What a difference a year makes

A year ago at this time I was apprehensive about the year and the people I would be working with. Completely opposite this time around.

Last week I spent two days with a bunch of faculty and administration. Totally amazing. Totally eye opening in so many ways. I'll go into detail on some of the things later. And will write an opinions and editorial piece on it for Clean and Articulate later this week. I'll let you know when it is up. I'll just say it dealt with racism, white privilege and people of colour's internalized racism.

Of course there were people at the workshop that I still do not like even hearing their voice or seeing across them across the room, but I am an adult and can handle all that shit. Shining points were all the awesome people I had a chance to talk with about various issues and life. The new counselor rocks. Do people still say that? Not sure, but she does. So does Gretchen, who I've known, but never really talked with in depth before.

Today is the first official school function. Luckily it is only for a few hours. So I can kind of ween my way back to being in the school and not having some sort of panic attack at the thought of having to be there for nine months and having to deal with some of the people for almost 8 hours a day.

My schedule pretty much is awesome. Just have to hope that the new crop of kids has matured a little bit so I don't have to be a hard ass for much longer than a couple of weeks. But with them, at least with track and Study Hall last year, I kind of enjoy being a hard ass to them. And I think they react well to that. What does that say about their upbringing that they respond better to harshness than to kindness? Hmmm....

Today is going to be a busy day. Hope to get this old furniture moved out, new furniture moved in. Get a hair cut. Trade in my school computer. Meet the new teachers. Buy a desk or a table or something. Talk to Cassandra, who I have neglected for about a week. Make sure Leo returns from Memphis safely (not that I have any control over that, but it will be on my mind until he returns late tonight).

But first, I will shower.