Meet Mrs. Della Mea

By: Abigail Delic

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This is a hot new take on Vogue’s 73 questions, with 7 + 3 Questions - 7 lighthearted and 3 deep - with everybody’s favourite afternoon teacher librarian, Mrs Della Mea!

Abigail: So question number one miss, how are you today?

Mrs Della Mea: I am super good! How are you?

Abigail: I’m super good Miss! I can tell you’re super good because you are always smiling. Question number two, this is coming straight from Grade Ten English, what archetype do you think you are? 

Mrs Della Mea: Oh that's a great question. I would say in terms of archetypal characters, I would be the hero, because everyone is the hero in their own stories

Abigail: Alright this is moving onto number three. I think I have a pretty good idea of  what your favourite colour is, what would you say your least favourite colour is?

Mrs Della Mea: I would say orange

Abigail: Could you elaborate on that? 

Mrs Della Mea: It’s just too loud! And it looks awful on me! Orange things to eat are good though.

Abigail: Moving on, what are you having for dinner tonight?

Mrs Della Mea: Tonight we are making bedeze sausage, with potatoes and fried onions and peppers, and a green salad

Abigail: Wow that is a very elaborate answer Miss

Mrs Della Mea: Very ambitious right?

Abigail: I’m glad you're eating balanced Miss. You give us so much candy that sometimes I worry!

Break for laughter

Abigail: Next, question five, what is some advice you’d give to your teenage self?

Mrs Della Mea: I’d probably tell my teenage self to take risks for yourself, and not worry as much about the small stuff and the social issues you think you have that are impeding you. There was a good part of my high school experience where I was hesitant to try new things because I was worried about what other people would think of me. I think I reached an age in my teenage life where I didn't care anymore. Take more risks and challenge yourself.

Abigail: It’s hard to think there was a time where even you were worried about what other people think Miss, you are so bold and vivacious now.

Mrs V: She’s super kick-ass now!

Pause for more laughter

Mrs Della Mea: I try my very best and you know when you get to my age, you really don’t care what others think and you know yourself. Even though I feel like I know myself now, I feel like there's so much more to learn

Abigail: Question 6, what are your top three music artists?

Mrs Della Mea: That is such a hard question because I listen to everything. I would say newer artists I love...Probably Adrianne Lenker is an artist, and she is like a singer songwriter, folk with a bit of rock, she is beyond words for sure. Growing up I really loved a lot of rock, like even classic rock, Led Zeppelin, Rush, so many different kinds of bands that way And then I love different bands like Radiohead, Lourde, a lot of female artists. It’s such a hard question to answer because I listen to so much stuff. I like some country too!

Abigail: You weren’t lying when you said you listen everything miss, you’ve listed all the genres I think.

Mrs Della Mea: My favourite musicians are probably my family. My husband and my boys are all musicians and their my fave!

Abigail: Alright, we’re gonna move onto to a more odd question, what is one of your favourite words in the dictionary?

Mrs Della Mea: I would say my favourite word is beauty, 'cause I think when I hear that word it's so delicious and how you look at the world around you, and how what you find beautiful is different than what I find beautiful. Language is such a beautiful and timeless thing. Beauty for me means a lot because I can think of all the things I find beautiful in my life and experiences 

Abigail: This is kind of a deeper one. Why do you think English is getting so undervalued as a subject?

Mrs Della Mea: I think reading and writing go hand in hand, and there is a challenge because students do not make reading a part of everyday life. Everyone reads everyday, on their phones in a website or a video game. Students find English difficult, especially those who do not read. Now we have technology and the introduction of AI, crutches that are there that make students think they do not have to write anything. It is a decline in critical thinking, to think of something and articulate it in words. Really, English is a passion of mine because I have always understood the power of story, and I was able to connect personally to it. That is the challenge, when reading a text to find those personal connections. I’m hoping there will be a return to making basic literacy a daily thing in one's life. At the end of the day stories help us to understand who we are and the world we live in

Abigail: Do you think studying literature makes us empathetic or more empathetic, and socially minded people choose to study literature?

Mrs Della Mea:I would say that the more we read, the more empathy we are able to develop, you are experiencing different kinds of points of view. I remember reading The Kite Runner and having no real understanding what it was like to live in the Taliban and reading these texts I was blown away by the experiences of what women had to and still go through. Did it make me more empathetic? For sure! It made me see how unjust the rule of the Taliban is and how it affected the characters and the real women who live there. I feel like we are able to journey along with them, and open our eyes to the suffering and the joy of the human race. 

Abigail: Last question, a little more lighthearted, we read a lot of classics in our classes. What do you think makes a piece of literature “timeless”?

Mrs Della Mea: In terms of what makes something classic, I’d say one factor is the use of language, if you think of something like Shakespeare. There are so many literary devices, and the richness and complexity in which he expresses the experiences of the characters. And there's an element of performativity, as his work was meant to be performed. There is a profound use of complex language that can derive so much meaning, but also it has to capture a universality of human experience. I could read it in 2025 Bolton, Ontario and still find so many elements to connect to and have that story resonate with me, in comparison to someone he wrote for in Elizabethan England. I think that's it - the complexity of language, the use of language and the ability of the story to connect to the universal reality. 

Abigail: That wraps up our 7 + 3, but I do have a fun little bonus question. Shout out to Book Club, pick your favourite non spoiler part of Station 11.

Mrs Della Mea: It is a great book written by a Canadian author, which was made into a television series which I’m interested in watching over the break. I would say it's a good book to read because it is riveting, it is like the “What If” of a pandemic, especially after covid,  what happens to the world if we fall over the edge and have no control. What happens to the human race, everything we love to do. In this particular case, what happens to literature and the arts. I love it because it's a good statement on why we do the arts to begin with, and it's because the arts allow us to express our humanity and it is timeless and everyone is able to express themselves artistically and I think that is what defines us as a race. If the world is coming to an end, why are the arts so important still?

Abigail: Just a word to all our readers, we have Station 11 and other novels at our library! Check something out over Christmas break. Hopefully a Christmas Romcom, I could use a break from the Dystopias

Mrs Della Mea: Yes! We also have some manga, big manga titles like one piece, hunter x hunter, jijitsu kaiasna, chainsaw man. So come on in, lots of romcoms, Christmas stories. And our wellness Wednesday is going to be December 17

Abigail: I think that concludes our 7 plus 3 questions Miss. Thank you very much for your time Miss!