Wednesday Musings

• I like the month of November, generally, because it's fairly short. I don't care for the onslaught of the cold Chicago Winters, but it's not all bad and hell-frost (unlike January and February). And then there's Thanksgiving. It's the most wonderful of the trifecta of American Protestant Holidays. Christmas is, as we all know, too commercialized. Easter is pagan bunny worship. But Thanksgiving is a Fat-Feast. A no-guilt one-day all-encompassing glut-ride. It's eat with your family and sit on your rumpus until you literally pop. I've busted many a belt on this momentus day. Hooray for Indians and Pilgrims!

• According to a Chicago Tribune article published yesterday, the amount of arrests at Chicago Public Schools has decreased about 17%. One part of the reason for this rather dramatic decrease, apparently, is because some schools have been tightening the reins on students getting arrested for non-violent disrespect toward teachers. I didn't know students could get arrested for that! That's horrible... But it does get me to thinking of a scenario that's been playing in my head since I heard that:
• Tough girl inmate #1 (wearing tattoos that brag about her loving capabilities, smoking a cigarette out the side of her mouth): So, fresh meat, what you in here for?
• Tough girl inmate #2 (with a bandana tied over left side of head and a crowbar in hand): Yeah, kiddo. What's your deal?
  
• New inmate (Scowling, fierce look): I got upset with a teacher and gave her a click of the tongue.
• (All other inmates slowly back away. Inmate #2 drops crowbar.)

• A slight teacher-student confrontation at my school has to do with a student saying (on a MySpace page) that she finds this teacher "a bit annoying". I'm only reporting this because I'm wondering if any student could muster up the energy to say such things about me on a blog. I mean, saying such things to my face and under their breath is just plain easy - it's such a cop-out. Writing it on a computer and publishing it, that would take some work - of which I don't inspire much.
  

• I wonder if, tomorrow, that student is going to exit the building in handcuffs.