Search for the LORD and His strength; continually seek
His face. Psalm 105:4
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world,
have mercy upon me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have
mercy upon me. O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, grant me
Your peace.
So yesterday I popped back into
my room between library sort-of-research moments, for instance really a bunch
of refugee girls jumped on the table and bumped like Everette when I turned my
back for just an instant. And another kid whipped books at a kid’s head because
he crumpled his paper. And every class period students demonstrated that
the book detector would beep and flash bright lights if they walked through it
with an unchecked out book. But some of the teams were actually researching how
to start an after-school soccer league and how to order frogs to dissect to
make science class exciting and how to apply for grants for school technology.
Really.
The first thing I noticed was
that someone(s) had shoved all of the books and papers and tape dispenser and
sharpened pencils and little box of paper clips off of my desk. As I knelt down
to pick up the ream of project packets one of the kiddos gasped, “Miss!”
My board was covered. In big
capital letters in the middle it read BITCH. And all around the edges were
variations on the theme: Fuck you Mrs. Voelkel. At least it was spelled
correctly. And some equally vivid illustrations.
So as I erased it all before
the next class shoveled in, they were already lining up outside, I wondered
whose toes I had stepped on that day and smooshed, unaware. And I know it’s not
about me, but I want to be a healer and not a smoosher.
We met with a mother the day
before yesterday during planning period. Her son is incorrigible. I just pretty
much send him straight to the little desk with side panels as soon as he walks
in the door just to keep him from tormenting the other kids.
And his momma tries really
hard. His momma with five piercings through her lip and huge bright pink
plastic flowers in her hair and a bunch of hearts tattooed up her neck. And
she’s missing most of her teeth and it looks like someone bonked her pretty
hard on her cheek.
The backside of the story.
And last year was pretty rough. Three people in their family died in one week. And
she pretty much fell apart. She said. And things aren’t so good with the kid’s
father.
And can I say the math
teacher with a slight but ever-so-gentle Southern lilt was the kindest thing
ever. She has been calling her all the time and sending extra homework sheets.
And the guy working on his PhD in Lit who skateboards with the kids during
break when he isn’t sitting under the mesquite tree playing his guitar put
together a tidy little to do list for her like one hour of homework from seven
to eight and don’t let him go in his room and shut the door to do it. And she
doesn’t write so good, so I wrote it down for her. And the rather gruff social
studies teacher told her the magic trick was to follow her son around through
all of his classes. She did that once with her eighth grade daughter and never
had any problems after that. And it turns out last year that he missed a lot of
school when his momma wasn’t doing so good so the school he went to failed him.
They flunked him. Which really wasn’t what he needed. And he kinda curled up
and died inside.
So yesterday momma was in my
classroom, marveling at the vibrating madness. And her kid was docile and sort
of attentive and he asked for make-up work. And when I hugged her good-bye she
wept and clung to me a little and said thank you a lot.
And Ms. Morales the principal
met with one of my research teams yesterday to be interviewed how we can get
rid of bad language on campus. And they were proud as little peacocks with
their hall passes and their Rice Krispy treats that she gave them afterwards.
And she and Mike Birrer are meeting with two more teams next Wednesday at 9:00
AM to plan a campus cleanup. And Rebecca from Tucson Clean and Beautiful is
meeting with an entire class in two weeks.
And yesterday my little lunch
bunch who come in and straighten up chairs and tidy up my drawers every single
day–I have the tidiest drawers ever–and sharpen pencils told me some stuff
like, "Miss, do you know that my family ruled the Sudan for thirteen
generations?" And it is a little cluttered because some kids came in
yesterday to play Battleship and one of the groups was in the back, really
intent about figuring out how to build more little solar-powered cars like the
one I found crushed in some drawer and The Solar Store guy gave them a bunch of
little panels Thursday when they went in to do their expert interview because
he was so excited that they were so excited.
And yesterday I missed the
musical presentation in the auditorium that all of the Language Learners performed,
but Nicole took her Leadership class and stood on the chair and cheered.
Because they were so very proud and so very happy. And she introduced her Language
Arts classes to the wonders of Salad Bowl Charades yesterday, instead of a
vocabulary quiz and her little bad boys loved it and won and got their first A
on a quiz and they were so very proud and so very happy.
And life is hard every day
just down the street.
But good.
And our merciful God is at
work. He who has taken away the sins of the world.
