After a brief break last week, we’ve got another teacher feature for you all, and this time we spoke to our resident expert on the law Mrs. Dina Donini.
Q: What would you say is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
A: The best concert I’ve ever been to was a Lady Gaga concert years ago. I liked it because the show was good, but I also liked the show before her. Seeing all the people and all the crazy outfits they wore and all the stuff they were doing was like its own concert before the show so that would be my favorite.
Q: Do you have a favorite student slang, and could you use it in a sentence?
A: I can definitely use it in a sentence, but I had to ask what it means. Somebody told me I was “drippin” and I didn’t know what that meant. So yes, “Mrs. Donini, you are drippin today.” I now know what that means, but I didn’t at the time.
Q: What would you say is the craziest place you’ve visited?
A: I don’t know if this is really crazy but it was crazy for me because I’m terrified of heights. We (her family) drove to the top of Pikes Peak in Colorado, which was crazy because it was in a really hot June but at the top it was snowing. It was mid to late June and I had to wear a coat at the top of the Peak but it was like 90 degrees at the bottom.
Q: What’s the most irresponsible purchase you’ve made?
A: I bought these little plastic finger hands after seeing them on Instagram that go on each of your fingers. I initially got them to mess with my dog because the video I saw had someone petting a dog with them, but my family has since become tormented by them. I hide them all over the house like in the fridge next to my son’s chocolate milk or in my husband’s car whenever he goes to work. Everyone is so annoyed by them; the madder they get, the more I use them. So I guess that speaks to my character.
Q: What is the first car you bought?
A: I bought a 1998 Honda Accord
before you guys were even born.
Q: What would you say is the most rewarding topic to teach?
A: Anything dealing with the law or the Constitution. I love it and I think it is important for students to understand it.
Q:You have a free night to yourself with no responsibility. What are you doing?
A: I would love to be doing something crazy so I could have a good answer for you but I’m probably just taking a nap. It never happens for me; I threaten a nap every day when I leave here and I never end up having one.
Q: What are some recent songs you’ve been listening to that you really enjoy?
A: I have been listening to everything Jimmy Buffet related since he passed away a couple weeks ago and I can’t really change the Jimmy Buffet station in my car. I have a long drive to work so I’ve been listening to him on the way here and home. I’m kind of into ‘Tin Cup Chalice’ right now.
Q: What would your last meal be, if you had the choice?
A: Anything with sauce on it, especially red sauce. Anything pasta related, and definitely with a meatball.
Q: Do you know of any weird or quirky law currently in the books?
A: There are a lot of strange laws in Texas that you can find on a website, and one year we were looking at it for fun and one of my students found the law that you cannot sit on top of a vending machine. I don’t know if that is a valid law or what prompted it but I thought it was kind of funny. Another one is here in the state of Pennsylvania. When Officer Spiker comes into our trial law class he always mentions ‘theft of basket.’ You can’t steal shopping carts, or anything you’d carry things with in a store. It goes under ‘theft of basket’ and I always laugh at the end of the year when the seniors have ‘anything but a bookbag day’ because I think about it.
Q: If you could live anywhere that isn’t Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, where would you live?
A: This is a toss-up between the beach and mountains but I think I’m going to have to go with mountains, specifically Jackson Hole, Wyoming. If there is any place more beautiful than it, I haven’t seen it yet. Maybe I need to travel more, but it is just fantastic.
