One of Hen Hud’s most beloved teachers and a key member of the HHHS staff, Mr. Lupien is entering his 20th full school year at Hen Hud as a social studies teacher. He’s taught almost every course offered in Hen Hud’s social studies department. His favorites — AP Psych, AP World or History Through Film. He said, “I really enjoy the curriculum of AP Psychology, and seeing students have those ‘aha’ moments, if you will, is really satisfying.”
As the interview went on, the exchange felt less like an interview and more like a conversation. We asked him if he had any outlandish stories he could tell us, and with a smirk he told us that “When I was 2 and a half I was attacked by a lion owned by Muhammad Ali. It scratched the back of my head and I got 48 stitches. It formed a scar in the shape of an anchor, which when I started working here felt kind of serendipitous.” We don’t know what we were expecting, but it wasn’t that.
For those who have him this year you might’ve already heard that story, and you also already know that Lupien was out for a surgery at the beginning of the year. While he was out, Mrs. Berkery took over as a long-term substitute for his history and psych classes. Stuck at home, Lupien recounted that since he couldn’t walk, “I was mostly watching a movie a day– I would watch one movie and then read a few hours a day. I would work on my Spanish for at least an hour a day, I was listening to music for a couple hours a day. I also had my knee scooter in the kitchen, which let me cook. But after four weeks I started to go a little crazy, because it was the middle of winter and going outside is not an option when you can’t walk. Overall it wasn’t too bad though.”
Along with being a social studies teacher, Mr. Lupien has a few key hobbies and interests, including cinema, music, cooking and reading. “I’ve seen thousands of movies. I’ve loved them since I was a little kid. I also love to read, but I wish I had more time to.” He also loves cooking– “I find the whole process very zen, nothing about it stresses me out.”
Mr. Lupien loves to travel. He has traveled to 19 countries, every U.S state, and most of the country’s National Parks. “There’s nowhere I don’t want to go, it’s just time, money and safety.” He shared one of his favorite travel stories with us where, at 22, he purchased a van and spent a year traveling across the United States, by himself, with no plan. “It was easily the best thing I’ve ever done. Most of my days were spent hiking or camping, some of my showering was done in rivers and lakes. I kind of figured out who I was on that trip, it was a very developmental time for me.”
If there’s one pastime that has been the most impactful in Mr. Lupien’s life, it is music. “I’ve been to about 600 concerts in my lifetime, and I have a record collection that’s coming up on about 3000 records.” Music has been a constant in his life since he was age 9, where he saw Mötley Crüe on their “Girls, Girls, Girls” tour. “There was a lot of nudity for a nine year old kid, but it was a big spectacle– that was the tour in which Tommy Lee, the drummer, famously rose up and went out over the audience with his drum kit and spun while he did his drum solo. So that had a big influence on me.”
Since that day, Mr. Lupien has been consistently seeing live music, and he has a few stories to tell. “I bumped into Björk backstage when I was around 20 and had a little conversation with her, I’ve been to Roseland about 70 times, and seeing the split bill of Beastie Boys and Rollins Band at Roseland was pretty big too.”
When talking to someone who is as passionate about the humanities as Mr. Lupien is, the question of his favorites naturally came up. When asked about his favorite philosopher, he chose Nietzsche “not because I totally adhere to his philosophy, but because developmentally he had the biggest impact on me, as far as being the hook that got me into philosophy.” For favorite filmmaker, Mr. Lupien said Stanley Kubrick, because “I don’t think there are too many directors that have made as many films as he has and there isn’t a bad one amongst them. They’re all amazing.” For favorite author, Mr. Lupien said “Tom Robbins, purely for pleasure. He wrote these books that were absurdist, a little bit magical realist. He has one book where the main characters are a can of beans, a sock and a spoon. But it’s just so good.” And for his favorite musical artist, he told us “Pearl Jam is my lifelong favorite band, and seeing them live, which I have been since ‘92, is kind of transcendent for me.”
Our last question was if Mr. Lupien had some advice for students and life after high school. With a smile on his face he said, “Never stop learning. I think the worst thing we can do is settle into life and say ‘well I’ve been educated,’ and treat that era of our lives as a period stop.” He brought up Japanese director Akira Kurosawa who earned a lifetime achievement award from the Academy at 80 years old, who still thought of himself as a lifelong learner. “I think that’s something we have to embrace– you’re never too old to learn new things and embrace new experiences.”
