Mr Aniso – My Favorite Character in The Pizza Chronicles
I’m sometimes asked who’s my favorite character in THE PIZZA CHRONICLES. Obviously, I love things about all of them, but if I had to pick one, I’d say Mr. Aniso.
Mr. Aniso is the Latin classics teacher RV, the main character of the series, has during his first year in high school. At first, trying to fit in and avoid the class bullies, RV makes fun of Mr. Aniso and his supposedly stereotypical gay mannerisms. Slowly but surely, through various events, Mr. Aniso becomes not only a mentor but a treasured friend to RV. As RV learns and then remarks to another character, “Mr. Aniso may appear soft on the outside, but he’s very strong inside.”
It’s not only me, though. A number of people have told me how much they like the friendship between RV and Mr. Aniso. It’s not something that’s often found in books, but a topic that I think is very important. How many adolescents and teenagers growing up wish they had someone older and wiser to turn to when they have questions about so many things in life? I certainly was one of those kids.
Sadly, my father was never the friend or mentor I was hoping to find in those days. He was a good, hardworking man. But as an immigrant from Eastern Europe to the U.S., he was consumed by his own issues of fitting into the country he often found strange and off putting. Plus, his son seemed so different from him. I think my father tried as best he could -- and these are themes I explore in the books – but I had other things on my mind.
Questions of sexuality, for example, so important to me, were not on my father’s radar. It was a gulf that was too difficult for us to cross. I suspect it still is for many young teens and their parents. How many of them wish for someone older and wiser to go to with all their questions about life, one of the most important of which is sexuality? So I think that’s where the character of Mr. Aniso has come from. He was born from my own wish fulfillment, having someone like that to go to as a teen when I was slowly, very slowly, coming out of the closet.
As RV gets to know Mr. Aniso better and slowly opens up to the world, Mr. Aniso becomes a role model to him. He is openly gay, successful, and admired as a teacher at RV’s high school. RV realizes that’s how admired gay people can be if they stay true to themselves and don’t compromise their values. Not that Mr. Aniso doesn’t have a darker side. In their discussions, he hints to RV that he, too, had to overcome some difficult things in his past to get to where he is today. I think that helps deepen the bond between RV and Mr. Aniso. By hearing about Mr. Aniso’s difficult past, RV realizes it’s okay to go through difficult times. A lot of people do, and they come out of that difficult time stronger and happier.
I guess, too, Mr. Aniso is not only a role model for RV the character in the book, but for those of us who want to be mentors in turn. As I write the books, I often ask myself, what would I want a mentor tell me if I were a teen in a particular situation? What advice would I like him to give me? What could he say that would be make me feel better? So I’m hoping it may help anyone older reading the books and trying to decide how best to deal with a teenager questioning his or her sexuality and place in life.
These people, too, could take some lessons from what Mr. Aniso says and does. He can be a role model for so many people. I just hope someday there will be more people like him.
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