A Long Time Ago, We Used to Be Friends . . .

My guilt begins with the theme song: “A long time ago, we used to be friends, but I haven’t thought of you lately at all.. . .” it’s the soundtrack to my shame, the rhythm of my secret agony at betraying Buffy, the Slayer, with Veronica, the bubble-gumshoe. As I gaze lovingly at my newly arrived Veronica Mars DVDs, I hear the Slayer whisper in my ear: “What about me?” After I turn the phones off and settle into my favorite chair on tuesday night, I allow myself to finally face the ugly truth: I am on the down-low with Veronica Mars. I still love Buffy, the mythical slayer who battled vampires while looking for love and who empowered her posse, the Scoobies, to do the same. As a virtual Scooby, I reveled in our weekly triumphs, our loves and our losses—and our unrivaled kill-ratio. yet, here I am, tiptoeing behind Buffy’s back every week for some Neptune nookie. how did I let this happen?

Buffy and I go way back. We spent seven years fighting our inner and outer demons together, loving and hating the paths we were destined to follow. I’ve never known a program that made me so vividly remember the pain of lost love or imagine the horror of losing my mother. I’ve also never known a program that helped me connect with my students as much as Buffy did. From the intelligent dialogue infused with  …