They came in the cafe together but she went to the counter and he hung back. Probably missed their first class by design. A quick cup of something warm and a bite of something flakey on the way to school is easily obtainable. While she tended to the lid, cream, and napkins, he shifted his weight from foot to foot. I never really saw their faces because I couldn't get past his jacket. On the sleeve of this red white and black pseudo leather monster were a string of advertising logos. The train of colorful badges looked like a page from the stock exchange. Wrangler, Napa Auto Parts, Ritz crackers. From soda to guns, clothing to corporate consensus. When did all this become fashion? Are we that out of touch?
Off they walked, meeting the universe on their own terms. Terribly in but laughably out of it. You tell me what happened to the empty cup.
In 2003 a couple of educational psychologists published a study in the American Psychological Association's Journal of Educational Psychology linking exposure to community violence and poor achievement in school. What constitutes the definition of community violence? Is it only the neighborhood, the family, and the peer group? Could it include the media, or individual biology? All of the above? Maybe we could make this topic the headline of the newspaper one day. It's certainly worthy. Maybe we could devote a national evening to the topic. Instead of hearing the president tell us about the state of the union on every channel. let's get a group of folks whose minds we respect and hear about all the things that impact "achievement." Political will. Try it, you'll like it. Brighter than bright. New and improved.
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