Q: What's been going on at I.S. 666 lately?

A: Well...I should probably start with the most recent incidents. Bobby's ipod was stolen by one of his students. He has his suspects, but unfortunately, no one's confessing or snitching. A mentally retarded girl went on a rampage in Karen's special ed class and 911 had to be called. Two of my former students, neither a prize pupil, had a big girl fight. I didn't see it, but I know that one girl pushed the other against a window so hard that it broke. Weaves were coming out, faces were getting scratched, it was on! Both were suspended and are now back in school. In one of the classes I teach on Friday, there was another girl fight that I had to break up. I barely pulled on one girl's arm and she stopped fighting. She didn't want to fight, but felt she had to save face by giving in to the prodding. The girl who instigated the fight between the two girls took video footage of it on her cellphone and kicked one of the girls in the ribs while she was down. It was disgusting and brutal. All NYC public school teachers have a new contract and will get an 11% pay increase this year. It should be more, but I'll take what I can get. Mr. Jones, one of the teachers that has always been very kind and helpful to me, decided to resign on December 2. I.S. 666 has already lost three first-year teachers this school year.


Q: What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

A: I'll be in New York at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I've been invited to two T-Day meals, but I don't have a lot of details yet. If you or someone you know is having a New York feast, invite me!


Q: How's the novel coming along?

A: Umm, about that, yeah... My novel is currently on the back burner for a lot of reasons. 1) I planned my novel when I was in a really bad situation at work, so the story was very dark. In a fortuitous series of events, my work life improved dramatically, so now I'm not so interested in writing something dark and depressing. I don't know what I want to write about, and I don't want to start a half-assed story with no point. I know NaNoWriMo is about quantity, not quality, so I feel guilty for being a perfectionist about it, but I am. 2) Instead of writing a lot, I've been reading a lot. Sue me. 3) I've been busy with work and visitors and having a life.


Q: Is there anything interesting that's happened that you forgot to mention on your blog?

A: Bobby and I met some guy from that VH1 reality show Kept on the subway. I don't remember his name. He's short. I was in line at Koronet one day and the guy behind the counter skipped me to help the person behind me. I'm not rude, so I didn't demand he take my order first, but I was miffed. Before I could open my mouth to place my order, he put the slice I always order in front of me and asked, "To go or to stay?" He knows me! I'm an official regular!