Gerard's one of my students in my English comp class. That's not a ball at the end of the string--that's a sleeping yo-yo.

He wrote an "Explaining a Concept" paper on yo-yo-ing and offered to give a demonstration in my class. He was a hit, as you can see. Turns out he's the 2007 Southern California yo-yo-ing champion. My favorite trick was the yo-yo with a large die on one end, that he flipped over and back and around and everywhere--not attached to his finger, but free-falling.

One young mother in the class wants to book him for her son's birthday party. I'm trying to think of what event I could host, so I can hire him as well.