You might have noticed that weird-looking creature on the front page of the website. (No, I’m not talking about my author picture.) He’s a little white creature with bat wings and fangs. His name is Bolo, and he’s been in the back of my head for about thirty years.
He was born from a day of boredom during middle school (you know that period of life that most of us block out of our memories). I doodled Bolo in the margin of my paper. He was one of many, many doodles that lined my papers.
When I doodled Bolo, I had no idea why he had fangs or bat wings. He was a complete figment of my imagination. Someone asked me, “What’s that?” Eventually, I developed an answer: “He’s Bolo.” ‘Nuff said. Who knows why I picked that name. It was middle school!
Throughout middle school, Bolo went on to bigger and better things. He became the star of his own video game concept and comic strip. Now he is the mascot of our website. Why? To me he will always represent creativity. He is the creative spark that all students have simmering in the back of their minds (or on the margins of their papers). They are waiting on us to fan that flame and help it grow.
So if your students are doodlers, tell them to keep it up!