“Lynn Minton Reports: Fresh Voices: Kyle Chandler, Jeff Metcalf
on ABC-TV’s Homefront”
by Lynn Minton
Are you a “good kid”?
“Yes. And I thought of myself as a good kid in high school too. But I was misunderstood. I’d get into trouble – for drinking a beer in the parking lot or smoking a cigarette behind the gym, things like that – and people would look at me a lot differently. Especially the principal. He really didn’t care for me.”
“My father had died my first year in high school, and after that, when men would come down on me, I would feel cornered - I didn’t have my father to talk to or go to for help. I’d feel, ‘No way, buddy. You ain’t telling me nothing.’ And I’d stand up to them and say, ‘Wait a second. You explain to me what you’re talking about, so I can understand you.’ And the principal didn’t appreciate that attitude coming from a 16 year-old kid. But he never tried to get to know me, either. He never even tried. “
“What do I wish he’d done? I sort of wish he’d have patted me on the shoulder once in a while and said, ‘If you need to talk to anyone, I’ll talk to you.’“
“Did I ever try to be a better kid? Yeah, I was always trying to do that – trying to be good and stuff. That’s what was so frustrating. Because, as I said, I felt that I was a good kid. But maybe I’m forgetting all the bad things I did.”