Eat Fresh

On Friday, I held detention. After skipping twice and getting written up, BC finally showed up. Since he had cut class that day, he had to make up his quiz, which he did fairly well on. The great thing was that he couldn't even cheat. It was a good afternoon overall - I had two other students stay for a little extra help, with one of them telling me he had never been this crunk over math before.

Of course, I had to take BC home. Since it was my last soccer game of the season, I convinced him, with a little help from his sister, to come to watch the game. Now, BC and I have known each other all year long - he's in my homeroom class, which is relatively small, and we get on pretty well, despite the fact that he plays a lot and likes to cut class. He's certainly a likeable guy; every girl in the hallway he says "Hey friend." He's six foot two, skinny, hangs out with the kids who think they're thugs, but is a bit more respectful, and a little goofier.

Anyway, we head from his house back to the game, and I'm starved, so we stop at Subway. He says, can't I just wait in the truck, and I tell him, no, not if you want to eat. So we go in, and I ask him what he wants. There's a bit of a line in the place, a pregnant young woman and another with a list that makes me think she's ordering for a construction crew, so he has plenty of time to think about it. Just get me something you think I'll like.

What do you want BC?
You know me, just get me something you think I'd like.

And then the lightbulb goes off. He's never been to Subway before. He's never been to anywhere like Subway before. This kid has lived his whole life in the hood.

What vegetables do you want on it?
Aww, you know.

I ended up just getting him the same thing I got. I made him pick out his own bag of chips though. I like this kid a lot. I'd love it if he came out for the soccer team next year. I'd love it even more if he passed something this year. Especially if he passes my class, which would mean he had actually learned something. I would really love to take him somewhere, anywhere, really, but the Delta. He'd be a fun kid to take on a road trip, back up to Massachusetts or something. I can't even begin to imagine the things I'd learn if I spent a few days on the highway with BC. I wonder what he would think if I took him home with me, what he'd think of my hometown, my house, the woods, the mountains. What he'd think about my family. Most likely, I'll never figure out these things, but maybe next year, when I'm ready to leave, and he's (hopefully) about to graduate, I'll call up his mom and say, listen, I want to take Barry on a little trip. I'll bring him back safe.

It just kills me how little these kids know about anything outside the Delta. If there is only one place you're ever going to go in your life, that's bad enough, but if that one place is the Delta, probably the single most backwards plot of earth in the country, then that's really something else. My experience with BC isn't a singular one - another teacher took a student out to eat who didn't know what mozzarella sticks were, and kept asking how much a glass of water cost. These kids have such limited experience, rich, I'm sure, but extremely narrow. Every once in a while I ask myself, who am I to judge that a broader base of experience would be better? Still, I'd take BC cross-country with me in an instant.