A year ago I started going to Hawaii’s only film school. There I had a teacher that, although kind of awesome (even if he gave me a B), shocked everyone one day. It was during the 2008 Presidential Primaries, and our class had about an hour before we were supposed to be let out. When this happens, the instructor, Konrad, would say, “Any questions?” A pretty simple question. I always wished for classmates to just say nothing, so I could get the hell out of there. Although this simple question would make some of the more “out-going” students ask really funny things. To be funny one day, one of my classmates said, “Who are you voting for in the next election?” The whole class laughed, the instructor a little longer. He then replied, “Well, Obama is my brother-in-law, so I guess I kinda have to vote for him!” Then he started laughing harder. Everyone else was silent. We were like, “Huh?” So the next hour the poor instructor was thrown more questions about his famous brother-in-law. The only one that I remember vividly, because I like to think back on it from time to time, went something like this: Student: How rich is Barak Obama? Lecturer: [laughing] Actually he was in debt from student loans, up until recently. He owed more than a hundred grand, until he got his book deal. He’s just like you guys. Seriously, this was nice to hear. Not only was this man of mixed heritage (like the 80% of people in Hawaii are), born and raised in Hawaii, but he actually struggled with debt! It was actually quite comforting.