Diary of a Mad Black Woman

I work with a wonderful woman named Mrs. Lee. Mrs. Lee teaches high school special ed algebra. Now, a normal student in my school comes with enough issues and problems without a special classification. So you can imagine what her daily classroom is probably like. Mrs. Lee has been teaching for 34 years now, and has seen just about everything. I can’t say that I agree with Mrs. Lee’s philosophy of education, or all of her methods. But regardless of what she says in the teachers lounge while she eats her Chinese food – everyday – I know she genuinely cares about her students. Regardless, the reason why I mention this mad black woman is because daily I am laughing at her comments regarding our school, our students, and her life. And the great thing is that she isn’t trying to be funny, it’s just who she is. So I’m going to grace the reader (that isn’t a typo) of this blog with a picture of Mrs. Lee and provide my favorite Mrs. Lee quotes.

First, the picture

Next, the quotes (spoken in a distinct African-American dialect)

“Boy, you're stuck on stupid!”

“Get away from my door. You’re making it ugly!”

“Go away! The trash gets thrown out every day and you’re no different!”

“Girl, tuck your shirt in, your fat rolls are showing.”

Speaking to a group of students who claim she is sitting at their lunch table:
Students: “Hey, this is our table.”
Mrs. Lee: “Yeah, well it’s MY table now!”

Hum…well, it sounds funny in person. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the delightful comments by this awesomely funny teacher I work with. She really is a great person. She just speaks to her students the way their moms would…she expects them to act like they’ve got brains in their heads instead of acting like idiots. I can respect that regardless of the methods.

Does anyone else feel inferior when they read other people’s blogs and they’re all about how much they love God, books about God, or Bible verses? What blows my mind is that these people all put God/Jesus under there interests, and first. I’m not saying I disagree at all. I try to put God first in my life, too. I fail at doing that, and often. I think it’s okay to fail as long as I’m aware that I’m coming up short sometimes in my relationship with God. But then I read these other entries from people I don’t even know and think that I am no where near as devoted as they seem to be. If you think I’m joking, visit His Girlfriend’s blog, then link to some people that you don’t know who comment in her site…check out their friends. They are super Christians, and from what I can tell, best friends with Billy Graham, the Pope, and a number of other amazing Christians.

I know I shouldn’t compare myself to them. And I know they struggle everyday, just like me. I have no clue what their real lives are like or if they are putting on a show for the world to see….I am aware I can’t tell what’s real and what’s fiction. But man, they make me feel inferior.

We put one package in our cart. Then I smelled my fingers. So we got the second one, too.

It was a good poo. That is, not a messy one that takes a big clean up job. Just a wipe because you have to, not because you need to. We're down to the last 1/8 inch of toilet paper. So that's why I only used three squares. I know I was cutting it close, and I'm not sure if my finger broke through the toilet paper during or after the wipe. In hindsight, I guess I should have used five squares.

I have tried to post a picture that I drew describing my flight back to Missouri. I have tried twice and failed twice...it's a little frustrating. So for now you're just going to have to wait for that one.

But I do have a treat for the couple of people who read this blog. As you may/may not know, I teach freshman literature in Trenton. And keeping in step with Mr. Daut (see 12th grade English IV at Nevada High School), I ask that my students write journal entries. Sometimes my kids really get into what they are writing and sometimes it's like pulling teeth. While many of the entries are simply written for a grade, some of my students write some extremely profound entries. I have decided that every once in a while I will post some of my students writing so you can see what they're going through and how they feel about where they are in life.

So without further delay, here is the unedited entry from one student who wrote on the following topic that I felt was too much fluff but standard for a journal entry:

Journal Topic:
What are you asking for for Christmas?

Response:
I want a lot of things. I wish that it could go back to like it used to be. I wish all my niggas would come back to the hood and take that gang shit somewhere else because that shit ain't for Trenton. That, oh and for my life to be good. That's what I want. "Ho, Ho, Ho" Merry Christmas.