Epiphany in Baltimore

Friday, Oct. 17, 2003

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

Congratulations to the following ten students and teacher for their successful completion of the Outward Bound Peer Leadership Expedition. The participants endured harsh weather, and miles and miles of hiking on rugged terrain with 60-pound backpacks on their backs to complete the course successfully. Each demonstrated remarkable amounts of physical strength, teamwork, compassion, and craftsmanship on the course, and should be commended for going out of their comfort zones and completing such a tough, but worthwhile, adventure. Two more Outward Bound courses are scheduled for the spring � don�t miss them if you�re interested in an experience you�ll never forget.

That was my announcement over the PA this morning. The trip went so well. It was exactly what I needed � five days out in the woods, with nothing to worry about except the moment I�m living in. The reflection time couldn�t have come at a greater time, as I have come back feeling far less scattered and behind than I was (even though, in actuality, I�m more behind now because I have all the sub work to grade).

As I came in the school yesterday, unshaven and smelly from five days of no showers or deodorant, one of my co-workers summed up my appearance well: Rested & Rugged. I felt both.

I was such a big kid on this trip. Ten students went � six boys and four girls. Two are my current students, and six are my former students. The last two just answered the PA announcement and turned in all the paperwork. Many of the students went because I asked them to, and, despite hearing many �Never again, Mr. Epiphany� comments, I think they all enjoyed it. Or, they�re glad they went, glad they accomplished what they did.

The trip itself blurs the line between teacher and student a lot. Any time you have to poop out in the woods with students or have vegetarian chili that makes everyone extremely gassy, the line will be blurred. But this time it was even moreso. I leave this trip considering a couple of the students friends.

Take Robert, for instance. Great kid. I went on the trip with him last year, then taught him last spring. I feel like I�ve seen him grow a lot. After a week of him calling me by my first name and speaking to him as an adult, he feels like a friend. The kid gave me his rain gear in a storm, for gosh sake. Someone had taken it on accident and stuff it in a backpack, and Robert gave me his. He�s always been sort of guarded about his home life with me, but he told me about his mother�s death and later invited me in when I dropped him off last night. From what I can tell, he has no male figures in his life. I told him yesterday that he�s got an old soul, to look it up and, yes, it�s a compliment. Right now, he has plans to join the army upon graduation from high school, but I�m trying to convince him to consider becoming an Outward Bound instructor. He has the mentality for it, and, with a couple of years of maturity under his belt, he could do anything. He�s so into the outdoors, that I think he could do the Outward Bound thing.

I developed these great bonds with all the kids over the trip. I learned that beautiful Demetria with her long braids can fart on command to add emphasis to her comments. I learned that Ben�s ADHD is, strangely enough, much more prevalent out in the woods than in the classroom. I learned that Ashley can be extremely stubborn. I learned that Greg grew up in the Bronx and was rooting for the Yankees, but he�s still a good guy. I learned that Ryan gets homesick at night and I�m not that great at dealing with that, but I think I cheered him up a couple of times and he got stronger and stronger as the trip went on.

Oh yes. Here is some un-teacher-like behavior that I exhibited on the trip. I said, �Every time I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by your dumb ass yelling.� (They repeated that all trip.) On night two, they still wouldn�t let up, so I intentionally knocked down their tarp without them knowing it. On night 3, they kept shining a flashlight on me, so I flipped them off. It was all great fun. I laughed a lot. Luckily, only a couple of them are in my class currently.

They were all great kids, and I so needed the trip. I returned to reality with a thud yesterday, with kids accosting me in the parking lot about how their name would be on the sub�s report and how it didn�t deserve to be there. I worked a double yesterday � school and then the restaurant � missing much of the Yankees/Red Sox debacle. I still had my TV across the room from Sam Shaber�s house concert, so I listened to Jon Miller on the radio call that sad last home run. What a sorry end to the series. Talk about snap back to reality.