Spring Cleaning.

Every year, the city sponsors a "Spring Clean Up Day." This is a pretty well-coordinated effort, with the DPW dropping off all kinds of cleaning equipment at various locations throughout the city. The designated meeting areas are often school yards or squares. I have been teaching at my present school for 6 years now, and somehow, in my first year, the responsibility of rounding up kids to bring to the cleanup day was delegated to me. The same chore has continued to fall squarely on my shoulders ever since. The principal believes I'm just really talented at motivating the kids to come out and volunteer. What he doesn't really understand is that I bribe the kids shamelessly. I promise them a homework pass and I drop their lowest grade and replace it with a 100% in the fourth marking term. And I also drive home the point that with the arrival of nice weather, many kids steer off course academically in the fourth term, and so having an extra 100% in their back pocket is a pretty good insurance policy.

I usually get pretty annoyed because the administration demands that I find the volunteers, and then they clearly expect me to show up to supervise the kids' behavior. Meanwhile, NONE of the administration team comes. No other teachers show up. No other teachers have ever shown up. So, there I am...little old me. Giving up my Saturday to oversee these kids in their cleanup efforts. Again.


Usually I greet the cleanup day with a mixture of dread, some resentment, and some, "I'm-never-going-to-get-stuck-doing-this-thing-again" mindset.

It may be petty of me, but there you have it. It ticks me off that there is this incredible amount of pressure on me to have a strong showing from our school, and I get no support from anybody, but yet, when it comes time to claim credit, magically, there was a "WE" behind the effort.

That's just "f'ed" up.

The principal claims it is because I'm the social studies teacher, and social studies is linked to community service. We'll see what happens next year when I'm teaching English and the new principal's best bud is in my current social studies position.
Somehow, I think I'll still be put upon to organize this effort.




I have to say, however, that this year the experience ended up being far better and far more enjoyable than it ever has been in the past.

First of all, I brought Allie with me. Allie's presence renders any outing far more enjoyable than it otherwise would be without her in tow.

She was great! I thougt she might last with me for a half hour, or an hour tops. I figured that before the first hour of the three-hour event was up, I'd be calling Lauren or E to come pick her up. But no. Allie hung in there like a champ. It was definitely helpful that one of my students brought his four year old brother with him, and that their mother was obviously on hand to tend to the little guy while the older boy was off working. She is a lovely woman, and was more than happy to look after Allie and her son while they worked safely in a flower bed far away from traffic. I was therefore free to roam around from time to time and check on the progress of "the big kids." But I have to admit, I spent about 95% of my time with Allie and let the kids get on with their own cleaning.

Another very positive factor was that the kids who volunteered to come all showed up on time and completely willing and ready to get to work. They did a great job and were very proud of their own efforts. As well they should have been.

And the last cool part was the post-cleanup BBQ that was held in a nearby field. It was great. There was a DJ there, spinning Usher, Beyonce and whoever else these kids get into. They were running around, laughing, having water fights, playing tag, dancing and just having a great time. I was really glad to see this. I was happy to see these teenaged kids have an incentive to get up early on a Saturday morning, take the initiative to exert themselves physically, and then just run around being kids and enjoying the BBQ, the sun, and the company of their pals. There were no video games, cell phones, computers, laptops, etc. Just kids running around outside and having fun....like kids are supposed to do. I really enjoyed it. And I think the kids did, too.




Stephen also joined in on the cleanup efforts, which was very cool.

After the thing was over, we took a trip over to EMS because Stephen's rainproof jacket has pretty much pooped out on him. After about 30 years use, this is no surprise. Stephen, like many men, believes that each and every article of clothing needs to be worn until there is literally not much more than a single thread remaining of the garment. I'm surprised that he actually instigated talk of a new rain jacket. Normally I'd have to notice that he was standing there like a drowned rat, and then present at least 5 reasons on a powerpoint projection as to why a new one should be purchased.

At any rate, he did manage to find a great raincoat, which he put to use tonight in the deluge that overtook Boston.

I managed to find the abovepictured Reef flip flops. I love these things. And they were on sale for 25 dollars. This might seem like a lot for a pair of flip flops, but considering the outrageous normal price of 45 dollars, I'd say the 25 isn't bad.



Finally, I purchased the abovepictured Red Sox t-shirt for Stephen. At City Sports, they are selling these shirts for the Boston Red Sox Foundation. 100% of proceeds go to the foundation, which funnels money to the Jimmy Fund and other charitable organizations. We were pretty hung up on the great game against NY last night, and I decided it was a disgrace for Stephen, as a resident of Boston, not to own even a single article of Red Sox clothing.

When I saw this shirt I was all for the charitable aspect of it, and Stephen liked the Japanese text. It was a good purchase!