A quiet man with an expressive image. Walking into his classroom is a breath of fresh air for students who all day stare at blank, gray walls, whiteboards and colorless papers. My eyes flutter to all the different kinds of art he has pinned up around his room, from his “Lord Of The Rings” poster above his desk to the graffiti image of a child reaching for a balloon with the slogan “There is always hope.” There’s always something new to find every time you go in there.

Traveling down the neatly placed desks, my eyes narrow on a heavily decorated podium next to where O’Neal sits. It has his name written across and is decorated with a mixture of yellow, red and blue. A student walks past him, covering the side of the podium for just a moment. Right before the student completely hides all the art swarming the piece of wood, I get a glimpse of a monkey smiling from ear to ear, looking at a sky-blue lotus flower. It stands out next to O’Neal, who is tipping back his old beat-up stool so far back that you swear he’s going to fall and crack his head open. When he stands up I feel like an ant next to a giant with excellent posture. His signature ivy league hat, long curved mustache and large purple tattoo make him unique, but combined with his dark clothes, also make him intimidating.  Above his podium I see an outline of a panther, a crow with a rose in its mouth, a large bright flower and an eerie skull.  Then my ears are pulled into a conversation you’d never expect to hear from a teacher.

“I’ve heard, like, every Taylor Swift song out there,” O’Neal says confidently to a student.  

“There’s no way. I like ‘Blank Space,’” she replies as she puts her materials in her bag.

He lets out a long “ehhhh” before she sings, “‘So it’s gonna be forever. Or it’s gonna go down in flames…’”

O’Neal ignores her for a moment, adjusting his papers. “Now you have that song stuck in my head. ‘You can tell me when it’s over,’” he sings.

“‘If the high was worth the pain,’”  hums the student.

“Okay, okay we’re done here,” he laughs as he walks back to his desk and puts his papers away.