James Brennan, R.I.S.
James Brennan wasn’t anyone that most of you have ever heard of. He was my high school history teacher, and he died in a car accident yesterday.
CEMENT!
I arrived in his class in the 10th grade, already a pretty deep cynic. This was in a place where cynicism and questioning things wasn’t really all that popular or encouraged. History was year after year of the glories of manifest destiny and shit like that. Vietnam was about us defending freedom. Then, Jim Brennan hit us with the forearm-shiver… BOOM! (one of his many idiosyncrasies)
He ripped us through centuries of history with a healthy dose of political economy. He was the first one who ever told us that maybe the way that all the other history teachers taught us was a little bit of bullshit. Cynics were not just welcome in his class, he created them. He got us questioning everything. He handed out fallout shelter rations while talking about nuclear winter. He got us thinking that “ask not what you can do for your country” might be better phrased as “ask what the hell your country has been doing to you.”
Brennan stuck crazy ideas in our heads — ideas like what freedom of expression meant. Jim Brennan got to my forming mind right when it was time to decide whether I was going to be a “go along to get along” kind of person, or whether I was going to take on shit that I didn’t agree with. It was Jim Brennan who taught me that I didn’t have to salute the flag if I didn’t want to. After what he taught me, I didn’t want to. So I didn’t. Brennan had my back when the other teachers screamed “commie” at me.
It isn’t that Brennan taught me to be unpatriotic. Just the opposite. Brennan taught me that patriotism means questioning your country. Brennan taught me that if you love your country, its your responsibility to try and make it better by doing whatever you can — even little acts of protest like not saluting the flag in the 10th grade. Brennan taught me that I was right when standing up for something unpopular, whether my underlying point was right or wrong, because if nobody stands up then we have mindless orthodoxy. Brennan taught us about the dangers of mindless orthodoxy and made sure we remembered them. Brennan taught us that the opposite of “communism” is “capitalism” not “freedom.” Brennan taught us that our government sometimes backs the bad guy, and sometimes we are the bad guys, and most importantly, that if you think we’re being the bad guys, it is your patriotic duty to say so. My concepts of things like “liberty” and “justice” really started to take form in his class.
That was some pretty bad ass shit to be teaching to 10th graders in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1985. And Brennan was a pretty bad ass teacher in that he could actually get 10th graders to listen to it, learn it, and never forget it.
When I express something unpopular, or defend someone who does, there’s a little bit of Jim Brennan in that act. I doubt that I would have become a First Amendment lawyer but for the good fortune of winding up in his class.
I often thought about writing him a letter, telling him about what a hell of an influence he had on me. Now its too late to do that, so I’m doing the next best thing — telling you all a little bit about him. If you don’t like who I am, you ought to blame him a little bit. If you do, then I ask you to please have a drink in his honor today.
By Email
By RSS Feed
The Legal Satyricon 
I had a couple of teachers who did that for me – Ms. Pagan in 7th grade, and Ms. Ketelle in high school. (Both English teachers, by the way; Ms. Ketelle was also the school librarian. My history teachers all tended more toward the orthodox and conservative… and forgettable.) Ms. Ketelle was incredibly, deeply subversive; I discovered the Illuminatus! trilogy in her library and it changed me forever – for the good, I’ve always thought – and I strongly suspect she’d have been fired if any parents or administrators caught on.
I’ve also meant, for years now, to track them down and thank them. Thank you for your post – it just might be the motivation I need. Sorry to hear about the loss of your mentor.
I was fortunate enough to have been in that class with you Marc, and am happy to hear that I wasn’t the only one he left such an impression on. I’ve mentioned him often as being the single biggest influence on me in H.S. and for helping to shape me in to the person I am today. (BTW, I think his exclamation with the forearm shiver was “Singtau, baby!”) Thanks for passing on the info. and paying tribute. I WILL have a drink in his honor. Praise Brennan!
Kudos to you for remembering and memorializing a teacher that influenced you.
For me – Mr. Isidore Tepner, Miss Dorothy Long, Sister Mary Kevin, Mrs. Margaret Rosbolt, Mr. Dick Steele, Professor David Gordon, Professor Edward Rothman, Professor Walton Hancock.
I’d really like to hear about the forearm shiver, “cement,” and “BOOM.”
I never had anyone like this, I had to learn it all on my own. Kind of makes me sad. Thank entropy for Carlin.
The greatest teachers are the ones that challenged you and forced you to think, not memorize. My personal favorite was Dr. Payne, my AP Chemistry teacher, who I took for freshman chemistry pre-AP, and Chemistry AP 1 and 2. I knew it was a good sign when Dr. Payne was listed as the teacher for chemistry. How can you not want to study under someone with that name? It was a better sign when Dr. Payne was a frumpy, smiling, and somewhat ditzy looking old woman with glasses that could have been used for lenses in the Hubble telescope. It was a sign from god that I had found my new home when she blew up several cute looking gummy bears on the first day of class.
What a lovely tribute! I had a teacher much like James Brennan and now you’ve got me thinking I should look him up…
When my time on this world is done, I hope to God that I have earned at least one eulogy like this one.
Thanks for this awesome Tribute to my dad. He loved hearing back from former students.
Absolutely. I especially think now a day the teachers need to know that they have effected you in such a great way. As luck would have it my daughter is best friends with my favorite teacher ever (an elementary school teacher) and the teacher lives in FLA. However, she visits once a year and I have thus had the opportunity to tell her how much she influenced me. Very kind she was. Everyone should reach out to those teachers now. Thanks for the posts.
this is a lovely tribute!