Matt+Bassler+Interview+Transcript

__**Matt Bassler Interview Transcript**

Allen Bux __: What was it like having the Hobo Day parade at west? __ Matt Bassler __: Well as you know, I went to the old Belleville west campus. Hobo Day was a lot different than it is today. This new campus is out in the middle of nowhere and I remember as a kid driving down 59th street going towards Millstadt there was nothing out there past the gas mart. So coming out here to this place really there is no way to have a parade. There’s no houses and people to come out and watch you. So, they created the tradition of putting up the frames. Which is nice, it’s great but there was nothing like having that hobo day parade. Before that hobo day parade the night before we were aloud as students to come on campus and teepee the entire campus. With toilet paper and you would drive by and would say what in the world just happened here. The parade itself was pretty special for me because I was on the football team, we weren’t very good, but I was on the team and one of our team mates who his family owned a huge farm got these tractors and pulled these huge tractor with the whole football team on the back of it. The entire student body walked down West main street all the way to the fountain and we followed on this tractor and everybody was just there. It was just really neat to see everybody dressed up and the kids dress up today but nothing was like what it was like back then. Everybody got into it back then. __Allen Bux __: During your time at west what was your fondest memory? __Matt Bassler __: I think my fondest memory at west has to do with playing sports. The only sport I played was football but the best part about football for me was the weight room. The weight room was kind of, I don’t know how you would describe it. It was a family what it really was, more than anything else was on this campus because it overlapped all sports. It wasn’t just football it was basketball, volleyball, I mean everyone was. Girls softball was a big program that was in there back then. The guiding force behind that was Jesse Swift, who still works here today. He is a huge mentor of mine and actually helped me train throughout college but there was just this fraternity of people that were in the weight room all the time because if you really want to get good at sports you have to lift weights. All it takes is time and effort. I was the kind of kid that was good at sports at first, I had to really work hard to get better, and it’s the weight room that’s what did it for me. That family I will always remember that family. I will always remember the smell and I will always remember lifting weights and it just pouring down rain outside. It didn’t matter people who were dedicated to that were always in there and during Christmas break people were at home eating cookies we were still in there during the weekends. There is another faculty here, Coach Wilson; He is a teacher’s aide and a basketball coach. He was a part of that fraternity and I see him in the hallways we have that underlying connection and Coach Swift himself too. It was probably my fondest memory. __Allen Bux __: What did you enjoy about the old campus? __Matt Bassler __: Everything about the old campus. It was beautiful, it was nice, it was too crowded. The hallways were to narrow with all the lockers in them. They got a lot of flack for Lindenwood buying that for a dollar. Overall that helped us tax wise. It eliminated a vacant building in our community that will eventually wither away to nothing but I loved the open structure about it it just wasn’t big enough for us. __Allen Bux __: Did they take the money from the old west and put it into this school? __Matt Bassler __: No they actually sold that hold thing to Lindenwood for a dollar. A lot of people we like you couldn’t get more than a dollar for it. What people don’t understand about it is that a lot of other thing went along with that agreement. They promised they would put this amount of dollars into it for the next ten years. So basically we gave the building knowing that they we going to update everything, bring it to a new level that we never could or no other business could. Now when you drive by there, they just added on this new building and all the grounds have been better than look before. They have redone the track and hold college soccer matches there and they’re going to open it up to day school. It’s probably one of the best things the city ever did. Although they didn’t get a lot of money upfront their generating thousands of thousands of tax dollars and people are starting to build around it. Thing are really starting to look good over there. I just enjoyed walking from class to class. I mean especially when it was snowing you would go from first hour to second hour you have got to go walk out in the snow. That was really neat. I really enjoyed that because it felt like a college campus. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Since you went to school in the 90’s, what were your thoughts about Mark McGwire tying Roger Maris home run record? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I thought it was great. I thought it was wonderful. People hated it because before we found out about what drug he was taking. I think the people who really hated him from the beginning because of breaking Roger Maris record. Mark McGwire is a great person, he is a great athlete. He was not trying to hide anything. What they found in his locker was not even illegal at the time. I think it was androstein, I think I could be wrong on that but androstein there were some of my friends that took it in high school and they tried to get me to take it and I looked at it. I said you know I’m not too sure about this because it had some kind of human growth hormone in it and I said that’s a steroid and my friend said it legal but I said a lot of things are legal, tobacco is legal but it is not good for you. I commend Mark McGwire that what he was taking was actually wasn’t banned at the time but it was not good for you but it was not illegal. So I do not understand where all that came from. The reporter should not have been in there looking through his stuff. I know that he did not root through anything it was in his locker he just read the label but if you not in there for a story and your that desperate I feel sorry for you. That’s how I feel about that. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: During high school how was playing sports? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: It was wonderful. It started off very difficult and it ended up being really great. When I first started playing I was awful. I don’t know if I have shared this story with you. My freshman year in the middle of double sessions I was throwing up everyday and there was acoach that pulled me aside from everybody else and asked me if I wanted to be the manager. I was no. I want to play football. I’m just not very good yet. He said are you sure that your dad making you play or anything like that. I said no my dad is not making me play. I want to play football and by then I was so insulted I ran off and joined back in a drill and I wasn’t in a drill because I was throwing up at the time. I was just that out of shape. I used that to guide me through the rest of my career. I wanted to show him and everybody else that I was any good and that my dad wanted me to play. I wanted to show that I could play this sport. I later used the weight room to get me to where I needed to be. It took a couple of years and by the time I was a senior I was honorable mention all-conference and I made the all city team. So I always use that to a story for the freshman athletes that say well Im just not good and I say I probably started off worse from where you are and ended up better. I always tell the great athletes that I can do that just think how great you can be. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: How is it now to teach at a school you went to? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: It’s weird. It is fine now but I remember when I first came back just nervous because I never thought I was good at anything. Even though I knew I was good as anybody else out there who is just starting their career. I was very nervous because a lot of these people had me as a student ans I see it took those people a lot of time, some of them, that don’t want to give you that credit and they look at me that I am just a kid and some people always will. Some people will never really be on our level. I think over a period of time seeing them outside of school that starts to wear off and people start to forget those things. I thinks that it’s harder going into a school where no one knows you. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: When Did you start teaching? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I started teaching here in January of 2004 cause I graduated in December from college. I could not get a full time spot anywhere because it was half way through the year. I was a substitute here, Belleville East, and East St. Louis High School. Then the following school year I was hired hear at Belleville West as a teacher’s aide for one year and then got a teaching job and have been a teacher for the last five years. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What did you start out teaching? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I started teaching behavior disorder and physical education. It was new. It was something they asked me to do was to team teach with regular P.E. That’s what I first started doing. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Do you remember the affair between Monica Lewinsky and how did you feel about it? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I do. I don’t think back then I cared too much about it one way or the other, I was not mature enough to know what it really meant. I know there was a lot of joke s about it. I appreciate David Letterman making fun of it when I was a kid. I think what I have grown to to the opinion later on in life is that I feel bad for him in a way. What he did was completely wrong and I think anytime eyour married and you cheat on your spouse I think that’s awful. At the time that was kind of a side event that he was politically. I know the president should have the most character in the whole world. There has been other presidents that have cheated on there spouses years ago that it was no big deal. The shouldn’t have questioned his presidency maybe his reelection or holding some other some other office. They took it a little out of proportion. I think its awful what he did though. I feel bad for his wife. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Were there any concern that you or your fellow students had for the new millennium ahead? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I’m that guy who knew nothing was going to happen. I don’t think anything going to happen because eif we really believe that then we are pretty self centered. You know we have only been here a couple thousand years and the United states isn’t even 500 years old. That our generation was the one to see the end of the world and every generation always says that their generation is going to see the end of the world. I remember the Y2K thing and I thought it was a bunch of crap. The funny thing that everyone was partying it up like its 1999 and I remember that new years eve I had 102 fever and I could not do anything. So I watched it turn midnight and went to bed and woke up and everything way normal. I feel the same way about the December 2012 thing. Somebody needs something to get all worked up over. That’s all that is to me. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: How was the development of window 95 help you through school? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: It didn’t the only class I only typed in was Mrs. Tiney’s Business law class. It was my senior year in High school I never typed anything before that. I remember I was a slow tipper because ei never learned how to and when I did teach myself I taught myself the wrong way. I had a broken finger from football when I was learning so I had to watch myself today because sometimes I will catch myself doing that. I was very behind the game with electronic. I was talking to Miss. Ursani about how do you know all these things to do and because she grew up during the time of all that stuff was coming into effect. I didn’t have a personal e-mail address until my senior year of college. In college I still saving everything on a floppy till 2003. I have been forced to teach myself everything like PowerPoint and all that stuff. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What was your first CD and how did it effect you ? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: CD’s were very new. I Remember we had caset players all the time and you fast forward and you rewind. Some of them get warn out after you play them a lot. I grew up kind of poor I didn’t have a lot of this stuff. My friends did but we didn’t have much at all. I remember going to my cousins house and he had this sony stack CD player. I asked what a CD player was and he said it’s the same thing as the tape but you put it int a different way and I asked why would you want that. So he said check it out. He had five in at the same time. Which was crazy weird to me so there in there and he would play a son and would skip to another song and I asked how did you do that. I could not grasp that you could skip because you have to fast forward to the song you want. The CD was all organized and you could skip to whatever song you wanted to. I just thought it was the neatest thing that I had ever seen in my life. The first CD that I bought was Metallica Black and that was in the late 90’s. I was amazed that I could play my favorite song repeatedly. That’s what I remember most about CD’s. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What was your reaction to the OJ Simpson trial? Why? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: There are two reactions that I have to the OJ Simpson trial. I really didn’t know, it was my freshman year in high school. Wanted to play football and I knew that OJ was a famous player but I didn‘t know what he played and I really didn’t know how famous he really was until later in life. I remember being in the barber shop and people talking about there is no way he is getting off with it. I remember another event happening that I have a lot of respect for was when Tupac was killed. Same year, people were in the halls crying when they found out that Tupac had been killed. I thought that it was stupid. He’s a rapper and I didn’t understand rap music then but I love it today and that he was a for father for that today. I didn’t appreciate that event and the same way with the OJ trial. In drafting my freshman year Mr. James was the teacher at the time. We listened to the trial everyday because we would just have the radio on just like in art classes because it helps you work. So I pretty much got to listen to the entire OJ trial from beginning to end but I was really too immature to understand what was going on at the time. I was just like really he’s innocent after all of that. I just didn’t understand how they could have let him off like that but looking back when he tried to steal his memorabilia back a gunpoint bad people are somehow going to hang themselves anyway. I think that it is just awful that someone could just get off with murder like that. Maybe he did not do but I am not a judge and I never want to be. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: How did the sitcom “Friends” effect your life? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: It had zero effect on my life and I hated that everyone always talked about it. I watch the show and I guess I get it now but it’s wasn’t that great of a show. There are so many other shows out there that are way better than that and it got more credit than it deserved. I know when I say that, that I am a minority when it comes to that about Friends, not many people think that about the show, and I get in a lot of trouble for that. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What was your reaction to the movie “Titanic” and all of its success? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Again at the time I thought that it was ridiculous that people would go see that movie multiple times. I didn’t even see the movie until I was in college and I fell in love with. I probably watch that movie at least once a month now. I remember I got a lot of flak from my roommates for watching the movie because I like to watch movies over and over again when I go to bed. The movies that I watch have to be good and wholesome movie. During my senior year in college, I would watch the first half of the movie every night before I went to bed because the last half was scary and depressing. I have things for ships and I was on a cruise, I think that’s what fed me to watch that before I went to bed every night because I loved to be on the open water in a ship. That’s what living life is to me today. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Did you participate in Donkey basketball and if so how was your experience? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Yes I did! It was fanfabulous. I have two stories about this. I was a big guy back then just like I am now and I had the biggest donkey. I got on this donkey as a senior in high school at the gym at the old Belleville West. My donkey starts to walk across the floor and everybody starts cheering for me and laughing. I was like yeah that’s me Matt Bassler riding a donkey and I found out that they were cheering because my donkey was pooping as he was going across the floor. So they weren’t laughing with me they were laughing at me. So the second story I have with that one is that the guy with the stick that makes the donkey’s go thought it would be funny to get this fat kid going on this donkey and when he did the stick thing my donkey went crazy. So I clench my legs and hold on. For whatever reason the donkey just stops and throws me into the stands. As the donkey stopped I saw two small children and thankfully they got out of the way. When I fell my side hit the corner of the bleachers and I thought I broke a rib. I was in a lot of pain but I was fine. I had a big bruise on my side for about two weeks. It was really neat because I got the assist and I saw my friend cherry picking down the court. I threw it to him to and he got on his donkey and scored to tie the game up. Then we eventually ended up winning the game. I will never forget that game because I had the assist to tie the game. I also play every year as a faculty member. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Who was your favorite teacher and why? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: O man that is tough. I had a lot of favorite teachers. Mr. Harris was one of them we is no longer here. I have been trying to find out what happened to him. Sharon Carter was also my other favorite teacher. She was just awesome. She has since retired and she taught maroon magic and concert choir. She was just a lot of fun. I am trying to think. Mr. Brigerman was a lot of fun and he helped to inspire me to get into teaching as did Mr. Guest who taught P.E. I thought that it was really cool that you could have a job and work with kids at the same time. Mr. Brigerman was the one to let me know about teaching because my mo did not want me being a teach. She told me that teaching was not what you want to do because that’s what she did for awhile and you don’t make much money. Mr. Brigerman let me know, if you got in the right district that you could get paid well. That when I decided to become a teacher. Mr. Mertens was one of my favorite teachers. He taught algebra when I was here he was a great teacher. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: How was the freedom at the old school and being able to go outside? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: The freedom was great. I thought that it was really neat that you could go get a snack during drivers ed release and you could get a pretzel with cheese and sit outside. My other memory was walking to school because I lived on 30th street and a lot of us would just walk to school every day. Sometimes we would stop at convenient mart and grab something to drink. Then we would head over the tracks and I just remember sitting watching a train go by, being 15 years old at the time it was sort of surreal. You really don’t see that much today anymore with buses and everything else. I liked the freedom of being able to walk from class to class and go outside at the same time. The bad thing was is that we had more smokers back then. There were more fights back then that nobody knew about. That was kind of a negative aspect. I remember several times were I saw a complete fight break out and it was behind one of the buildings where no one needs to go. Teachers are in there class rooms why do they need to come out of the buildings. So they had people that would float around but it was very difficult and seeing fights happen an instead of getting broke up they would fight until they were done. That one thing that I appreciate about the new campus. Being outside and having the football stadium right there behind the school was just beautiful. You cannot top that stadium. That’s the best stadium in Illinois high school wise because there is no track that goes around it and there is no real big walk way. Your right there on the field. I remember that not until my junior or senior year that they actually put the lights behind the stadium. It was very dangerous, you’re talking big telephone poles right on the edge of the field. If you have a play that is going out of bounce and you do not have those things padded up right someone could get really hurt. So they finally spent the money to get the lights moved outside the stadium. People do not realize that the lights out at our new stadium are those lights. They moved those lights from the old campus and brought them over to the new campus because they were new enough to do that. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What kind of car did you drive if you had one and what was the freedom of driving alone? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: The freedom of driving was really neat. I had a Chevy Corsica four cylinder nothing much to it but I wasn’t mine. I shared with my mother. I didn’t drive to school, I usually walked to school. On the weekends, if I was going to use it I had to get clearance and ask my parents ahead of time. Which I usually did because my parents are home body people and if they really needed to go somewhere they could take my dad’s van. The freedom of driving was really neat. The first time I stepped in a car with a permit, my dad made me drive the van you can learn to drive anything. He took me to downtown St. Louis the first time I ever drove. It just terrified me, but he did during the night because he got off late and there was no one on the roads. What he did was really neat. I was like wow I just drove downtown St. Louis. I can do this. It is really not that difficult because I did it in the van. I remember the first time I drove by myself was from work and back home. It was kind of really cool to get to out of a car and go to a place, just me for the first time ever. I felt like a grown up but at the same time I was only driving a mile down the street. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: What was your favorite subject and why? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: I will give you my two favorite electives then I will give you the subject. My elective obviously was carpentry. I still do carpentry as a hobby today. My other favorite class was the music classes because they were just fun. That’s what they are designed to be. My favorite core subject, I didn’t like science, at the time I didn’t like history or civics because I was too immature to understand it but it s one of my favorites today. At the time it was math because I got it I was good at it. I did not have to try real hard and it was something that just came really easy for me. So that was my favorite subject back then. __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Allen Bux __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: Who was your favorite recording artist and why? __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Matt Bassler __<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: All right, today I am really into the rap music but back then, I was into the metal. I like Metallica they were my favorite and I do not know for some odd reason I just got into them. I owned every CD and by the time I graduated high school I saw them in concert. I made my way to the front row because the pit was general admission and it was at the Scott Trade Center which back then was the Savis or something. I caught two guitar picks that they threw out in the audience. It was one of the coolest things ever and I still have it to. The one I gave to my friend and the other one I kept for my because the one guy threw it out that was my favorite musician at the time.