So some school thoughts first...

I started having my P2 students use Pinterest in earnest for the second marking period.  I pin a picture with a question, they respond with a pic that answers the question with an answer.  So I want them to pin by midnight Fridays.  I waited until this morning because I know my kids.  They forget.  And they did.  Period 7, a disappointment.  I think three kids pinned.  But period 5....  I was sitting here just saying Whoa, whoa all the time.  The images they found were phenomenal.  I so like Pinterest as an image resource better than anything else I have used up to now.  Thank you so much to my artists and teacher friends and family who turned me on to this.  Even the kids were remarking about the wealth of images....

So we have come out of the dark ages and had our first Pep Rally in years here at work.  The old super got rid of them.  Now, pep rallies are not my thing.  I am an art/music kid, not school spirit kid.  I was the one hunkered down in the bleachers wishing I was in the art room, not the gym.  But.....  For a school that seemed to put a premium on the green blood and community and family, the loss of the pep rally in the first week of school sent only one message:  you kids can't handle this and don't deserve this.  I watched the crowds on Friday.  Kids were excited.  Kids who were not rah-rah sports.  Kids looked like they belonged.  It broke up the monotony of the school week.  And the best part?  A girls sports team got massive recognition.  Hell yeah.

Now onto Friday night.  I like to do my own thing to preserve some semblance of the person I am.  I go out on Friday nights with a friend.  We have met a few people, made new friends.   The place we go seems to have a real family atmosphere.  People greet you when you walk in, say bye when you leave, joke with you....  The "Cheers" of the freak world.  There is a girl (H) we met through a guy that started talking to us.  We couldn't tell if she was standoffish or not.  But she was there alone Friday night.  Guy friend was not there yet.

In the social circles I have always been a part of and the places I go, it is perfectly safe for a female to go out alone.  No threatening atmosphere at all.  There is rarely that threatening macho male vibe.  Equality is the rule, not the exception.  So I guess this is why what happened has jarred me so much.  I noticed a large guy standing near H.  She is small.  She would go to dance, he followed.  He would be right there behind her.  Right... There...  As my friend and I watched, we figured H did not know this guy.  He would say stuff to her, she did not respond.  She kept turning away from him.  Then the look on his face got angry.  We watched her walk over to the bar.  She ordered a bottle of water.  He followed with her.  I saw him slam his fist on the bar.  He was getting angry with her.  This was really bad.  She goes to dance, he follows.  He is putting his body right up against her.  She keeps turning away.  My friend and I get up to dance.  I was getting so angry and scared.  So I inch over to H and touch her on the arm.  I never talked to her other than introductions.  I said "H, is he bothering you?"  She couldn't even say  anything.  Just nodded.  I told her to stay with us.  He continued to hover and then watch from afar.  I crossed my arms and watched him.  Eventually he left.  We felt good that another lady watch seeing this unfold told H she was watching....

I can't get this off my mind.  I constantly have students bitch to me about the dress code.  But the problem is, we still have men who think that the way a girl dresses can justify his doing things to her.   That guy thought H was fair game.  She was alone.  She was ...  fill in the blank with whatever a girl should not do to make herself prey.  But what about the social atmosphere that makes the guy think he can do this?  Why does he have a right to make a girl uncomfortable and threatened?  I never saw a look like that in a man's eyes before.  My friend agreed with me that we think rape was on that man's agenda.  My students just do not get it.   I will never forget years ago when a boy told a girl in my Sculpture class "Come here, baby" and she went right over.  I stopped that moment and picked apart everything that was wrong with that situation.  Then there was the senior from two years ago who explained to me that if a girl is asked to prom, she knows she has to give a little something afterwards.  Really?  All the talking I did would not change his mind.  I have had a couple of students who had been raped.  One was date rape, the other when she was drunk.  The prevalent attitude is that the girl was partially or all to blame.  She was dating him...  She was drunk...  H wasn't dating that creep.  She wasn't drunk or even drinking.  What's the excuse?

I just can't get his off my mind...  It is just going to keep happening.