Escape from small-town America

Violet Blue writes today about having been named to an independent film jury with, among others, a filmmaker named A.J. Schnack. I had been dimly aware of this filmmaker before now, because of his name -- an association that will be made clear momentarily -- but this pairing with Violet made me finally Google him and make sure it was who I thought it was. Yes, he is indeed one of the sons of my grade school principal, Aldo Schnack. My grade school was a conservative Lutheran elementary school, and the idea that the son of the principal -- who was a cross between Principal Skinner of "The Simpsons" and "Mr. Weatherbee" of the Archie comics -- turned out to be a successful, non-religious independent filmmaker is both strange and amusing. Usually I think I'm the only one who made it out of that dead little burg with an intact sense of humor but I suppose there must be two or three others.