Monday May 15, 2000
I had a real good day today. I showed my kids videos on the History of Rock and Roll. I made sure to pitch the videos to the AP for curriculum as examples of 'minority contributions to American popular culture.' She bought it hook, line and sinker and had no objections. So for almost two hours in each class, the kids watched videos on everything from Motown to Woodstock to Disco and Rap. The comments they made were generally pretty funny. Here is a sample of them:

On seeing Ray Charles, one student asked, 'is he blind?'
On seeing a picture of James Brown with his name below it, another asked, 'What is that man's name?'
On hearing early roots of rap music, 'They can't rap like Puffy'
On seeing Diana Ross and the Supremes, 'Isn't that the lady who got her boobs felt up at the airport?'
On seeing the Rolling Stones, 'They are so ugly.'
On seeing the Sex Pistols, 'People listened to that crap?'

Today, I had a parent teacher conference with a 'concerned parent.' The mother and father are devout pentecostal church members. The girl's father is a minister. The mother was very concerned that her child was surrounded by bad influences. The truth is that this student is an absolute pleasure to be around. She is smart, witty, and just a beautiful child. Unfortunately, her religion forbids her to wear pants. She told me that last week she told her mother that she wanted to stop wearing dresses and skirts and wanted to wear jeans. She expressed to me that this upset her mother very much and that I should be expecting a visit from her soon because her mother thinks that something at school is making the child rebel. So I asked the kid what would happen to her if she put on jeans and she told me that her father would probably have to stop being a minister.

On the announcements this morning, they noted that if you were going on the field trip this Wednesday, then your field trip form must be turned in by Thursday. No one even thought twice about it.

I finally reached the principal at the school I interviewed with last week. He told me to 'hang tight' and he still had an interest in hiring me, but that he has to attend a budget conference this week to find out what his dollars are going to be for next year. He also told me that other schools in the region are probably similarly situated so that no one will be giving me any firm answer in the next few days until after the conference. I am soooo ready to end this school year and get the fuck out of the Shits.

Wednesday May 17, 2000
It has been a shitty day today. It all started in the morning when I informed the principal that I would need to leave during my 'planning time' on Monday to take my child for their shots. He immediately bitched and complained about the amount of time that I take away from work and reminded me that planning time was for planning. I was about to tell him to go fuck himself; that real planning time would mean that I should not have to leave the room for another class to sit in my room during my planning time, that real planning time would mean that I do not have to hide in other teacher's rooms to avoid being corralled by the principal to watch another class, that real planning time could have been avoided if he simply gave me an additional class which I asked for repeatedly - and he instead gave to others who didn't want one in the first place. However, something inside of me hesitated telling the piece of human garbage to suck the juice out of my ass and I just stood there and said, 'well, can I schedule the appointment or should my child avoid getting his shots.' He tells me that I need to make sure my exams are in on time. I reply that they were turned in this morning and so he says in his normal combative fashion, 'well, I guess it won't be a problem then.' What a fucking asshole. I should have just told him at the last minute I was going to take a half day off and have him pay for a substitute which I know he fucking hates to do, because subs won't come out to Shitsville.

Another great encounter awaited me. The department chair is supposed to get my final exam and approve it. This is a woman who constantly looses items you give her and has held some real questionable meetings in the past - the last one she showed up 45 minutes late to. Anyway, I hand her my exam and specifically go over each section but I can tell she is not listening. Later, she comes to my room and complains that the exam has 3 photocopied pages of (gasp) copyrighted material from a workbook that we have used all year long, on a school-wide basis for students work. I explain this to her and note that while I respect the copyright laws, the entire school has been using the pages from this book quite liberally. In my hallway alone, more than 4000 copies were made from this book because of a directive from the Principal that the children practice their reading and mathematics. She begins to debate me on this point and I just finally get up and tell her that I'm not going to argue with her about it anymore. I suggest that she refer the matter to the AP for Curriculum who is going to tell her to fuck off anyway before she talks to me anymore on this matter. She leaves telling me that she will go and do it right this minute, but a quick check after school reveals that she never even bothered. She and the principal deserve to be locked in a cage together and have wet sausages lightly flog their bodies until they repent and vow to change their evil and wicked ways. Without question, the principal, the department chair and the Cross-eyed Skank that poses for an AP are the biggest doodies at Shitsville.

A friend that I work with told me some wonderful news today: He is being hired by the new high school that I interviewed with about a month ago. I am real happy for him and glad that someone is getting out of the toilet. However, I feel a bit envious and am biding my time waiting for the phone to ring. I have done all I can do to advance the process and will wait for something good to happen.

Thursday, May 18, 2000
The countdown is down to 19! 19 days left of the rugrats and only 21 more days of actual workdays. I look forward to moving out of this school.

Today was a typical Shitsville day. It all started when second period began. A girl in the front row kept on flashing her arms to this kid everyone calls Big Poppa or Biggie Smalls because of his size. Incidentally, the girls nickname is Mommie. But that is beside the point. I walk over to her and ask what is on her arm. She immediately covers up her arms but she is not quick enough. I see the words 'Black Asshole' written on her arm. She quickly notes that I saw the writing and says that she wrote the message for Big Poppa so he would stop looking at her arms.

We tried to get a discussion going about the popularity of TV shows from the 50s. I asked the students what the most watched shows on television were and their replies were as follows;
Good Times
The Jeffersons
What's Happening
Moesha
When Animals Attack
Sanford and Son
I had to step back for a minute and ask myself why I was even trying to teach today. Before I could answer, a girl stood up and threw a heavy textbook at another kids head and yelled, 'Don't fuck with me, boy!' To which the young man responded, 'Suck it, Bitch!' I took both kids outside and asked them if they were fucking crazy or just in need of a suspension. Both immediately apologized and laughed the entire incident off.

Then, later in the afternoon, I am called over to the class next door. They have a sub who is sitting outside the classroom in a chair. Her ass is so huge that she is literally smothering the chair. She looks up and says, 'These "chillruhn" are acting wild and crazy - do something!' So I look inside the class and note that it is not even the bad kids that she has for this period. I told the kids whatever they were doing was pissing the lady off and to cool it. Most kids smiled and nodded.

However, the day would not be complete with other fun stories. I encountered one of the teachers who works with the handicapped kids at our school. He told me that the principal has only been to the back of the school one time all year. This is true dedication by an administrator. So as I'm talking to the teacher, a small little sixth grader is running down the hallway after one even smaller yelling 'wait up niggers, I'll beat your ass.' This place is not a school - it is a holding facility.

Immediately spotted in the hallway, I am 'recruited' to watch a class. My guess is that they were unable to find a sub. It is filled with 7th graders who are usually lots of fun. One of them stands up and starts a commotion. I ask him to leave and he yells wildly at the doorway and runs off. A student replies that 'Karonte' is always in trouble. When the student returns, I ask 'Karonte' to leave again. He comes right up in my face and says, 'who the fuck told you my name - I don't like being called by my name.' I'm not sure if this kid is really altogether there, so I ask him carefully, 'what name would you like to be called?' He answers, 'Tito' and runs off. Problem solved.

Someone comes to relieve my babysitting and I head to the office. I find one of my best students in the AP's office with his head down. He appeared to be crying. I asked him what the problem was and he told me that he was in trouble. I asked what for and he told me that he was pointing a toy gun at students and the teacher saw him. In today's day and age, you just can't even do that shit anymore in school. He was upset partially because he knew he had done the wrong thing, but mostly because his mom hadn't come to pick him up from school yet and he knew he was going to be in for it when she showed up.

When the bell rang, I raced to my car and couldn't wait to get out of the parking lot. Unfortunately, the person in charge of directing cars out of the lot allows large busses to stop in front of the gate effectively blocking in all of the cars. Feeling as good as I can feel after a day like today, I only lean on my horn once, take a deep breath, and wait for another day at Shitsville.

Friday May 19, 2000
I hate Shitsville. I hate the principal. I hate assholes. But I love the fact that the school year is almost over. I just want this nightmare to end.

Today was smooth sailing until my last class of the day. This is the class that is overloaded with students and not enough books to go around. In addition, there are about 15 students that speak no English and this creates a lot of tension between these kids and those that are fluent. There seems to be a great deal of animosity between these kids. So I can feel it brewing during 7th period today. The kids are getting totally out of hand and telling each other that they are going to kick each others asses and 'fuck them up' after school. Kids are yelling in Spanish 'Chupa la pinga' which if you know Spanish is not a very nice thing to say at school. As a result, these kids are sent out of class with a note and ordered to sit in another class and chill out for a while. Suddenly, the principal opens up my door 8 minutes prior to the bell ringing and wants to know why these students are out in the hallway. Carefully I explain to him the situation and he tells me that the kids cannot stand in the hallway, that they need to be back in class. When I try for a third time to tell him that these are the same kids that have been extremely rude and disruptive, he ignores me and walks away stating, 'I need to see you after school.'

The bell rings and I see him in the office. He tells me that my final exam has a copyright problem and that I am not to use that part on the exam. I remind him that thousands of pages from the same book have been generated upon his request to distribute to the students. His reply: 'we were wrong to do that then.' So I leave telling him that whatever he suggests is what I will do for my final exam. He is such an asshole. I'm sure he doesn't even realize what a total schmuck he is. He is a lousy administrator and a pig-headed wuss. I'm sure on Monday he will give me a hard time about leaving early and going to the doctor.