Totally Gleeked Out

I was honest with y'all when I said that M got me hooked on Glee.  And since I got home from Oakland four weeks ago, I have completed my viewing of all the old episodes of the show, and am happy to say that I am now about 10 minutes shy of being up to date.  That's a lot of glee club, and the second season does get a bit didactic, but it's still totally worth it.  Let me tell you why:

1. Music is awesome, and I mean that as a general statement.  Remember how yesterday I was loving all the songs?  I still am.  I've probably listened to Firework a dozen times in the last 12 hours or so.  I'm totally on a music kick these days, listening to lots of music on this here blog, watching lots of Glee, even listening to music rather than podcasts in my car and on my iPod sometimes, which is nearly unheard of!  So, what's so great about music?  Well, for starters, there is a perfect song for every emotion and occasion, even if they are sometimes Glee-fully cheesy.  And music is good for you!  It eases stress, enhances intelligence and your immune system, enhances pleasure and suppresses pain, and lots of other stuff.

2. The glee club kids are there for each other.  Sure, they're judgmental and petty in a high school kind of way - which is appropriate, since they're in high school - but when it comes down to it, they're accepting and supportive of each other.  Would that we could all find people like that.

3. Will Schuester.  Really, what's not to like?  He's a little lost, but hopeful.  He can sing, he can move his body, he's a good guy with just enough bad to be interesting, and he can rock the jeans-with-a-sweater-vest-or-blazer look and make it somehow adorably nerdy and kind of hot at the same time.

And if nerdy doesn't do it for you, how about Matthew Morrison as just plain hot at a Vogue photo shoot?  Yes, please.

4. Brittany.  She is stupid, quiet, hilarious.  Not to mention a great dancer.  In fact, the girl (Heather Morris) who plays Ms. Brittany S. Pierce (not to be confused with - and let's be very clear on this point - Brittany Spears) was originally hired to teach the actors the choreography to Beyonce's "Single Ladies," but the directors liked her so much they took her on as the third Cheerio in the glee club.  Her humor is deadpan though, so you have to have the volume up or you'll miss it.

5. April Rhodes.  Played by the ever-so-teeny Kristen Chenoweth, April Rhodes is a lost soul faking her way through life, and I think everyone feels that way at some point.  But really, I've just like KC ever since Pushing Daisies.

6. Teachers, for a couple of reasons.
  6a.  I remember a very poignant moment at my high school senior retreat: we were in small groups, and each group had a teacher in it as well.  The teacher in our group told us that the hardest thing about teaching high school was that the students didn't appreciate that he had a life outside of school - a wife, kids, normal problems, big and small.  Maybe this show will remind kids that teachers (and coaches!) are people too.
  6b.  Every now and then I have a moment with one of my kids that is sort of Glee-esqe.  There is not (usually) singing and dancing involved, but there is a real connection.  Maybe it's just something we have in common that we can talk about, or maybe it's one of them coming to me for advice about a problem they're having.  It doesn't really matter which, it just matters that we're eye to eye.  For Mr. Schue, he has that moment with just about every member of New Directions; for me, if that happens with a few kids a year, I'll just be happy to know I'm helping.

There you have them: half a dozen, or rather half a baker's dozen, reasons why I heart Glee.