By Holden Hartle

In my 15 years of being a student, I have learned fun and interesting facts about my teachers. In learning these facts, I realized that teachers were so much more than just teachers. So, I wanted to learn their stories, and more specifically, I wanted to learn how their career and life decisions led them to Palm Valley School. In this post, I interview Mr. Griffin, a long-time teacher at PVS who is one of the faces of the Upper School English Department. Here is his story.

The story of Mr. Griffin began in Glendale, California, in a year that, for his sake, I will leave unmentioned. Years later, he was accepted to the University of Redlands and attended there for a year. During that time, he became very close with his English professor, who taught him the importance of books and literature in general. After that year, he transferred to UC Berkeley where he finished his B.A. in English Literature. Once he finished his B.A., he took a gap year in Europe before returning to UC Berkeley for his Masters. But, he didn’t want to pursue a Ph.D. Though he still loved English, he decided to pursue a different career path–film.

He was accepted to the UCLA Film Department as he was receiving his Masters but turned it down. He decided that he had “had enough of school.” Instead of pursuing film in a classroom, he booked a flight to The Big Apple and dove right into the industry. Of course, you don’t hop off the plane and start working on movies. First, you need money to afford the necessities, which Mr. Griffin made through various jobs, such as being a waiter. He needed these jobs to “stay alive.”

He started out on the bottom of the totem pole in the film industry as a Production Assistant; among many of his responsibilities was “fetching coffee for Al Pacino.” Eventually, he worked his way up to 2nd Assistant Director, and then to 1st Assistant Director. From there, he became a Production Manager and then landed a job as a Producer. His last major job was as a Producer on the TV series Nip/Tuck. But, what changed? Why isn’t he still in the film industry?

During his time in New York, his mother suddenly grew ill. He flew back to California, and his mother passed away. Losing his mother motivated him to spend time with his father, with whom he never had much of a relationship. So, he decided to relocate from the East Coast to California and pursue his career in the heart of the Hollywood beast. In the years leading up to his father’s death, Mr. Griffin grew extremely close to his father.

In the late 90s, Mr. Griffin bought a home in Palm Springs and moved there to enjoy the warmer climate and easier lifestyle. He continued to work in the film industry for another ten years, working on various projects in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami, and San Diego.

While in Palm Springs, he joined the Gay Men’s Chorus and met Mr. Sarkis. The pair were both baritones and sat next to each other. Mr. Griffin described their behaviors as being “mischievous towards everything.” They had similar interests, and soon enough, their friendship blossomed.

One day, Sarkis invited Mr. Griffin to a Marywood Palm Valley Middle School production of Guys and Dolls. Like any sane person, Mr. Griffin was dubious about seeing middle schoolers attempt to perform a play, but he attended out of friendship for Mr. Sarkis and found the production not only surprisingly entertaining but also impressively professional and unbelievably charming. This is how Mr. Griffin became connected to the school. After 30+ years in the film industry, he’d found that the work just “wasn’t that glamorous anymore,” so when Sarkis asked for his help on upcoming middle-school productions, he jumped at the chance. This transitioned into him accepting a job to teach 9th-grade English at the school so that he could return to his first love, great literature.

About ten years later, he is still teaching 9th-grade English, along with AP English Literature, all the while inspiring the next generation in the same way that he was inspired by his professor at the University of Redlands.

Editor: AJ Patencio