Things Got Worse Before They Got Better

But before it got worse, it got a little better. There were some encouraging signs last week. A number of the staff at my school have been incredibly supportive. In particular, two of the most experienced teachers on staff (both math teachers), have taken me under their wings and have already protected me from so much. It all started at lunch one day when I came into the room and there they were with a big, old Bible cracked open, talking about the Lord. Once we realized that we all had the same Father, one of the ladies turned to the other and said, “See, I told you I like Mr. Travis for some reason.”

Side note (#1): From any earthly standard, I have almost nothing in common with these ladies. It never ceases to amaze me how much you immediately have in common with anybody else who’s following Christ.

Survived

I’m not even sure how to describe this week. I have been preparing and bracing myself for the worst, and that first day still almost knocked me over.

The students at my school came in looking for a fight. The history of this school… I keep peeling back the layers of the onion, and my eyes just sting. Last year there were several student arrests. That’s right. Not suspensions, not expulsions… arrests. One of the security guards described a scene to me of students “runnin’ throught the halls and tearing shit off the walls.” The school made it on the news more than once because of how bad it was.

First Day of School

A friend of mine gave me some advice about the first day of school. He said I should go in with the expectation that I would get punched in the face by a student. That way, if anything short of that happened, my first day would be better than my expectations.

I’ve now come to the end of my first day, and, well… all I can really say at this point is that I didn’t get punched in the face.