"OK."
"Cos you're not a teacher."
"No, I'm not."
"What are you then?"
"A student."
"Why you here?"
"To learn."
"About what?"
"People."
I'd been sitting on a picnic bench in the playground for about ten minutes, waiting for ideas to come to me (number one way ideas don't happen), when a boy with a backpack diagonally strewn uncomfortably across his front using one strap rather than two, came up behind me, asked what I was doing, and took a look at my notebook. I told him that I was writing a list of people I admire for my teacher. This confused him. I'd assumed he was special educational needs (although I'm certainly not qualified to make that distinction) because he was out of class, with a supervisor, and both of them held a ping pong bat and looked ready for fun.
"Put down Jack Bagum."
"Who's Jack Bagum?"
"Me!"
My teacher, who's actually my mentor, had set me the homework of coming up with a golden list of people I admire and would like to meet. I've thought about it almost every day since she asked, and couldn't come up with anyone. I don't mean to sound cocky, but when I want to meet someone, I usually find a way to meet them. From waiting outside the Astoria to get an autograph from Punk singer Brody Dalle (admittedly unsuccessfully) to becoming a 'journalist' in order to meet Jeremy Deller - if I think I'd have something to talk about with someone, I talk to them.
There are of course people I want to meet, but I don't know they exist yet, and one of those people is called Jack Bagum. They're the extraordinary ordinary people, who've faced difficulties and overcome them, human beings living normal lives, finding joy and happiness in things I didn't realise held them. Sometimes I think of the human race as a species, which if I saw in a zoo, I'd find so captivating. People all over the world, in so many shapes and sizes, with so many strong opinions and ideas and battling them out, often against each other. And then they do funny little things like clap in big groups to show appreciation, or say ha loudly to express joy, or creep up behind me and read over my shoulder, then tell me who to admire.
"Your Mum, obviously."
"Woops, she won't be happy I forgot her."
"Your Dad, obviously."
"Obviously."
"Your Brother?"
"Him too."
"Yourself."
"I like that."
"Social workers."
"I do admire them."
"Counsellors."
"Them too!"
"Because without them, you wouldn't be here."
Jack probably has no idea how much of an impact that conversation had on me. It made me think about my Dad, who died suddenly when I was 16. My Mum, who emigrated from Russia during the Cold War and has recently had her citizenship taken away. My Brother, who was born with a physical disability. Social workers and counsellors, who clear up the mess and make you feel like the most important person in the world. And how without those people I wouldn't be here today, and from the sounds of it, neither would Jack.
All that, and he gave me at least 7 names to put on my golden list. His name is at the top (because he made me), which is where it should be. Now to me, that name represents all the people I want to meet that I don't know exist yet, the extraordinary ordinary.
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