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Dossier of DaMAD Staff Cast
of Characters
Here is a list of the characters for the D'MAD Staff cartoon series along with their background information. Their pictures will be added in the near future.
These characters were loosely developed from actual people I worked with for five years as the three-dimensional (3-D) art teacher at a Fine Arts magnet school: A.K.A Jones Elementary and Bryan Academy for Visual and Performing Arts (BAVPA). Well, it was actually just a department within a school. All of the students in grades 3, 4, and 5 had to rotate during the academic year through the fine arts areas: Dance, Music (choir, band, and strings), Art (2-D and 3-D), and Drama. I have since added the literary arts as well. The names were changed to protect the guilty.
The name of the magnet school for the cartoon strip is the Rizzle Academy for the Arts.
Dr. Lorna
Dinkle: Principal
A magnet (sometimes called "maggot") school campus for grades 5 and 6
in
African-American
Divorced, one son attending
Hair dyed red with lots of long braids and plastic barrettes
Most of her clothes have dots
Has a Ph.D. in educational administration
Vociferous and speaks Ebonics; i.e., "Wot fo you dat
off in here?"
Wears a plastic coil key ring on her wrist
Teachers call her "high-low" and
"dotty"
Favorite foods are shrimp pizza,; brown sugar and catsup
sandwiches, Praline
Pecan mixed with mint chocolate chip ice
cream , and diet Dr. Pepper with
a squeeze of a 1/4 lime
Favorite music: R&B
Miss
Allyson Crilly: Choir teacher
Single, never married
Sanguine personality temperament
Always fashionably dressed in bright colorful clothes,
except for gaudy jewelry,
and uses "proper etiquette"
Wears lots of make-up
Blonde
Has a great memory for names, facts, trivia and things
she's heard, but cannot
remember where she places things; i.e., where
she parked her car
Habits: carries forearms level to the ground and wrists
bent
points fingers a lot
forgetful
loves food and parties
Favorite foods:
Pumpernickle and Pimento loaf sandwiches, black olives, mashed
potatoes, corn on the cob, minced meat pie,
and cranberry juice mixed
with vokda and Sprite
Favorite music: likes 'em all!
Ms. Chu
Terminally pregnant!, about 8 months and suffers from
about every malady
associated with pregnancy; no other children
Divorced, been married 12 times
Never gets facts straight and talks a lot
Exaggerates
Japanese
Hair dyed blonde
Born and raised in
Favorite foods:
Anything eatable-especially Styrofoam hockey pucks (rice cakes)
and specialty coffees Always has stashes of food readily available,
seems
to eat incessantly, but doesn't gain weight
Favorite music:
soft jazz
Mrs. Sharon
Two-Eagles: Drama teacher
Native-American, Ojibwe
Married with 3 children; two girls and one boy in
elementary school
husband is a truck driver
Laid-back, sarcastically banters with Ramses.
Speaks only in Sheaksperian old English
Served 6 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, 101st Air
Born Div.
Grew up on Milacs
Lake Indian Reservation in
Favorite foods:
Fried bread, spetzle, rouladin, chili with corn bread, and
chocolate milk
Favorite music:
country
Mrs. Mable McCurdi: Art teacher
Has a secret night life as "Miss Big" the
motorcycle riding graffiti artist
(She teaches a graffiti painting course to
street kids -after dark- on an
abondoned railroad box car.)
Has been a teacher for 35 years
Widow: husband died from injuries when his snowmobile hit
a moose in the
Boundary Waters Canoe Area (the moose's head
is mounted on the wall
in her house, but was not killed in the
accident--rumors abound as to
how Mable acquired it.)
Petite, about 5 feet tall and 95 pounds
Suffers from gastro-intestinal problems (belches a
lot and flatulent)
Has a master of fine arts degree, ceramics, and often
covered with clay.
Favorite foods:
Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, turtle soup (she catches her own
snapping turtles along the
Favorite music: none, she doesn't like music (always
turns off hearing aid when
in music rooms)
Roberto
Antonio Michelangelo Sebastion Eduardo
Photography teacher
An exchange teacher (from
Exchange Program.
Married, wife is a private detective, no children
An inventor and the most technology literate of the
staff,
"Mr. Fixit" for the school
Always carries two or three cameras
Talks intellectually; i.e., sees a ladder as an
"ascending, descending apparatus".
Sarcastic
Favorite foods:
Refried beans, chicken fajitas, a variety of hot peppers, split pea
soup, potato chips, and Squirt.
Favorite music:
rock opera
Mr. Hertel
Truitt: Orchestra instructor
Bald, Urban Cowboy
Single
Usually wears sunglasses, a Bemidji State University
T-shirt, and has
earphones around neck that is connected to a
CD player attached to his belt
Often uses a laser pointer while instructing
Into organic gardening and self-sufficiency
lives in apt complex and raises food on
balcony and in living, bath room
Favorite foods:
steak, baked potatoes, anything pickled, German Chocolate cake,
popcorn, and home brews.
Favorite music: Country
Ms. Grace
Stutz: Dance instructor
African-American
Single, divorced
Loves to argue
A maladroit, trips over the tape she puts on the floor to
position her students
Has a storage closet full of masking tape, always carries
a roll of masking tape
on her wrist.
Has a habit of bobbing her head, left-to-right, when she
talks
Tallest of the staff
Favorite foods:
Grits, chitlins, frozen peas, white cornbread, blueberry
cheesecake, and any beverage with caffeine
Favorite music:
Renaissance, Gregorian Chants, and Baroque
Joqweesha
Student: every teacher's nightmare!
Only the back of her head, hands and feet are ever seen
by the viewers.
Rastus
Full-time pain in the stomach
Chew
A connoisseur of cigars and beers, though obviously never had either
Likes the music of John Denver and Sheena Easton
Insightful, has commentary on situations around Chew Lynn
Often has a double entendre of what he hears
Favorite foods:
Pheasant, wild rice, spritz cookies, and peanut M&Ms
Situation story lines
fund raising for
electronic keyboards in band
faculty talent
performance
Chew
field trip to _____
children's theater
teacher meetings and
inservices
teacher's on summer and holiday breaks
teacher conferences;
i.e., music, art, drama, etc.
parent/teacher
conferences
RAMSES' inventions
Martha's night escapades
as a graffiti artist
dating situations of the
single DaMAD staff
student discipline
problems
preparing for student
performances and art shows
faculty arts show
on the job injuries
teacher quirks/habits
rumors of school
closings and staff cuts
fashion trends
Joqweesha's antics
spending a week-end at
school due to blizzard
having to report
physical abuse of student by a parent
Grace gets withdrawl
symptoms when all her masking tape is stolen by Joquisha
teachers overwhelmed by
paperwork required by the central office administration
teacher strikes
school bus accident on a
field trip
waiting after school for
parents to pick up their children
"Miss Big's"
classes on the railroad car
visits to the school by
famous singers, actors, and musicians
Chu Lynn's nightmares
and eating habits
rumors of closing the
school
what happens when the
principal is absent
teacher evaluations
school furnace goes out
in January
Rastus's double
entendres
building drama sets
school district campus
closings and staff cuts
fashion trends
national education
standards
visit/field trip to
holidays