Throckmorton and Brynhildr bopped in and announced a new game: “Scream!” I had never heard of it. “You’ll pick it up fast. As soon as we invented it we thought of you.”

Throckmorton said, “You just say your scream target and then scream.”  I requested a demo. Brynhildr said, “Do you remember Peter Finch in the movie ‘Network’ who recommended we get mad, think ‘I’m a human being.  My life has value,’ and then go to the window and yell ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore.’? I said yes but still wanted a demo.

Brynhildr said, “At the movies when they urge turning off my phone.” Then in a piercing shriek she yelled, “I’ll turn my cell phone off when you turn off the Coke and architect commercials. I remember when the only commercial was for the lobby candy counter.” That was odd.  I doubted Brynhildr is old enough to remember those halcyon days.  

Still, I got the idea. Throckmorton added, “At the TV,” and bellowed “Turn off all those Big Pharma ads pushing me to ask my doctor about possibly fatal or carcinogenic drugs that will make my life happier if I survive them.”

Now I felt ready. I said “PBS-TV news” and screamed “Retire that inept, reactionary, Judy Woodruff.  Give the show to Gwen Ifill.”

So liberating.  I tried another. “At the office of the Amherst-Pelham School Superintendent, Maria Geryk.  You banned a mother!  What are you, crazy?!”

So satisfying.

Throckmorton jumped in with, “To Trump at a Trump rally. Cállate la boca, cábron.”

Brynhildr grinned and said, “At practically everyone. Speaking and acting as if race exists supports the very racism so many of you want to remove.”

My turn. “At students, for writing about how they are building off one idea to get to another.” Then I screamed, “And are you going to build your house off its foundation? You build one thing on another or upon another. You don’t build anything off another.” Then, unable to stop, “At America. You stuck me with a presidential choice between Darth Vader and Snow White’s Step Mother.”

Brynhildr recommended screaming at football supporters. I yelled, “At football supporters. The evidence is in. College players get 900 to 1,500 head hits a season. Some even get 2200. And Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy doesn’t require concussions. Lots of hits will produce it. The leading authority, Ann McKee, a football fan, says (http://tinyurl.com/za4nvch) she would not let her kids play football.  She says ‘ Because the way football is being played currently, that I’ve seen, it’s dangerous. It’s dangerous, and it could impact their long-term mental health. You only get one brain.’ “

Then Throckmorton reminded me about teaching college students to study. I said, “To my university colleagues who are taking too long to get to this” and then screamed, “We admit many students who lack study skills. We should be teaching them how, just as we teach budding athletes, scientists, and philosophers the skills they need.”

Then Brynhildr, “To callers with urgent credit card information, die by drowning!”

Throckmorton took a last scream at telephonic solar sellers. My final scream was at all six candidates to succeed Ellen Story: “Why haven’t any of you said a word about the unfair use of property taxes to fund education and the consequent advantages to children who live in wealthier communities, and what you are going to do about it?”

Then we egotistically patted each other on the back and took turns reading Gandhi’s words: “Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you.  Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”  

Finishing, we screamed, “Way to go, Mohandas!”

Richard Bogartz is a psychology professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.