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Here’s a teaser: When Debbie asked me to write a guest blog about her and Bones for their anniversary, I was honored. 2 years ago I was in their wedding —and as Debbie has written about here , at that time, our friendship was at the lowest it had been: as I look back, part of it was a huge lack of communication, both of feelings and of expectations. While I couldn’t have imagined not being in their wedding, I was …
As I walked into the classroom with Juana, all I heard was gibberish: a word here, a word there, but mostly lots of noise as the kids settled into their desks. The teacher wore jeans and a t-shirt and she quickly established order: Literature was first. The students took out these mini notebooks that looked almost like my old composition books, complete even with stickers and drawings/colors. Before the teacher began to teach, she gave the kids a talking to– …
Sixth grade was such an interesting year for me: super small class (only 5 girls + the boys), incredible teachers, baby brother, and finally an entry in the science fair. Sixth grade for Juana, Maria, Victoria, and the other students I met at St. Francis Coll is a very different experience than mine was; at the core, however, the similarities outweigh the differences. The day I worked with machetes began with an opportunity to sit in with classes at St. Francis Coll for half of us …
I was in 7th grade, at public school for the first time ever. As if junior high weren’t bad enough already, I switched schools (that should tell you how bad my old school was) into a school where most of the kids had been classmates or neighbors since kindergarten. Book smarts came naturally to me, but social smarts, maybe not as easily. My home was a 30 minute walk from school. Most days, I would walk to a friend’s home …
Jennifer and me holding the machetes after a day’s work! Thursday (for those of you keeping track) we worked with children in the morning and machetes in the afternoon. First, let me tell you a bit about machetes. I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in Maryland, just outside of Washington, D.C: one would think that machetes would be few and far between, and yet, we were familiar with them. Ask any of my family members. There was a day …
