In this entry, Barry councils a colleague in distress.
Not long ago, I received the following request:

Dear Barry,

I would like to use some of your collected song lyrics in my class, but I have no way to present the song to the class, unless I use my almost depleted xerox card to photo a copy per student. Our school does not even have an OHP.

(signed) Despondent and transparent

Dear Despond,

What are you whining about? Be thankful you still have a Xerox card. For years, the only time I saw "OHP" was when one of our students tried to write the word "Hope." I'll let you in on a technique I have used many times in low bracket schools: You put up the screen, (an old white bedsheet will do, thought it's advisable to wash it first, and in front of the screen about two meters, you hold or support a piece of poster paper with a 1.5 cm square hole in the middle. Or maybe a 1.5 cm (square hole) in the middle, I forget which. Then you call in the principal who can't even get you a measly OHP and ask him to drop his trousers and bend down, facing the students. As he 'moons' the front of the room, beams of white light strike the poster paper. Enough light goes through the hole to light up the screen and project the transparency onto the wall for the students to see. Don't feel shy about requesting this from your principal, it's something they teach them at administrator's course and they'll be only too glad to oblige.

Sincerely,
` B.S.