For the fourth Issue of The Hawk Eye, the Editors sat down with Mr. Panetta to ask him a few questions, 73 Questions Panetta style. Here are the highlights:

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What is your full name?

"My full name, Michael Joseph Panetta."

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What’s your favourite nickname?

"I don’t have one, I’m always called panetta. That’s what it always was, no matter the students. Even the ones who could not pronounce it properly." 

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What post-secondary organization?

"I went to McMaster University in Hamilton and I studied the classics, which is primarily ancient roman and ancient greek history. And then teacher’s college of course."

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What is your favourite colour?

"That’s a good question. Blue."

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When is your birthday?

"My birthday? July 18th."

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What is your favourite era of history to teach?

"I’m going to say ancient Greece. I’m probably gonna say Greek history, it has the best stories. Definitely."

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What is your favourite era of history to learn?

"That has changed, probably pre-history now. As I get older I’m trying to find the answers to all this (hand motions signally the world around us) and the universe. The answers to all of this (including the hand motions again) is far in the past, so I find I’m just getting earlier and earlier in terms of where I study. "​

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What is your favourite book and/or book series?

"My favourite book is the Odyssey which is a sequel to the Trojan War. It’s the original adventure story I would say. My favourite book series is probably The Dark Tower by Stephen King."

 

What’s your favourite movie? 

"Oh that’s easy. Pulp Fiction. It’s dark, not for the faint of heart. There is a maturity level needed, and there are scenes that are disturbing. But it is the most brilliantly written dialogue I have ever heard in my life. Honestly. Do yourself a favor [and watch it]."

 

What is your favourite hobby?

"I love writing. I love to write."

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Do you have any special St. Patty’s day traditions?

"Saint Patrick's day? Well, being Irish and all (he’s not). When I was a younger man that was my favourite night to go out. I think if I had to pick and I was carte blanche and not Italian, I would pick Irish. They just know how to party. St. Patty’s day was always going out to a pub."

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What is your favourite cafeteria item?

"It used to be the chocolate chip cookies. I find they are not as good as they used to be. I’m going to say probably the chicken fingers, they have a good crunch to them. Chicken fingers final answer."

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How do you like your coffee?

"Black. You already knew that one, it was an easy one."

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What is your favourite part about teaching at Holy Cross?

"Holy Cross students are not afraid to voice their opinions which builds fantastic conversation. That doesn’t happen at other schools. I’ve worked at other schools where people are otherwise ambivalent to conversations, they don’t care to ask a question in class. We don’t have that problem here, yeah if anything it’s the opposite and people talk too much. What I do, and you know my class, I love conversation. I find my favourite part is having different conversations, however, contentious, or crazy, or insane. I find Holy Cross students and the culture of Holy Cross leans into it and I like that." 

 

What is your greatest professional accomplishment?

"Knowing that I’m making my little pocket of the universe a little less stupid."

 

What is your favourite restaurant? 

"I’m going to have to say The Keg. Yeah. (Viv said the same!). Everybody gets on it. “It’s a chain, it can’t be good steak.” That’s nonsense, it’s a fantastic steak. I don’t care, I don’t have to pay $100, Ruth chris? You know what I mean, I’ll take The Keg any day of the week."

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What was your first job?

"Jumbo Video. It’s like Blockbuster, but it’s a Canadian chain. So Blockbuster was America, Jumbo was Canadian and Jumbo had the popcorn. So you could walk in, take a look at movies, have the old timey popcorn, the kettle popcorn and you could walk around. I loved that job."

 

Do you have any advice for students who wanna be teachers?

"Yeah. Do it because you want to do it. Don’t do it because it’s a second or third option. The profession doesn’t need you if this is a back-up plan. If this is a back-up plan for you as a profession we do not need you."

 

What are 5 words to describe yourself?

"Cmon. Cmon. I couldn’t even do one without being hubristic. [Okay, you only have to do three]. Empathic, I’d say, you have to be. Passionate, I would say. Logical."

 

What would be the theme song of your life and why?

"I’d probably say “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses. And why? Because the world is a jungle, the metaphor for the song is the world is a jungle and you kind of have to embrace it. And you kind of need to understand how the world works in order to survive it. That’s kind of what the song is about."

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How many celebrities have you met? Who was your favourite?

​"I don’t know who I’ve met. I can’t think. I mean I saw Leonardo DiCaprio on the Sunset strip, I didn’t met him but he was 10 feet away from me. That was pretty sweet. That was interesting. That’s the only one I could think of. That’s probably top tier. I was within spitting distance of DiCaprio."

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What is your favourite teaching memory?

"It’s not so much, one event but many. My favourite thing to hear is my students learn something in my class and then they leave. And the next day they come back and say ‘Sir, I heard something in my other class and it seemed inaccurate. Like what we learned in our class, I took that class and tried to take a look at a different perspective.’ In other words, my favourite memory is when students literally take what they learn in my class and apply it to different domains and different context, to contest, or valid, or put more foundation of conversation in another class or whatever. I think that’s probably my favourite. It shows that it worked."

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What is your favourite element?

"[He was taking a while to answer so I asked if he needed a periodic table] I take that as a little bit of an insult, no I’m joking. Is there one called Krypton? I bet you there is. That’s better than gold. [We of course fact checked this, turns out there is krypton]. Shocking isn’t it, and I did it without the periodic table. Krypton final answer."

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Starbucks or tims?

"Starbuck now because Tims isn’t good anymore. It just doesn’t do it for me anymore, it’s different beans man."

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How do you like your steak?

"Medium Rare. I don't want shoe leather, that’s ridiculous."

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​What is your favourite font?

"Goudy Old Style."

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Eat in or eat out?

"I’d rather go out to a restaurant. It’s because I’m the cook and I’d rather not, if I had too."​​​

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How tall are you? And don’t lie

"(lots of laughter). 6’6”(obviously a joke). 5’7”. Truth. [‘we should measure in order to fact check’]. No please don’t."

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How many flannels do you own? And which one is your favourite?

"Oh my god. Every one since the ‘90s. I’m going to say 7. And my favorite one is the blue one with the hoodie."

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How do you feel about your room change?​

"[‘too soon’] Yeah. (shed tears) If it serves the greater good of the school community, then so be it."

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How many coffees do you have a day? Be honest 

"4 or 5. And that’s at least 2 espressos. The other are like 3 black coffees."

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Finally, what is your favourite ice cream flavour?

"Lemon gelato. [really wanted to be different here] Oh I love it."​