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I've Made It!

The custodian asked me to write him a letter of reference today and we started talking. Turns out he went to school here when he was a kid. He asked how long I've been here and I said this was my 7th school year (longest of any teacher here, sadly enough), and he said, "Girl, you the OG of this school! You seen it all!" (If you don't know what "OG" means, you lead a sheltered life and should get yourself educated here). Apparently some adult had said something about me and one of my kids spoke up and said, "Don't you be talking bout my teacher! Don't nobody talk about my teacher!" I figure if I'm upsetting the adults and the kids feel loyalty toward me, I'm doing something right.

I do feel like I've seen it all sometimes. I was thinking of things I could write about and my thoughts sort of went like this inside my head: "Well, there was my first year when I didn't have a classroom and took over for the teacher who had a nervous breakdown, but the teacher in my hall who went to jail for alleged child molestation kind of trumps that one... seven principals I could talk about, each with their own very odd styles, the 4th grader who had a probation officer... oh, and all the lockdowns, especially the one with the potential murder/suicide across the intersection from me... I haven't really touched on all the kids who were in my class when family members died... " and on and on! It's a really strange mix of tragedy and hilarity here (someone remind me to tell the story about the kid who kept calling me 'blood') and it always astounds me that the kids live through it and think it's normal. I mean, everyone says kids are so resilient, but there's enough here to break any spirit. I haven't yet figured out how anyone gets through growing up here and isn't addicted to something... anything to kill the pain and stop the craziness - or at least to feel like you have control for a while...
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Jessamyn Harris said…
youse hella OG blood!
xo
2:36 PM
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