, so sit with your folks, sit with your parents, sit with your friends, have some popcorn, and watch a really interesting movie done by former Roseville students, and I think it’s a work of art.
