Last Friday w/ kids...

I have begun to notice that every day is a little bit harder to get out of bed. I was asleep before 10 o’clock, but when 5:50 AM rolled around, I didn’t feel much like moving. However, as Woody Allen said, “Half of life is just showing up” and show up I did.

Of course, there was cause to celebrate. Today was the last Friday with students. Next week, the kids have a half day on Thursday and only the staff needs to be there on Friday.

I was sad to learn that Ho Man didn’t make the trip to school today. Apparently, one day with me was all that he could handle. It was a mutual breakup.

First period went well. I didn’t have Jam Master Jay or The Rapist. I guess they were told that they didn’t have to go into my room anymore. I guess everybody wins in that situation. I like Jam Master Jay, but he has been overbearing lately. I think The Rapist is scum.

I am looking back and trying to think of interesting things that happened during first period. There wasn’t much. I believe today was the first day that I have ever irritated The Big White Kid before. He didn’t do his bell ringer, which was a bit shocking. I joked with him that that was probably the same problem he had on the football field: quitting in the fourth quarter. He has heard enough about me to know that I played and was pretty good. I learned for the first time that his high school went 0-8 last year. It gave me an idea for a new nickname: Ofer. He didn’t like that very much and was quick to defend himself, saying that he didn’t play last year because his grades weren’t good enough. I told him that Nofer was even worse than Ofer. He disagreed.

It is interesting that not one on the kids at this school take responsibility for their actions. Two examples from two of my best students:

1) The Great Black Hope tells me that it isn’t her fault that she is at the school (see past entry).

2) The Big White Kid blames the coaches for the 0-8 season. I was blessed with some pretty good coaches, but I know I would never blame my coaches for my failures. They aren’t the ones in pads on the field. He doesn’t seem to understand that.

We ended the conversation by him calling me a has-been. I told him, “Better a has-been than a never-was.”

I would love to strap on the pads one more time. I’d kick the piss out of him. Guaranteed.

Second period: Again, pretty uneventful. Prudence got in trouble yesterday and was in FLC all day. I later asked what landed her in trouble, and she replied, “Well, this boy said something about sucking his ‘d’, so I said lick my ‘p’.” Classy. She stopped by early to ask about her report. I told her that if she didn’t have computer access (which she didn’t), she could handwrite it. It was a bit better than I expected. Here is an excerpt:

“Nurse is related to math by measure medicines. Nurse go to college to study anatomy, chemistry, nutrition, psychology and nursing the org. Nurses should pass a test to get a nursing License. They have to take classes by being caring and kind. They have to take classes every few years to keep their skills current and they need to recognize problems and remembering details…”

The highlight of my second period was my uncle coming into my classroom with a surprise. We had been promised a new food to try for some time now, and the big guy in charge of FLC finally came through. While the students were busy with their bellringers, I got to snack on some raccoon. It was better than I expected, tasting an awful lot like beef. Maybe not something I would order at a restaurant, but atleast I can say that I tried it and can cross it off the list. I am still hoping for some possum before I depart.

I am happy to report that Iron Mike is back at NHS after a brief stay at the juvenile detention center. I told her that I missed her. She responded, “I didn’t miss you at all.” I later saw Worm with Braids, who was with her in the slammer. He wasn’t in my class today. Maybe Monday.

It is always interesting to learn how students ended up at NHS. I have had a new student the past couple of days (donned “Princess DoNothing” by my uncle) that was a straight A student, ROTC program, honors society, and was junior high homecoming queen that got sent to NHS for having four referrals. Four. From what I have heard, the first three were a bit ridiculous and she swore at a teacher for the fourth. It’s unfortunate because I don’t really believe that a semester at NHS is going to make her a better student or a better person. She hasn’t done much of anything in my class in her first two days besides talk. I am worried that she will be dragged down by her surroundings.

Third period was pretty tame, except for before the class started. Dumbo and Strahan are assigned to FLC during my class. They both came in asking for work, which I gave them. Strahan was singing, “Pussy, pussy, pussy. Pussy, pussy, pussy,” out in the hallway. I don’t like him, and it didn’t break my heart to hand him a check, which he instantly complained about. I told him to write it for ten, and then walking away, I said under my breath, “You wouldn’t get in trouble so much if you stopped acting like a punk.” I made sure it was loud enough for him to hear. Probably not something that I should have done, but I don’t want to see him anymore. He started complaining, and my uncle happened to be close by and went over the appropriate method to disagree.

I wasn’t able to get much out of the small group of boys that I had in class today. For a long time, they were huddled around my desk, asking me questions. I guess that you could say class has gotten more informal over the past week or so. Things are certainly winding down. Man Man told me that I probably had never met an eighth grader at a college level before. I chuckled, telling him he was nowhere near a college level. A minute later, he said, “What I meant to say was you’ve never met a young black guy like me before.” I thought it was interesting that he assumed I would view black people as slower than white people. I just shook my head and asked what color had to do with it.

Fourth period: After telling Teletubby yesterday that he looked like a Valentine’s Day Teddy Bear (he told me he was born on Valentine’s Day), I told him today that he looked like a big roasted marshmallow. He has started this annoying habit of saying “yup” and “nope” all the time with really sharp p’s. I told him to stop it with the p’s, and then he decided because I said “p”, he needed to go to the bathroom. It was a period-long struggle.

Teletubby got pretty upset with me later in the period when I was trying to take a short video of him on my cell phone. He was on the computer chatting away and I decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a souvenir. He told me that he could file charges against me. Luckily, he forgot about it a few minutes later.

I struggled a bit with keeping my students on appropriate websites during that period. I ended up kicking two students off of the computers. They were forced to sit in their desks like shmucks. I also gave Teletubby a check for making a pen tattoo on a girl’s arm after I had asked him not to.

Fifth period was pretty nondescript. TB, who had offered to spend the entire day in my class, was absent, as were Ho Man, Big Kid in Camo, Linda Blair, and Jamaican Mon. The kids that were there spent most of their time on the computers.

Before homeroom, I saw The Rapist lunging after Chocolate Crotch Crammer in the hallway, grabbing her around the neck. I told him to keep walking for the back door to go outside for some running. He started walking towards me, trying to pass to the other side of the hall. I wouldn’t let him, standing directly in front of him. He warned me several times, “You better not touch me.” Truth be told, I would love for him to take one swing at me, because he would be up against the wall in under a second. I didn’t touch him, and the security lady started barking orders at him before asked me how long I wanted him to run. I said, “Until he can’t run anymore.” She chuckled and I settled on fifteen laps. I’m not sure if he ended up running or not. I hope that he didn’t and was sent home for the rest of the year.

I was pretty pleased with Psycho T. She stepped up to the plate, completing both her work packet and her career report. She really does want to get out of NHS and go back to her old school. I think they will let her go.

On the other hand, Dee was a bit disappointing. She did her work packet, but I also gave her the chance to retake a quiz that she got a 1/10 on. Her mother was supposed to drop off her report and that never happened. At the end of the day, she told me she was going to get her candy for a bonus buck and then would return to my class to retake that quiz. Never happened. I know that Dee will not have accumulated enough points to earn a D. That could be the one thing that holds her back. It looks like I might have a bit of a moral dilemma on my hands.

I stopped by the nearby gas station after work for a catfish po-boy. Looks can be deceiving, because that place looks like an abandoned building, but I have yet to find a place with better seafood. Delicious.

I haven’t had much work to do as of late. For all intents and purposes, I will be done once I finalize my grades this weekend. Having a little time to kill before my uncle was finished with his work, I went outside. It was a beautiful 82 degree day, so I popped my trunk, grabbed my guitar, and sat and my car and quietly strummed. My guitar is one of my favorite possessions in this world. There are a few different reasons for that:

1) Music connects people. My students often ask me what kind of music I listen to.

2) I can tie songs to people and places. I already have some songs that remind me of Louisiana.

3) Music is a powerful form of expression. I can get out a lot of emotion by banging on a guitar for twenty minutes.

4) I bought my guitar. For the longest time, I have wanted to have a life that feels like my own. Where I made my own decisions and was responsible for my own livelihood. Where I paid my own way, did my own laundry, ate my own food, and made my own mistakes. My guitar was one of the first big purchases I had ever made. I love it that much more because it was the money I earned working during the summers that bought it.

Anyways, I sitting on the back of my car, playing some song that I wrote about a friend, beads of sweat dripping down my forehead. I had a weird feeling coming over me as I looked and saw the sun peering out over the trees.

One week before I leave to go back to Wisconsin. And maybe it was just for a second. And maybe it will pass and be forgotten.

But suddenly, it started feeling a bit like home.