Local Listings

I work on the West Side.  For those not familiar with Salt Lake County territorial boundaries, that equates to "the wrong side of the tracks."  And I love every minute of it...though sometimes it's frightening/saddening/disheartening.

The kids at my school - despite the boundless resources available to them - kind of have the cards stacked against them.  Many of them come from poor immigrant families.  Some have one - or both - parents in prison.  Some have been made to believe that mullets and wife-beaters are ok.  And as hard as we try to counteract all of this, some of them just aren't going to make it:

-The boy who drew pictures of guns on his paper and threatened to shoot one of his friends

-The student who changed a screensaver in the computer lab to say "school sucks tits"

-The overly-emotional first-grader who lives with her psychotic grandmother.

And yet, I still find countless moments throughout my day to smile:

-The 3rd grade prom queen.  Complete with a ringletted half-up-do, dangly pearl earrings, and a Zac Efron locket (though she'd rather marry 50 Cent).  She was seen only moments later on the playground bending down and revealing a full two inches of prom-queen crack.

-The tiny blond first grade boy with superbly long eyelashes who burst into fits of giggles while telling me a story about I don't know what because he was giggling too hard.

-"Oh, you're Mr. B!"

-Breakfast for lunch in the cafeteria.

Now, I was talking to Ms. J the other day as she was handling some book order money from her kids.  She made a comment about one of their mother's being a stripper and how the stack of 1's she got from the child could have been acquired in such a fashion.  It got me to thinking - what percentage of dollar bills currently in circulation actually has been inside someone's underpants?