This is what the Benton classmates remembered: Walt Disney drawing. He drew constantly. He drew even though it was not always socially acceptable to draw. “It was kind of sissy for a guy to draw, “Walt Pfeiffer admitted, but that did not deter Walt Disney. He drew and drew well for a boy his age. He drew until it became the primary source of his identification at Benton: Walt Disney, the artist. “Even in our old 7th grade in Miss Beck’s room,” a classmate recalled, “we all knew you’d really be an artist + genius of some kind…& when I heard that you couldn’t draw I sure set some of them straight. Because even in the 7th grade that’s all you did.”
–Neal Gabler, Walt Disney: the Triumph of the American Imagination. p. 29
It is all about passion, isn’t it? What would people say about you from the 7th grade?
Me? I was tall, skinny and just a little geeky. Imagine that. Hmmm…I was probably talking about The Empire Strikes Back. Not even dreaming about a Disney filled life.
http://www.imaginerding.com
Heck in 7th grade I was being thought of as both an artistic talent (I was always drawing) and an engineering genius (I was always building things).
I definitely didn’t turn out how I was seen in 7th Grade.