Anton Krukowski, SEL
Hometown: Manhattan, New York
Favorite slang word: Rizz
Favorite fictional character: Alyosha Karamazov from The Brothers Karamazov
What do you like to do outside of school? [A] hobby I picked up ten years ago was beekeeping. I had a student who wanted to start a beekeeping club and asked me to be the advisor—I knew nothing about it. I brought my daughter to one of these sessions, and she was like, I want to do this. So we set up hives in a neighbor’s backyard a long time ago and have kept them going. There are times when they get defensive, but most of the time they’re gentle. That’s what’s strangely meditative—that they’re so gentle, all around you, can feel very peaceful.
Blake Masi, Photography
Hometown: Fairfield, Connecticut
Favorite song: “It Girl” by Bladee
Favorite book: Spring Snow by Yukio Mushima
Favorite movie: Red Desert (1964)
What draws you to photography? You can evoke really subtle emotions with photography. It’s really interesting, the way that it relies upon the world. With photography, you’re engaging with the world, meeting the world halfway. There’s something very powerful about that, something poignant. I like things based in reality because I find reality incredibly poetic. Even just the subtle gesture of someone leaning against something or the way a tree bends, little subtle gestures in the world I find poetic and very moving.
Byron Philhour, Physics
Hometown: Trinity County, California
Favorite food: Szechuan tofu at Eliza’s on California Street in San Francisco
Theme song: “Earth People” by Dr. Octagon or “The Night Begins to Shine” from Teen Titans Go
What would you be if you weren’t a teacher? There’s this weird story where basically I had a long lost brother who I never met. We met as adults. I always thought I was going to be a journalist, and when I met him, he was a journalist. He always thought he was going to be a physicist, and when he met me, I was a physicist. So we had this weird thing where we met as adults, but both had dreamed as kids of being the other. So, a journalist.
Eric Kim, English
Hometown: Acton, Massachusetts
Favorite hobby: Rollerblading in the Event Center parking lot
Theme song: “Vroom vroom” by Charli xcx
Favorite documentary: The Gleaners and I
Who is your favorite fictional character? There’s this short story by Chekhov, and this guy sneezes and he’s so embarrassed he dies. He’s stressed out because he sneezed on someone’s head in front of him and he wants to apologize, but the person in front of him, he’s like, forget about it. [But] this guy, he’s just obsessive, his wife is telling him, “you gotta go to this guy’s house, you have to apologize.” He succumbs to his stress. This guy’s name comes from the Russian word for worm, so you get the sense [that] he is the lowliest of public servants.
Hilary Fenton, iLab
Hometown: Alameda, California
Favorite food: Gelato (Caravaggio in Berkeley)
Favorite movie: Up (2009)
Theme song: As by Stevie Wonder
What do you like to do outside of school? I love to sew. The biggest project I did was my wedding dress. It was a cocktail dress, so it wasn’t super complicated, but that was my proudest because it was fabric that my grandmother had. It was very sentimental. I was almost done with it and then I was super stressed out about the wedding, and I took it to a tailor like, can you finish this for me? I [was] really freaked out and she refused. She was like, “you’re so close, you have to do it.” I felt like it was a sign—that’s exactly what I needed. A little tough love.
Jessie Suzuki, Biology
Hometown: All over L.A. County
Favorite food: Roasted parsnips
Comfort show: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Comfort book: Watership Down
How long have you been teaching? Out of high school, I got a job in Los Angeles Public Schools working as a special ed assistant for 14 years. Then, while I was getting my degree, I took this amazing genetics class, and it totally set me on fire. So I started research and I loved it. I got a master’s and a PhD, I got to do so much cool research, fly all over the world and present, worked in biotech for a while. When I was realizing that I wanted to make a change, I was like, what if I go back to teaching? So, you could say 25 years of teaching. You could also say first-year teacher. A chosen adventure.
Laura Mendez Ortiz, Spanish
Hometown: Between the Bay Area and Mexico City
Favorite fictional character: El Chavo from El Chavo del Ocho.
Favorite food: Tacos al pastor.
A quote you live by: “Sí se puede.”
What do you like to do outside of school? Running. It clears my mind and it just gives me energy. I once ran a half marathon without training properly—not something I’d recommend! I also love learning new languages. I speak Nahuatl and Portuguese and I started learning Zapotec this summer. I like including indigenous languages in my teaching whenever possible. It’s important to learn the history of Spanish, since many words and cultural elements come from a mix of indigenous peoples and Europeans.
Max Cowan, Sound Experience
Hometown: Sebastopol, California
Favorite character: Dark Helmet from Spaceballs
Favorite hobbies: Golfing, performance car driving, and sous-viding beef
Theme song: “When Will You Be Mine,” The Average White Band
What’s your favorite food? Perfectly ripe, fresh jackfruit. The first time I tasted jackfruit, I thought: “Oh my gosh, every tropical fruit is represented in this one bite.” It tastes like mango, coconut, banana. They sell it at a market near my house, and every time they have it, I basically buy all of it. I spend a couple hours shelling. It’s got this pithy, gluey shell that you have to get off and it’s a mess and your hands end up getting really sticky, but once you get the flesh away from the seeds… I love it. It’s the best.
Mikel Inchausti, History
Hometown: Overseas, mostly in Southeast Asia
Favorite place: Lake Taghkanic, New York
A quote you live by: “People tend to listen when they see your soul.” – “Freelance,” Toro Y Moi
Comfort show: Derry Girls
What’s your theme song? So, it’s not necessarily my theme song—there’s a movie musical with Barbra Streisand from the 60s called Funny Girl that I really love. There’s a song in it called “I’m the Greatest Star” where she is talking about how she’s the best, and no one sees that she’s the best. I don’t feel that way, but when I’m feeling down on myself, I listen to that and it makes me happier because she’s just such an incredible singer that you really buy into it. You’re like, yeah, you’re the best.
