Blood! Theft! & Tears....
Welcome to remedial reading and writing, for those of you who want to go to college, but, unfortunately, you cannot understand sentences when they connect two or more sentences together in order to express more complex thoughts, even when they are beautifully written, as, in fact, this one is, and, also, you fell like you ain't so many good at writing as better as you should be, so it fells uncomftable to write so you ain't confidence about it.
Today's class began uneventfully. I was there a full 5 minutes before I should have been, a damn amazing accomplishment considering I had only had 4 hours of sleep, and when we all entered the room together, the students took their seats in a sort-of orderly fashion, and we began a nice exchange about class conferences next week and what to expect at the higher levels of the educational system. We continued in this fashion for about 8 minutes when in came Alex with a thrust of the door, skateboard in one hand and the other hand thrust aloft with a river of blood coursing towards his elbow. It was the most cherry red blood I've ever seen. He must have been highly oxygenated! Not that that is relevant, but it occurred to me. Alex began immediately to talk and to be belligerent on the idea of seeking any help or leaving class, before we even had a chance to suggest those things. One student very kindly, after I insisted to Alex that he obey, walked him to student health, only to find that it was closed. On the return trip he and Alex stopped into the men's room and rinsed and paper-toweled his hand, but when he returned to class it was still a gusher. At this point I must just interrupt to say that department secretaries, by and large, and this one (Miss C) in particular, are amazing people. Here it was not even time for breakfast, and she played nurse to my doctor as we patched Alex up with the office 1st aid kit. Alex is, he told us, working at LAX until 4 am, coming to class at 7 am, leaving class at 9:30 am, and going back to work at LAX at 10am. Thank God he's not a pilot, but I expect that pretty much explains why luggage gets lost. And so, this AM, while riding his board to class, I'm betting he simply fell asleep, or couldn't react fast enough, and crashed and messed up his hand, elbow, and got road-rash all up the side of his torso. He's not exactly sure what happened to cause the crash. He used to be a model student. Now he's a bit like someone with dementia to be honest. He's only had the job a few weeks, but his dad has been unemployed for awhile, so he is very necessary now, helping to pay the family's bills. He cannot give up the job, and so he's afraid to question the crazy hours.
Eventually, triage over, we settled down as a class again, and the students began to work on an in-class essay (a test). In came Jewel, who needed to talk. She missed class all last week because her 7 month old baby had been sick for a week with a high fever and a rash, and no one would see them because they didn't have the right kind of "welfare medical," and the place where their medical was the right kind gave her an appointment in two weeks. Thankfully, baby is better this week, and so she came to class, but, when her boyfriend came out to drive her to school this morning, their car was gone/stolen. They don't know how they will work their jobs, etc., without the car. I touched her arm as she spoke, and she leaned into me and cried as she and I sat on the bench in the hall, while inside the class was (supposedly) writing, and, at the same moment, the dept. secretary, Miss C, wandered by on her way to or from a smoke break and gave me a big smile. I think she approves both of teachers who triage and those who cuddle.
Meanwhile in the classroom the regular portion of unprepared students were taking advantage of my second absence from class, trying to get other people to explain the topic to them, or to tell them how to write an essay, and texting for help with their spelling.
Welcome to community college. The future, is here.
Today's class began uneventfully. I was there a full 5 minutes before I should have been, a damn amazing accomplishment considering I had only had 4 hours of sleep, and when we all entered the room together, the students took their seats in a sort-of orderly fashion, and we began a nice exchange about class conferences next week and what to expect at the higher levels of the educational system. We continued in this fashion for about 8 minutes when in came Alex with a thrust of the door, skateboard in one hand and the other hand thrust aloft with a river of blood coursing towards his elbow. It was the most cherry red blood I've ever seen. He must have been highly oxygenated! Not that that is relevant, but it occurred to me. Alex began immediately to talk and to be belligerent on the idea of seeking any help or leaving class, before we even had a chance to suggest those things. One student very kindly, after I insisted to Alex that he obey, walked him to student health, only to find that it was closed. On the return trip he and Alex stopped into the men's room and rinsed and paper-toweled his hand, but when he returned to class it was still a gusher. At this point I must just interrupt to say that department secretaries, by and large, and this one (Miss C) in particular, are amazing people. Here it was not even time for breakfast, and she played nurse to my doctor as we patched Alex up with the office 1st aid kit. Alex is, he told us, working at LAX until 4 am, coming to class at 7 am, leaving class at 9:30 am, and going back to work at LAX at 10am. Thank God he's not a pilot, but I expect that pretty much explains why luggage gets lost. And so, this AM, while riding his board to class, I'm betting he simply fell asleep, or couldn't react fast enough, and crashed and messed up his hand, elbow, and got road-rash all up the side of his torso. He's not exactly sure what happened to cause the crash. He used to be a model student. Now he's a bit like someone with dementia to be honest. He's only had the job a few weeks, but his dad has been unemployed for awhile, so he is very necessary now, helping to pay the family's bills. He cannot give up the job, and so he's afraid to question the crazy hours.
Eventually, triage over, we settled down as a class again, and the students began to work on an in-class essay (a test). In came Jewel, who needed to talk. She missed class all last week because her 7 month old baby had been sick for a week with a high fever and a rash, and no one would see them because they didn't have the right kind of "welfare medical," and the place where their medical was the right kind gave her an appointment in two weeks. Thankfully, baby is better this week, and so she came to class, but, when her boyfriend came out to drive her to school this morning, their car was gone/stolen. They don't know how they will work their jobs, etc., without the car. I touched her arm as she spoke, and she leaned into me and cried as she and I sat on the bench in the hall, while inside the class was (supposedly) writing, and, at the same moment, the dept. secretary, Miss C, wandered by on her way to or from a smoke break and gave me a big smile. I think she approves both of teachers who triage and those who cuddle.
Meanwhile in the classroom the regular portion of unprepared students were taking advantage of my second absence from class, trying to get other people to explain the topic to them, or to tell them how to write an essay, and texting for help with their spelling.
Welcome to community college. The future, is here.
posted by chad-roscoe at 7:54 PM
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