get offline and go outside

Continuing the "misadventures" series of posts.

Episode 4: The Storrs/E-mail Heist

In 11th grade, my brilliant friend (who shall remain nameless) , discovered a way to forge e-mails from people.

He couldn't get into someone's e-mail address. But he could send an e-mail, using that person's name through the school district's. So, if you had a district e-mail address, something@granite.k12.ut.us for example, he could send people e-mails that would appear to have come from you.

Of course this discovery opened many doors, like sending fake love messages via e-mail from one teacher to another. But somehow we just couldn't justify that, so we never did anything like that, even if it was tempting.

But we weren't going to let such an amazing discovery go to waste either.

The first thing we did to test it was send a message to a teacher whose identity will be protected. He understood the value of humor and having thick skin, and he had a candid wit. We knew he'd be cool about it.



Our first idea was to send him a message from himself - "from the future" (which we thought of long before The Office did) - but then my friend thought of a better idea.

We sent him a message that appeared to have come from the school district that went something like this:

"We've received copious amounts of e-mails and phone calls from parents complaining about the way you run your classes," and then warned that disciplinary action may be taken.

We gave it a day, and then went to him after school and asked if he'd received any strange e-mails. It didn't take him long to connect the two, and he realized we'd sent it. He confessed that the e-mail had left him flustered, and he was glad it was a fraud.

And then his own mischievous nature kicked in and with great excitement he suggested we use our newfound power against a rival teacher of his, Mrs. Storrs.

Now, you should know that Mrs. Storrs is someone who has been repeatedly honored by the state of Utah for being "the best" teacher in the universe. In fact, the school for years (and probably still does) put out a huge banner on the front congratulating her.


That's her standing next to the President. (http://www.ccsso.org/projects/national_teacher_of_the_year/state_teachers/2005/5765.cfm)

She teaches math and because of her "goodness" as a teacher her class is loaded with laptops, fancy projectors, and all kinds of toys. Most of which are redundant or unnecessary. She is a good teacher. But ... everything eith her is ... candy-coated, and she puts a lot of emphasis on teamwork, and role-playing, etc.

So students in her class sit in "teams" with designations like "you're the captain you speak for your team" and "you're the first mate so you get the supplies for your table," etc. Which many teachers and students find extremely cheesy--The teacher mentioned above (henceforth Teacher A), my friend, and I were all on that list.

Also many other teachers resented Storrs for her awards and celebration when, truthfully, some of them were just as good, or perhaps better. Teacher A was among this list. He was a brilliant teacher but received little credit because he was a rogue and sometimes known to be mean or lazy, so those who liked him loved him but most people didn't.

So of course he wanted us to use our new power to pull an operation against Storrs, which we were more than happy to do. So, jointly, the three of us designed our plot.

--First we were going to send an e-mail notification to Mrs. Storrs from "the school board" informing her that a district employee was coming to film her class, to be used in a documentary on "good teaching." That she should be prepared on such-and-such date for him to drop by between the hours of this and that. (I don't remember those details.)

Then we coordinated with a friend of ours, who was much older than us--young twenties, and he was going to show up with a camera and film Storrs' class. We planned for him to do increasingly absurd things, like make the class get in a circle to clap, play twister, and--if possible--hold hands and sing kumbaya. Our friend accepted.

To add to his legitimacy, Teacher A was going to lend us his district badge, to give our friend some credentials.

We sent off the e-mail several days in advance, and everything was set.

Until Teacher A chickened out. I'm not sure why the change exactly, cold feet I guess. But for whatever reason he wanted us to do the operation without him. He still wanted it done, but he didn't want to take any fallout when the plan went awry.

Losing the support of our primary backer gave us second thoughts .. and we pulled the plug on the whole thing, aborting it.

However it was too late to retract an e-mail that'd already been sent bythe district.

So we laid low for a while.

Several of our friends were in her classes, and reported to us. People who didn't know we were behind the whole thing.

"Yeah Storrs seemed really disappointed today."

"Oh, why is that?" I'd respond innocently.

Apparently she'd instructed them all the day before to wear something nice and to be on their best behavior. And that the day of, she was dressed in nearly-formal attire.

But no one came.

To this day, she probably still wonders why she never heard back from the district.

So to you too, Storrs, I apologize.