I’m going to say I was in sixth grade at the time, which meant I was at Veeder Elementary School in South Colonie (School #7 of “The Twelve”), when one of my classmates brought in a couple of phonograph records for us to listen to during a break period.
Those phonograph records were Cheech & Chong comedy albums.
Yep, that’s right, us 12-year-olds were wrapping our impressionable minds around stoner humor. You know, the one about “Dave” –
And the about the substitute teacher Sister Mary Elephant…
And of course, how could you not enjoy singing the lyrics to “Earache My Eye” throughout the school?
But if you’ve noticed the blog post header today, I’m not referencing any of those Cheech and Chong classics. No, the one I’ve got encompasses a goofy commercial that purportedly taught people how to read books at lightning speed. Such a technique was crafted by a lady named Evelyn Wood. Here is a demonstration of Evelyn Wood’s technique, as employed by one of her students on an episode of the old game show I’ve Got a Secret.
Damn. If I had that technique in college, I might actually have finished all those reading assignments in the time they actually provided for me. 😀
Now there’s plenty of discussion as to whether this speed-reading technique actually works, or whether it’s a trick of the mind to summarize the content rather than to investigate its context. But I do know that there were plenty of Evelyn Wood speed reading course commercials on TV and on radio in the 1970’s.
Which also spurred this totally hilarious take from Cheech and Chong, featuring someone who may not totally comprehend what he’s read (or, if I heard the guy correctly, “compression” rather than “comprehension”). Yeah. Total hilarity. I bring you the Evelyn Woodhead Speed Reading Course.
Listen – I may not have understood stoner humor, but I sure as hell understood that Cheech and Chong were goofing on a self-help program that may have been too good to be true.
Yeah. Now if you’ll excuse me, if you’re going to do a lot of stoner humor, you’re inevitably going to suffer from the munchies.
Chuck The Writer 