fucking asshole.

now with more hook

Yesterday, on my way home from work, I saw not one, not two, but THREE hookers waiting around for business. It's like my commute can't get any better.

fourth day

This week has been Red Ribbon Week, which is code for Don't Do Drugs Week, and today we made (really ugly) posters about what we could do instead of drugs. I first let my students share opinions about drugs, which here included cigarettes and alcohal. I didn't think they would have such colorful stories -- they are, after all, seven and eight years old. I was utterly surprised. One student rambled on about her neighbor who is "on crack and she walk around the block with no clothes on and my mama be telling me that she crazy and on drugs." Another student informed us that smoking in the car is bad even if the windows are open, because "the smell stays in the cushions." There came a point in the conversation that I realized my students were much more educated than I about drugs, and this was when a girl started describing how her daddy's friend "smokes a fat one, it's called a blunt."


In other news, today at recess I was told that my hair looks like a clown. This is not the first time.

guilty

Do you ever have a dream in which you do something completely wrong, totally illegal, or grossly immoral? And you wake up feeling sick with yourself, that even when you remind yourself IT WAS JUST A DREAM, you can't help but feel guilty?

second day

Today on my way to work I did not see any hookers (alas!) but I did see a dead dog in the street. Which even I, a non dog-lover, think is sad. But it got me thinking: Watts is such a magical place that I bet there will be a new surprise on Figueroa every morning. Maybe tomorrow there will be a water main leak! Or a turned-over orange truck! Twist my arm and I'll keep an annotated list in my car!

In other news, I had only eleven students in class today. It was brilliant. We did a very long community circle in the morning in which they got to share their Me Bags with the class (glorified Show and Tell). Everyone was positively mesmorized by the cheap McDonald toys their classmates brought in. We also played Killer, that game where you sit in the circle and one kid blinks at you and then you have to "die" a really loud and colorful death, and then another kid has to guess who the Blinker is before the rest of the students "die." I renamed it The Blink Game, to be culturally sensitive. So that when my UCLA supervisors come and visit, they will see that though I am not teaching my students anything academic, at least I am not making them feel bad about their lives. After all, it could have been their dog.

the only thing getting me through this "break" week

first day

I can't really comment on how good or how bad the first day was; it was a complete blur. What I remember thinking repeatedly, though, was, "They're just so dumb!" Which is a really obnoxious way of comparing fifth graders with seven year olds.




Later: I can't believe I forgot to mention that on my way to work this morning, I saw not one, but TWO hookers being arrested!!! AWESOME neighborhood!