7-15 Tu 10:37 AM
What's there to write about? I'm sitting at the same desk in the same room where I wrote this yesterday. Shirelle put some leftover baked chicken in a Tupperware bowl for me to eat. A woman just walked in, an Asian woman. She's new here. She had some questions, but I told her I was new here, too. I asked her name. She said, "Suki." I want to see the movie "Contact", based on Carl Sagan's book about alien contact with Earth. Maybe after work tonight. I need to call DMV about my license. Louie won't do any work. I gave him some vocabulary to do, and my speech about how a strong vocabulary will open doors, but he's not interested. I said, "O, do you want to join a gang?" He said, "I'm already in a gang." I said, "O, which one?" He said, "DMK." I said, "What's that mean?" He wouldn't tell me. The other kids hypothesized, "Drugs. Murder. Karjacking." I asked, "What do you do? Spraypaint walls?" "No, that's taggers." "Rob liquor stores? Beat up old ladies and steal their money?" He laughed and shook his head and said no to each postulate.
There's a girl named Marcela in this class who refuses to speak or read in an audible vocie. If you're willing to read lips, she'll form the words that way. I ask if she talks at home. She nods. "Do you talk to your mom?" Nod. "Dad?" Nod. "Sister?" Nod. "Brother?" Shake. "No brother?" Nod. "Was some teacher really mean to you for talking?" Shake. "Are you afraid you'll be exposed to vicious attacks, your soul laid bare, if we hear your voice?" Shake. I say, "Marcella, I know you're a smart girl. I've seen it in your writing. I don't think that you're so selfish that you will keep us waiting to hear you and never learn anything else again, because we aren't moving on until you respond to the task. It's not fair that the other kids answer questions and not you." So I said, "Okay. Forget sentences. All you have to say is 'Do' as in 'Do Re Mi', and we'll move on. She just mouths it. We go around the room. Each kid says, "Do," but when we get to Marcela: Nothing. I say, "I guess we won't have time to watch the movie."
Well, now it's three o'clock. I'll call Jackie Fane when I get home. I'll write. What else is there to do? My life is pretty boring. I need a new battery for my camera. I want to go to a movie. I want to sit in a cafe. I want to go to the beach.
What's there to write about? I'm sitting at the same desk in the same room where I wrote this yesterday. Shirelle put some leftover baked chicken in a Tupperware bowl for me to eat. A woman just walked in, an Asian woman. She's new here. She had some questions, but I told her I was new here, too. I asked her name. She said, "Suki." I want to see the movie "Contact", based on Carl Sagan's book about alien contact with Earth. Maybe after work tonight. I need to call DMV about my license. Louie won't do any work. I gave him some vocabulary to do, and my speech about how a strong vocabulary will open doors, but he's not interested. I said, "O, do you want to join a gang?" He said, "I'm already in a gang." I said, "O, which one?" He said, "DMK." I said, "What's that mean?" He wouldn't tell me. The other kids hypothesized, "Drugs. Murder. Karjacking." I asked, "What do you do? Spraypaint walls?" "No, that's taggers." "Rob liquor stores? Beat up old ladies and steal their money?" He laughed and shook his head and said no to each postulate.
There's a girl named Marcela in this class who refuses to speak or read in an audible vocie. If you're willing to read lips, she'll form the words that way. I ask if she talks at home. She nods. "Do you talk to your mom?" Nod. "Dad?" Nod. "Sister?" Nod. "Brother?" Shake. "No brother?" Nod. "Was some teacher really mean to you for talking?" Shake. "Are you afraid you'll be exposed to vicious attacks, your soul laid bare, if we hear your voice?" Shake. I say, "Marcella, I know you're a smart girl. I've seen it in your writing. I don't think that you're so selfish that you will keep us waiting to hear you and never learn anything else again, because we aren't moving on until you respond to the task. It's not fair that the other kids answer questions and not you." So I said, "Okay. Forget sentences. All you have to say is 'Do' as in 'Do Re Mi', and we'll move on. She just mouths it. We go around the room. Each kid says, "Do," but when we get to Marcela: Nothing. I say, "I guess we won't have time to watch the movie."
Well, now it's three o'clock. I'll call Jackie Fane when I get home. I'll write. What else is there to do? My life is pretty boring. I need a new battery for my camera. I want to go to a movie. I want to sit in a cafe. I want to go to the beach.
posted by johnz at 12:23 PM
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