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.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Oh na na, what's my name?

You know the song.

If you don't, you should. It's my JAM. I was playing it during class ("Whatchu know 'bout some Drake, Ms. M??"), which got us into a discussion on names.

"What's your middle name, Ms. M?"

"Shaniqua."

"No it ain't."

"Yes it is."

"No it ain't."

"Why would I lie about something like that? And why is it so hard to believe?"

This is where my kids started to beat around the bush. They wanted to let me know Shaniqua was not a typical white girl name without bringing up race.

"Well...it just don't FIT you. You know?"

"Tell that to my Mom; she's the one who picked it out. In fact, before my sister was born, I went by Shaniqua."

The looked at each other. Smirked.

"Naww, that is NOT yo middle name. Look at you."

"I can't imagine being named anthing else. Guess I'm just used to it."

"Ms. M. Lemme break it down for you," Anthony offered. He motioned to my Asian kid, Chy Ching. "It'd be like if my name was Anthony 'Ching' Washington."

I shrugged my shoulders. "So? I think that would make for a good name. What's wrong with Anthony Ching?" Chy laughed.

"Ok," Raquon finally gave in. "Ms. M, 'Shaniqua' ain't just a black name. Shaniqua a GHETTO name. It jus' don't...GO."

"What are you talking about Raquon? I'm the original G."

At this point, the class was in hysterics.

"MS. MMMMMMM!!!! NO YOU NOT!!!! YOU LIKE THE WHITEST PERSON WE KNOW!!!!"

"I'm like the ONLY white person you know!" We are all laughing now.

"Whatchu gon' name yo kids?" They want to know. "I bet she gon' name them sumthin' like...sumthin' like 'HEIDI!'"

"Naw, naw she gon' name her son somethin' like 'Connor!'"

They continued with the whitest names they could come up with.

"Landon!"

"Carly!"

"Logan!"

We had seven minutes left of class. I had lost control, had no hope of getting it back and no desire to try. So I just laughed along with them.
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