Epiphany in Baltimore

Tuesday, Mar. 22, 2005

Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com

The Guidance Counselor for the ninth grade at our school is a kind, batty, and scattered old woman who was moved up from an elementary school last year in a cost-cutting move that saw my friend Bill lose his job. Seeing her try to speak to the group of kids in my room about scheduling next year is sickly funny, in a way. She struggles so much out there, especially when it's my 7B class, a group of twenty kids headed up by Mike-Mike, the most loudly dramatic (re: gayest) 9th grader I've ever taught, and Kierra, a bright but obnoxious bossy girl with braids.

Let me interrupt this story to tell you a Mike-Mike story. Mike-Mike was the kid who came out to me earlier this year. He's a big effeminite kid who can't keep his mouth shut for two minutes at a time. Mike-Mike is one of my favorites, though, because he is probably the funniest kid I've ever taught - always a tumbling ball of energy and laughs wherever he goes. He's exhausting, but so friendly and apologetic about it that you've gotta love him. Anyhow, we were acting out a scene from To Kill a Mockingbird not long ago. Mike-Mike chose to be Miss Stephanie, but asked that we called him "Mr. Stefan" instead, but with the emphasis on the second syllable, so he sounds like a fashion designer - Mr. SteFAN. He and Diamond call my house often for god knows why, and I've kept every message that they've called over, because they just make me laugh and laugh and laugh. I really should share them with people.

Anyhow, back to the guidance counselor. so I'm sitting at my desk, watching poor Ms. Blue struggling with these kids, and I'm struck by how our school system is still hurting from the layoffs of last year. I'm not sure how anyone could look at this woman and think that the kids are better off with her in the job than my friend, a 30-year old guy who related to the kids, was tough with them, and coached them. I wish things had been different last year. I can list about twenty others in the school that I'd have rather gone than him.

Today was a good day because while I listened to Ms. Blue ask the class to listen to her convulated instructions over and over again, I was able to catch up on grading.

Practice went well, although my world was turned upside down when I rushed home for my much-anticipated 7:15 fantasy baseball draft and instead found that the draft had been cancelled because the 17th team had added but the 18th team had not added. The draft can't occur with an odd number of teams, so it was automatically rescheduled. I was furious at the 18th person for not signing up when she said she would, and furious at the whole situation because everyone had planned a long time to be there, but then realized that, hey, it's fantasy baseball. That's all. We rescheduled it for next Wednesday, the night my plane returns from the grandparent/spring training/college roommate visit to Florida.

I have games tomorrow and Thursday, and it looks like rain both days. Hopefully we'll be okay on that front. I'm enjoying coming home at 7pm and being so tired I fall asleep at around 9, ready to begin it all over again the next morning at the gym.