End of Days?

It was cold and raining in LA today--a tell tale sign of the apocalypse, according to my students. Angelenos to the core, most of these kids have grown up on a daily dose of 80 degrees and sunny...they wear mittens when the temp drops below 70. Schools in south LA are designed for immaculate weather: no cafeteria, no hallways; more Motel 6 than Hampton Inn. The picnic tables in the courtyard and outdoor-access classrooms are acceptably functional 364 days out of the year. But on a rare day like today, when the Angeleno world hangs in the balance of the stratus clouds, the lack of shelter from the rain promotes even more chaos than usual.

Like the Daviess County Public School system when the snow reaches 2 inches, LA schools all but shut down when luminous rain clouds roll in. We have no place to put the students when it rains...it is a legitimate problem. They have to run across the courtyard, completely exposed to the elements, just to go the bathroom. That is 200 pairs of Air Jordans, 60 knock-off Coach bags, and 150 hair weaves that risk permanent damage if saturated. Too much to risk. So, the students sit in class, unmotivated to do work, but less motivated to leave as they take refuge in the only completely dry shelter on campus. I bribed them with closed windows: "Give me 10 minutes of attention, I'll close the windows. Someone speaks, puts their head down, throws a pencil in my general direction, the windows will open and the cool, wet mist will shrivel your skin, frizz your hair, and dampen you clothes just enough for you to catch cold..." God gave me rain today...I had no choice but to use it as a bargaining chip.

The power went out halfway through 1st period, so I spent the rest of the day teaching in the cold, wet darkness. Something reminiscent of a crypt, or a less fiery version of hell. Luckily, my classroom has no technology to speak of, so no magic was lost there. All the kids are sick, I feel lousy, and I'm pretty sure today's events will result in some contracted disease from the croup to TB.

I already feel Vitamin D deficient..