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The Evil Evil Penguin

At some point in kindergarten, we had an art assignment of making papier-mâché penguins.  This may have been because we were learning about penguins at the time, but I don’t specifically recall.  I also don’t quite remember what we used to build the body frames.  Wire, cardboard, something else.  It must have been easy enough to do, whatever the material we used.

Then it was time for the actual papier-mâché part.

Oooh, that did not go over well with me.  Mind you, I loved running around outside so much that my mom always demanded that I rinse off my grimy feet and hands before going inside.  Mud and dirt were never an issue, but a bucket of gooey flour was unacceptable.  I’m pretty sure I was the only kid in the classroom who didn’t like the feel of the stuff, even if it was a thin layer on strips of newspaper.  I was VERY reluctant in dealing with the papier-mâché, and only had part of my penguin coated when the others had finished.

But my teacher wouldn’t allow an unfinished project.  So I had the task of completing my penguin while the other kids watched a movie.  This made me quite upset, but the teacher stood by her decision.  I remember crying to myself in the semi-dark classroom hearing the movie playing while dealing with the horrible, evil papier-mâché.  I hated that penguin, but I did manage to finish it in the end.  I didn’t touch papier-mâché again until many years later.

Published inAutism

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