Hello friends, family, and strangers (I flatter myself)! I am a recently-graduated girl finding my way in the "real world" (apparently, I've been floating around the fake world for the past two decades). Many of my friends' "real world"s consist of cubicles, nine-to-fives, marriage, babies, and other such grown-up things. My real world looks a little different. Yes, I still get up and go to work every morning, same as they do. But instead of battling fax machines, computer programs, disgruntled spouses and dirty diapers, I arm myself against a legion of 14-year-old boys. Well, 83 of them to be exact. You see, I teach 8th-grade boys' Science in an inner-city, high-poverty school. What it is not: glamorous, prestigious, boring. What it is: humorous, heartbreaking, and the most challenging thing I will ever do.

The stories I tell and the people I describe are real; you can't make this stuff up. If you are new to my blog, I hope you'll start at the beginning and fall in love with its characters, just as I have.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Heard at the Lunch Table

There are few kids that I realllly can't stand. Jaquais is one of them. This kid is just a jerk. Every time I tell him to do something or ask him to help with something:

"I ain't ABOUT to walk in a line." "I ain't 'BOUT to pick up that tray." "You don't make the rules and you ain't ABOUT to tell me what IMMA do."

Really? You're thirteen years old and you're going to talk to me like you're grown? How about you learn how to sit in a chair for fifteen minutes without drumming a "phat beat" on the desk, throwing a paper ball at someone, or farting and then maybe, MAYBE I will talk to you like you're an adult.

Anyways, I catch Jaquais in the hall when he's supposed to be in the lunchroom. He claims he's going to wash his hands (but is headed the opposite direction). I tell him to go immediately back into the cafeteria ("I'm not ABOUT to let someone tell me I can't wash my HANDS!"). Once we get there, he sits down (still mumbling under his breath) next to Tariq.

"Tariq," I ask. "Why is Jaquais so angry all of the time? Why does he have so much hate inside of him? Did his momma not give him enough attention when he was little?"

"Naww. His momma ain't give him enough milk."

"Tariq's still on his momma's milk," Jaquais retorts.

Tariq doesn't skip a beat. "I'm on YOUR momma's milk!!"

At this point, I have to turn on my heel and walk away so they don't see me convulsing with laughter. Ohh my life.

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