Hey everyone, yes, I know it's odd for me to be posting but I've been reading for a long time and just have to interject here.
Jaycee, I'm a public school teacher. The way I present myself to my students is my professional demeanor. My students are not around me in my private time. If they were, I would act exactly the same way around them as I do at school. I think everyone has a "professional" and a "private" personality. My students wouldn't know that because it isn't something they would see from me.
I think the Clay we are seeing now is probably the Clay that has always been there, we just weren't privy to it. He had a "persona" attached to him from the get go and, quite frankly, I always thought the halo was a bit too tight. I don't think any pictures that we have found is a fair representation because, for one, they were private pictures taken with friends and secondly, no children were harmed in the making of them.
We really don't know Clay, only our perceptions of him. I like this new/old Clay because he is free to be who he really is rather than a created caricature.
Cussing/drinking does not make a person a poor role model. It's not like he's spewing filth or tipping back a fifth of whiskey while working with kids.
I dunno. It's hard to have your perceptions altered but, really, is he that much different?