Tag: Mrs. C

The Interview with A Dylan

At last! Complete, Full, version!

Credit goes to Bill Ockam

Finally, on some whim, Bill Ockham decided to post the long awaited, full “Dylan Behind Blackjack Pizza interview” complete with Brooks Brown asking Dylan questions. Yes, folks, now we no longer have to string together pixelated video snippets of the interview and imagine (or attempt lip reading to suss out) exactly what Dylan was saying. And now we don’t have to resort to merging the incomplete audio version of Brooks and Dylan’s Q and A with those disjointed, fuzzy, video clips as was done a few months back to arrive at semi-complete satisfaction at seeing this interview. Yes, now, finally, we have the entire thing in all it’s near HD crystal clearness (well for 90s quality) with Dylan finishing his tale of how he and Zack precociously pranked their favorite theatre teacher Mrs. Caruthers (affectionately known as “Mrs. C”) while prepping the stage and got her to utter a variety of expletives in her frustration.

Speaking of expletives, I was thoroughly amused at when Brooks asked Dylan what swear words Mrs. C used “exactly” while “bitching out the entire cast in the dressing room”, Dylan’s voice goes up a slight octave as he looks a way in thought and considers his words carefully “Umm m… (long pause)….I don’t exactly remember. She didn’t use all the cuss words”. To me, it’s so obvious that Dylan was a tad to sheepishly embarrassed to flat out offer up this information since he knew Mrs. C was eventually going to see him repeating back her swears on the final Frankenstein Roast video to her – that is until Brooks interrupts him and starts blatantly flings out a variety of swear words at him “DAMN” “HELL” “SHIT” and ah, yes! now it’s all coming back to him (as if it was ever that vague in the first place hahaha!) – Dylan (suddenly) remembers in agreement and – ah, well, the hell – repeats back said swear words directly at Brooks and deadpan to the camera). “And… (Dylan muses a tad.. no. definitely no “F*CK” was said) …you..you could hear it from the auditorium.” Brooks laughs amusedly “that was good” he comments. Dylan smiles and smiles and rejoins “so…that was pretty dumb”.
Admittedly, I’m so pleased that we got to see this entire interview (Ockham mentioned to me that this is it for the Blackjack Interview; there aren’t any more questions in this snippet). Glimpsing the bashfulness of Dylan as just an ordinary boy is so bittersweet. It is even more abundantly apparent to me how difficult it has been for his close friends and family to reconcile how he ended up committing the atrocity that chose to partaken in…And it’s hard to fathom that it was merely only roughly 6+ months after this interview.

Ockham also stated in his YT Live last evening that there are other snippets of Dylan on the video tape. Including an innocuous, mundane snippet of Dylan killin’ it eating some Chile’s food. And of course, we all would want to see all of this stuff, wouldn’t we? Not really because it’s gratuitous but because we have to see this extraordinarily ordinary stuff simply because it helps us to process the banality that is evil. That if even someone like Dylan is capable of doing such a horrible thing – then, really, we all are capable, aren’t we? We are all one and the same. It’s important to understand this, to own Dylan and Eric as ourselves, as we all have our own personal, private, dark struggles in life. And ultimately it is all about choices that is the difference. In my opinion, this ‘in the trenches’ approach of identification and relatability is key to prevention.

Detail shots from the theater vid

I noticed how intensely Dylan was conversing with Mrs C. He was super focused and engaged with her as if what they were discussing was of crucial importance. And Zack was like his anchor to break a smile and relax momentarily. However, his body language, with awkwardly folded arms, was all kinds of uncomfortable as he stands there enduring a social situation and trying to co-exist in a sea of people (all much shorter than himself) and not being able to meld. The sense is that he related to most of the crew around him as distant school work acquaintances. And Dylan seems to seek out Zack whenever possible and follows him around like his security blanket much of the time. We don’t really see him engaging with the other students – at least not in the 4:25 of the vid. He doesn’t even chat with John Savage or Devon Adams (standing right near him and looking very diminutive in his tall, gangly (and emaciated) presence.
Dylan is very careful with the handling of his coat. When he takes it off, he doesn’t bunch it up in his arms as most people would tend to do but rather, holds the coat out dangling before him while he is crouched near the edge of the stage discussing play technical details with Mrs. C and Zack. He may have learned to take extra care with the handling of his coat due to the fabric being “oil skin” which I’m guessing might get permanent crinkles if scrunched up in his arms. Oh, and, you gotta love the way Dylan just jumps off the stage as if it’s nothing. I’ve been in that theater…that ledge is not exactly a hop, skip, and a jump.. except for Mr. Long Legs. 🙂
Near the end, to my painful observations, Zack appears to be almost blatantly? ignoring Dylan who had just jumped off the stage in concern as to what Zack was complaining about (staring at the ceiling with an exasperated “Well, that’s just GREAT.”. Dylan says “what’s wrong?” as he jumps down and then seems awkward and rather lost that Zack brushes past him without a word. I have a theory on this snapshot of their relationship in this tiny end segment which is kind of disheartening.. Notice the rhythmic, odd hand/finger gesturing he is doing. Sue mentioned in her book that Dylan would often click his hands while anxious or in thought. It’s almost like he is self soothing.
Lastly, Dylan looks like such a baby in this last image. He morphs fluidly between man-child at age 17.