(no subject)
i just recalled some weird events in my childhood. in 4th or 5th grade i was selected to be in this program that 6 or seven other schools in the district were participating in. our role was supposedly analogous to that of an ambassador, to represent out school while we went on field trips to the other schools throughout the year. each school chose a particular region of the world or culture to represent. and every student had five or six counterparts from each other school, so they would be in the same group on every trip.
one school was chosen to represent latin america. they happened to be in little havana, so there were a lot of spanish speakers from that school. one school chose to represent jewish culture or something. i think there was a synagogue nearby we went into to watch some guy read hebrew. somewhere on this trek i got into a minor brawl with a kid from the jewish school. he was also black. most of those kids were black. none of whom i asked were jewish. i vocalized to my teacher my annoyance at the fact that we just had to sit through a religious sermon and it offended me as an atheist. she said to me "you're not an atheist." "i don't believe in god." "you're not an atheist." 14 years later. pretty sure i am an atheist.
there was another school whose name i still remember how to spell for some reason. toussaint l'ouverture elementary. i don't think i got to meet our representative from toussaint. toussaint rarely came out to these things even though they committed to participating at the beginning of the year. we thought it some sign of disrespect. and then it came time to visit toussaint, who represented africa. and it was a shitty, dirty, dilapidated school. everyone there was extremely kind. most of them were of hatian descent. and it soon dawned on me that the school bus rental that my mom nonchalantly wrote out a check for was actually prohibitively expensive for the parents of these ghetto children. especially 6 times a year. the county couldn't cough up the change to let them do it.
and of course, the part of the world my rich cracker school represent? america!!!! this involved a hoe down at the end for which THE POWER 96 PARTY VAN showed up and from that point onward i just remember achey brakey heart and the macarena.
i would like to thank dade county public schools for such a priceless learning experience.
one school was chosen to represent latin america. they happened to be in little havana, so there were a lot of spanish speakers from that school. one school chose to represent jewish culture or something. i think there was a synagogue nearby we went into to watch some guy read hebrew. somewhere on this trek i got into a minor brawl with a kid from the jewish school. he was also black. most of those kids were black. none of whom i asked were jewish. i vocalized to my teacher my annoyance at the fact that we just had to sit through a religious sermon and it offended me as an atheist. she said to me "you're not an atheist." "i don't believe in god." "you're not an atheist." 14 years later. pretty sure i am an atheist.
there was another school whose name i still remember how to spell for some reason. toussaint l'ouverture elementary. i don't think i got to meet our representative from toussaint. toussaint rarely came out to these things even though they committed to participating at the beginning of the year. we thought it some sign of disrespect. and then it came time to visit toussaint, who represented africa. and it was a shitty, dirty, dilapidated school. everyone there was extremely kind. most of them were of hatian descent. and it soon dawned on me that the school bus rental that my mom nonchalantly wrote out a check for was actually prohibitively expensive for the parents of these ghetto children. especially 6 times a year. the county couldn't cough up the change to let them do it.
and of course, the part of the world my rich cracker school represent? america!!!! this involved a hoe down at the end for which THE POWER 96 PARTY VAN showed up and from that point onward i just remember achey brakey heart and the macarena.
i would like to thank dade county public schools for such a priceless learning experience.