STAFF & FACULTY DIRECTORY PROFILE
Robbie Blasser
Job Title:
English Teacher
Department:
English
Email:
Phone: (510) 577-9100
ext.
142
Started at O'Dowd:
January of 2017
Degrees:
BA in Theater Arts from University of California, Santa Cruz
Single Subject Teaching Credential in English from Saint Mary's College of California
MA in Teaching from Saint Mary's College of California
MA in Social Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago
Originally from:
Healdsburg, California
Why I Teach:
I teach because it's the only place/role I've ever operated in where I felt like I was actually making some type of difference, regardless of scale. There's simply nothing else that has ever made me feel more useful.
Most powerful teaching technique:
Sincerity. Come what may, I have found students are most with their instructors when they know they really mean or believe in what they are teaching.
Why are the subjects you teach important?:
Underneath everything else, teaching high school English means coaching teenagers in the arts/sciences of reading, writing, speaking, and listening better. The better we can communicate with those around us, the better we can do pretty much everything else.
Favorite quotes:
"You really wanna love yourself? Tell yourself the truth." - R. Reilly
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.' I agree with the second part." - W. Sommerset
"It's a basic truth of the human condition that everybody lies. The only variable is about what." - G. House
"It is always easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them." - A. Adler
"Our comforting conviction that the world makes sense rests on a secure foundation: Our seemingly unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance." - D. Kahneman
"It took me a long time to realize that there ain't much difference between winning and losing, except for how the outside world treats you. But inside you, it's about all the same. It really is." - G. Gaines
"From my tribe, I take nothing." - Tecumseh
Favorite trivia:
The difference between gossiping and venting is the people you do them with.
If you were your cat's size, and your cat was your size, it'd eat you without hesitation or remorse; your death would assuredly even entertain it.
Ignoring reality is easy; ignoring the consequences of ignoring reality is much more difficult.
Morality and ethics, when done properly, are not about overriding self-interest. They're about rerouting it.
Recommended visual media:
1. The Empire Strikes Back
2. A River Runs Through It
3. Seven
4. The Big Lebowski
5. The Incredibles
6. Gone Baby Gone
7. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
8. The Matrix
9. Rushmore
10. Amadeus
Recommended reads:
All the ones I teach... and more. LOTS more.
Hobbies or outside interests:
Writing and Exercise