By Will Bompey and Cameron Krakowiak
As many of you know, Russell Brand came to our school on November 12 of last year. He talked to us about his book, The Pied Piper of Hamelin: Russell Brand’s Trickster Tales. As part of the newspaper, Will Bompey and Cameron Krakowiak had the honor of interviewing him after his visit with everyone in the auditorium. Here are some of our questions and his answers.
Weekly Knights: I was wondering what you meant by connectivity, and what it means.
Russell Brand: Connectivity is, when, you see before, it was chaotic in here and there was moments when we came together. Like the moment when I kissed Ryan, we all recognized that it was a funny thing. We saw Ryan’s embarrassment. We all felt a sense of connection and understanding. Humor is a good tool for connecting us. There are certain points when we are all distracted by the way that we are different from one another. Maybe we have different religions, or different genders, or different colors, but, deep within ourselves, we are all emanating from the same place. We are all deeply connected, and people like to keep us separated so we are not distracted from one another so we don’t unify into a mighty force and challenge power. Connectivity is us coming together as one.
WK: How did you get your idea for the book?
RB: I got the idea of the Pied Piper because my friend told me, you have a good way of connecting with children. I think children stories are good because they have a simple code in them, the way to live our lives. Then we get distracted with stories that are about things that are not important. We get distracted about things that I enjoy, such as celebrity or sports. So, I wanted to write about something that focused on the fact that we are all one, we are all connected, and it’s more important what we can achieve together than what we achieve as individuals.
WK: What do you like better: writing books for children or acting?
RB: I like writing the books. I liked acting just then, when I was acting out those stories because that’s very spontaneous and fun. But, I remember when I was your age, I thought it would be so cool to be a movie star. I thought if I was a movie star, I would have no problems. When I was a kid, I felt like I was too fat. I felt like people didn’t like me. I felt like I was a little bit worthless. I felt like I didn’t have enough friends. So, then, when I got older, I wanted to get stuff and get power and be famous and hang out with lots of girls. But, I realized that those things never make you happy. So, I would say the children stories.
As Russell Brand was being interviewed by the Weekly Knights, a New Yorker reporter was also in the room. And, there is an New Yorker article commenting on our school. Here is the link to the article:http://www.newyorker.com/
