The Same 'Ole Same 'Ole

I woke up this morning with seafood on my mind, as I'll be making a late supper of my express paella with a side of grilled kale for my sister Seda tonight. She's held me down through the uncertainties of the last few months and I always figure the best thanks comes from the heart and delights the tongue. I'll post the recipe on Culinary Intercourse (www.culinaryintercourse.blogspot.com) later.

With that being said I now have five hours to come up with a way to keep my five girls engaged in the art of creating a story that we're going to eventually make into a movie. But with a good four to six weeks until we even get close to any kinds of rehearsals or shooting, I have to figure out a way to drag things out step-by-step in a manner that keeps them both engaged and under relative control in the days ahead. At least they're calling me by name now. They all come from places where they don't get much attention. So many things don't change.

As they sat in a group and created their own characters for their story, one where they lived in a gated community within some of the wildest blocks in Bushwick, a community surrounded by dollar stores, fast food places and gunshot victims, when I asked these five brown girls to tell me what their characters looked like, they all had the lightest skin and hair possible with eyes that were colors not their own. It's like that old test between the black and white doll. Nothing has changed. In truth, it's only getting worse. David Simon's bringing that home with these last few episodes of the Wire. He doesn't believe that the true heroes can ever beat the system. But for the sake of my unborn children that's something I refuse to accept.

I'm hoping that this will be my last assignment as a teacher. This isn't so much because I don't enjoy it, but because I feel that the only way that I can do these kids real good is to give them better images of themselves and their worlds through my words and direction. I can't undo eleven years in 90 minutes four times a week. At best I can hope to give them some glimmer of hope, a sense of a few things that didn't know before that might inspire them to seek more once they leave me.

Oh and D's new novel, Cake is on it's way to the printer. It will be out to ya'll by Spring. Out.