

Why So Somber?
June is here and “Tis the season” for graduations. For those of you lucky enough to attend a ceremony, there is nothing quite like going to a three-hour ceremony to hear a single name called and not being able to clap or cheer. There is nothing like keeping everything somber, as if everyone gets one final detention before leaving school. College graduation is much different. When I walked, we had beach balls, silly string, and caps with sayings on them. Even the professors go


Potty Politics
Our family moved to a new community when I started the fourth grade. It was a tight, close-knit community where outsiders were outsiders! Many of the boys were 14 or 15 years old, and just waiting till they could drop out of school at 16. Because my brothers and I were outsiders, every time we went to the restroom, we got bullied and beaten. Our elementary school had four classrooms with four female teachers, who taught grades one through seven. Obviously the female teachers