The Silence...

When kids go to school for the first day of the year a silence descends upon the neighborhood. While some would beg to differ when watching the hair on my neck stand on end, and as I grimace while listening to them shriek in a shopping mall, believe it or not I love kids. But there is nothing quite like the blanket of calm here today. There is no screaming. No "human child police siren" imitator. There is no ice cream truck. No colicky wails from across the block. I can even open the window!

So yes, while the first day of school hails the death knell of summer it opens a door on a feeling... a "waiting to exhale" that comes with living not only in Baltimore, but other cities like it. You've made it through another summer. And now, for 5 days a week at least, from about 8am to 2pm there is a quietness about the world.

Getting "Paying it Forward" Paid Back to You

Today I read in the Baltimore Sun about 2 youths (Steven T. Hollis III, 18, of Randallstown and Juan L. Flythe, 17, of West Baltimore), part of a subset of the Bloods gang, that stabbed and stomped to death one of their supposedly queer gang members Steven Parrish, 18. It is one of those heinous crimes that makes you wonder, and as a queer person myself makes me filled with a black hole in the pit of my stomach. 10 years later has Matthew Shepard died in vain it seems.... Sigh.

But then a few minutes later arrived this in my in box, from an ex-student in one my classes:

Hey. Good morning. Cheers from Florida. Just got back from the club with some amigos. A tad wet though from TS Fay, but can't complain dancing a lil salsa with this chico in the rain.

.... Love it here. One thing I have been able to do is define myself, (which includes coming out to family and friends in recent months). And surprisingly, I have to pinpoint it to your class in which it let me do that. If there is one class I remember, its your class which I enjoyed most.

What was it I did? Well it really matters not and I won't speculate or pontificate and stroke my own ego in the process either. Point is I helped make some queer kid able to deal with their life and to come out and share that with their parents. They've found courage, joy, and most importantly the opportunity to dance "a lil dance salsa with this chico in the rain." How much more perfect of a pay back for teaching is that?