Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Warning: Dark entry ahead.

So, I may have mentioned before that the violence in my school's neighborhood has gone up recently. This week the gang war hit our neighborhood like a Mack truck. Last night a student and a former student were stabbed and in really bad shape. One of the students was stabbed multiple times in the face. This morning a student was stabbed barely a block away from school at 10 in the morning. Which, by the way, is right outside the neighboring elementary school. To which I say, what the hell is going on?

Rumor has it that the rival gang to the gang that many of our students and our neighborhood associate or affiliate with is trying to push in. So they're using scare tactics which include targeting school aged Latino kids. They pressure them to claim a certain color, and sometimes will stab even before they've answered. And to spice it up, they're aiming for the eyes (which is what happened to one of the students last night).

Frankly, I'm scared for my kids. If the rumors are true, none of them are safe. They all fit the description. And even if they are good kids that don't even pretend to affiliate.. they might still get targeted. The kid who got stabbed today ran back into school to get help, which shows that our school really has become a safe-house for them.. but I'm worried about what exactly we can be doing for them. We kept a closed campus today (no one allowed off-campus during lunch or for various off-campus classes), which helps keep them safe during the day, but what about when they're walking to and from school? There are cops driving around everywhere in the neighborhood, but I still feel so helpless.

What makes me even more sad is how the students responded when the Principal made the announcement to keep the campus closed today. They said things like "they act like people don't get stabbed all the time." Which partly is teenagers acting more jaded than they really are, but there is a grain of salt to their argument. This "violence thing" isn't new to them, which makes it all the more sad.

Broken. I am constantly reminded how broken this world is when gang violence is just another part of a kid's life. And as much as I want to believe I'm making a difference, there's only so much I can do to change the situation. Everyone quotes Gandhi saying "be the change you want to see in the world".. well I'd really like to see what that looks like today.

My boys are, thankfully, thick-skinned.

I have to make a better effort to blog more when things are good. The stories, that's what I want to remember years down the line. Here's one from today, as copied from a chat w/ a girlfriend of mine.

7:05 PM me: school was pretty good today
one of my kids was asking all these dumb questions
7:06 PM Grace: hahahah i thought there were no dumb questions in teaching
7:19 PM me: like "will this be on the test?"
so i said, let me let you in on a little secret.. that's one of my least favorite questions
b/c anything we do in class is fair game for a test and we always review before a test anyways
and he goes "well there are no stupid questions right?"
and i go "only stupid people"
7:20 PM Grace: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I also got a rose on Valentines day from one of my favorite Chem boys. "And not one of those cheap ass roses they're selling here at school" he would probably like me to point out.