Eastside Crip or Just Crazy?

By 11:00, I had already taken two Advil. Someday I’ll learn to keep them in my purse, all of the time. Friday, I had to do an all call on the radio–”Does anyone have two Advil for 107? ANYONE?”

Fortunately my friend Mex came through pretty quickly. Marching his class around the building, he handed off the two Advil as he made his way around. I’m sure the kids enjoyed the break from the classroom.

I think the Advil came about right after R. stood up from his cubicle, work in hand, loudly announcing, “I don’t give a (big pause here) FFFFFUCK about this,” and proceeded to go off on a rant about a stain on his back pocket.

I called an aide who works well with R, and she came to get him.

“WHY did you just do that?” I asked as we were waiting.

“I wanted to go to Miz A’s room.”

“You could have asked.” I rolled my eyes. Yes, I know that’s not professional.

It turned out to be a hell of a Friday. My class was peeved at me, because for the first time all year, they had not earned the Friday movie. They thought for certain they could talk me into it anyway, and they were wrong.

AND we had a substitute.

During science class with the sub, my new kid Derek decided to tell one of my oldtimers, Tyrese, that he was an Eastside Crip.

“You can’t be no Eastside Crip, you a white boy,” Tyrese laughed.

What followed was an invitation by Derek to visit his neighborhood, where he promised Tyrese that he would put a bullet in his head and leave him lying in a ditch.

I thank God there wasn’t a complete melee.

Tyrese is 6′2″ and about 240, while Derek is 5′9″ and maybe 150. The other kids were beginning to join in the fun when one of our (very large) aides stepped in and settled things down.

You can’t make a terroristic threat (which legally speaking, is what Derek did) in a public alternative school without getting expelled. So I’ll be seeing Derek sometime next year instead. Especially since his conference with our school principal didn’t go so well.

“You are one ugly bitch,” he snarled, practically coming out of his chair. “Your legs are too muscular, and YOU ARE NOT COOL!”

The police arrived shortly thereafter, thank goodness. After getting hit in the neck last year by an angry student, I’m not eager to test my take-down skills again, ever.

We were all pretty much thankful to Tyrese for not killing Derek on the spot with his bare hands, so he was given props for his anger management skills and asked never to say the word “Crips” in class again, regardless of provocation.

After the whole thing was over, the sub told me that on the state teacher examination, it said to, “let students work out disagreements without teacher interference.” Both of the kids had asked why the teacher hadn’t stopped it before things got to that point. I really can’t believe this guy taught in another state or that he would think that answer realistic, especially in an alternative school, where conflict resolution skills are generally lacking.

I managed to NOT stop at the Dairy Queen and eat an entire banana split, like I wanted to. Instead, I got an awesome foot rub from my husband.

I felt sad, though. I could just imagine Derek’s dad saying the same thing to his mom. You can tell when it’s really someone else’s voice coming out of a kid’s mouth.

I hope Derek doesn’t get a girlfriend anytime soon.

Photo by fling93