sabercat chronicle
"A PLACE FOR GREATNESS"
Teachers Phobias
By Kaygen Sharboneau
Would you like to know the fears of Joseph Galish, Rachel Ruscetti,
Shannon Jauregui, , Brooke Calamari and Eric Hjalmarson?
If you do, this is the right article for you!
Mr. Hjalmarson
Mr. Hjalmarson’s terrifying phobias are of rattlesnakes and scorpions. Ophidiophobia is the name of the phobia in which Mr. Hjalmarson has. He says, “Rattlesnakes swim and a few years back while fishing on the salt river, one swam up on me and scared me to death!” Obviously, if you’re afraid of rattlesnakes, don’t live in Arizona Mr. Hjalmarson! Mr. Hjalmarson is deathly afraid and tells me a story of his younger brother, while shaking and breathing heavy, “My half brother and I were fishing along the salt river. About ten miles east of the salt river bridge at the bottom of the salt river canyon, we were waist deep throwing worms and helgramite bugs, catching many smallmouth bass. The sun was beating down and the temperature was probably close to 100 degrees. All of a sudden, an unknown wake had been noticed and a snake was visible and very close, it was about 10 feet away. We chased the snake up and down the shore and I killed it with river rocks. The snake had thirteen rattles and was longer than my seven foot fishing rod. I absolutly hate snakes.” Wow what a hero!
Mr. Galish
Mr. Galish’s fear of heights is no game to him. His phobia would be defined as Acrophobia and he should never have to face it. Mr. Galish tells me how he feels about his phobia, he explains “...scared to death of heights! My stomach goes crazy every time I am in really high places and when I can look down….(he makes a frightened face). Like what if the wind blew really hard and I went tipping over? Yikes! No thanks!” Mr. Galish seems like he isn’t afraid of anything, but put him on a ferris wheel and he’ll come crying down.
(Actually Galish)
Ms. Ruscetti
Ms. Ruscetti is also afraid of heights, but she is mostly afraid of falling. The phobia classified for Ms. Ruscetti is called Batophobia. She informs me of a time and place she found out about her phobia, “Until the day I went ziplining in a backwood mountain cruise in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, I had no idea that I was afraid of heights. Maybe I should say I’m afraid of falling from great heights. On two of the ziplines, I had to climb a one-hundred-foot telephone pole with five-inch metal steps. In order to get to the bench and zipline, I had to make it to the top. This took me around twenty minutes to do and I totally cried the whole time. This was one-hundred times scarier than the actual zipline, that part was a biggy.” I just bet she loved the ziplining part!
Ms. Jauregui
Ms. Jauregui's petrifying fear is of clowns. Her phobia is called Coulrophobia and it is not a good fear to have or even a healthy one. The tale she has to tell me is one from her childhood and it is very creepy, “I am afraid of clowns.This started when I was in the fifth grade. I was at a sleepover and my friend had a room full of clown stuff: Clown stuffed animals, a clown lamp, a clown picture hanging up on the wall. All of us were sitting on the top bunk of her bed talking and she told us how she actually hated clowns. She said that her grandma always sent her clown things and she felt bad not displaying it. Right then, one of the clown pictures fell off the wall and shattered on the floor. Since then, I’ve been afraid of clowns, plus John Wayne Gacey, do I need to say why?” Geez, must really suck to have such a phobia, but then again almost everyone is afraid of clowns.
Brooke Calamari
“Spiders have always scared me more than anything! Something about them really creeps me out! When I was younger it was so bad I would cry at the sight of a spider, even in picture form. One day while watching TV I was eating oreos and my hand began to to itch! So I continued to scratch it, not looking down at my hand! I then proceeded to take the next bite of the oreo! When I looked down I saw a huge spider on my hand near my oreo! I threw the entire pack of oreos at the TV and ran outside! Ever since that one incident there have been more and more cases of spider mishaps!” Spiders in your oreos huh? How does that sound? Your phobia would be Arachnophobia definitely.
