angry eyes

I had a really funny exchange with my precious former students on facebook today in which they were all commenting on/mocking a rather funny group picture in which everyone is either looking angry, blinking, or not looking at all. Here is the irony: When we took the picture at Mount Vernon, they all complained about it, and many of them refused to cooperate and decided to take the picture wearing their angry eyes. (Excuse the Mr. Potato Head reference; I just saw Toy Story 3--loved it!) Just a few short months after the trip, they mock their stupid faces, and many wonder why all the pictures of them are bad. The answer: because of a bad attitude and unwillingness to comply. Every year I make a little photobook for the kids, and it is hilarious that the ones that made the biggest stink about pictures are the ones that regret their angry eyes the most. But, I warn them every year. "You will not look cute in this picture, and it won't be my fault." Or "One day you will wish you actually looked normal when you look back at these pictures."

Here are some classic angry eye pics (you may need to enlarge these to get the full force of the facial expressions because they are priceless):

But look at how cute they can look! This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.
The trick is to not let them bring their angry eyes because they really are precious.