Kids Say the Darndest...

"Man, Obama be blowin' me!" (In response to an article we read about the administration's push to remove junk food from schools).
See also: "Man, I'd rather have Bush back in office than all this!"
And: "Obama ain't gonna be in there another 4 years. And I hear he wanna make us go to school all year round. And on Saturdays."

In a discussion of standardized testing:
J: Man, I don't like the government.
B: I do- (makes ironic/precocious face and looks at classmates with huge grin) they give us food stamps and stuff.
Rest of class, erupting into laughter: You so dumb.

"Next week I'm making fifteen. Ima be a fifteen year-old 8th grader. Gettin' all old and wrinkly." -T.

"Man Ms. Craven, you make us write too much! Ima get authoritis!" -D.

"Ms. Craven- you know, a yoga class is not really as quiet as you would think. People fart a lot in yoga classes- because you're using the muscles around your intestines. So it's not really as calm and peaceful as you'd think it would be." -A.


Last night Stefin and I took two students each to see a performance called "Ameriville," put on my Universes and Southern Rep Theatre. It was amazing. Discussed: Katrina, the armed forces, zealous hypocrits, gentrification/"urban-renewal," health care, hate crimes, guns and advertising, the correlation between homelessness and post-traumatic stress syndrome, water... in the form of entirely accapella beats/songs/poems by a mere FOUR extremely talented performers from the Bronx. They stomped/danced/beat-boxed... did stand-up-bits-as-poems- sung reworked versions of old folk songs, spirituals, pop songs, even "Misery is the River of the World" by Tom Waits. If you ever have the chance: go see it.