Split

N was half an hour late today. He seemed upset, so I asked him what was wrong. After a series of questions and one to three word answers, he finally revealed to me that he had been arrested yesterday for stealing a car. But he didn't steal a car- they were just in a stolen car "because they felt like it." I asked him if J was involved, and he said no, but it seemed a touchy subject. J came in an hour late, and immediately started making fun of N for getting arrested. Then they started talking, and eventually revealed that they had both been present last night, but that J got away.

N and the other guy they were with, BJ, were arrested. The cops had IDed J, and said that he had until 4:30 today to turn himself in or they were going to "bust his ass" the next time they saw him.

The cops had threatened J with much vulgarity and violence while they were questioning N and BJ. I believe that the cops really did say that if J didn't turn himself in they would stick a night stick up his... well, you get the idea... because as the boys continued to talk, their stories changed, but the wording of those threats never did. The story as far as I can tell is that the three were in a stolen car that they bought for $10. They ran a red light, and the cops got after them. They jumped out of the car and bolted. N and BJ were caught (N was chased down by the one cop who drew his gun). J was stopped, but then ran when the opportunity presented itself. But they had a positive ID on him, and he has a record so they know where he lives. N said that the cops told him J and BJ are both facing time because they've got too many points on their record. I'm not sure if BJ's parents were able to sign him out of jail last night like N's parents (N has a shorter record), or if he's stil in jail. I know BJ because he was briefly in my RCIA group months ago.

J told me that Oscar and Marco were going to come and talk to him at 2:00, but at a quarter till, the boys started fighting, and I yanked them out of the computer lab without bothering to warn them this time. I warned them on Monday when I kicked them out for fighting.

(Oh yeah. Monday, they were doing great, until about 2:30. Then they started fighting- right in the midst of thousands of dollars of computer equipment. Not wanting to kick them out, I told them to go on break. They said no, they were taking their break at the end of the day so they could go home early. I said, then get to work. I broke up three fights and then told them if they didn't go on break to blow off some steam that I was kicking them out for the day- resulting in an absence. I made sure to tell them three times before they left that if they did not come back in 20 minutes, they were absent for the day. They didn't come back.)

Back to today, I pulled them into the reception area and called Oscar to come and meet with them early. So they fought in the reception area. Oscar walked in while they were wrestling on the floor and I was yelling at them to break it up. He called Marco, and then the five of us sat down to talk.

Long story short- they want to stay in the program, but they won't behave when they are together. So we've split them up. Two hours each, four days a week, starting tomorrow. N refused to work today, so he left after the meeting. Oscar took J to the police station so he could turn himself in.

So now I sit here and wonder what tomorrow will bring.

Night and Day

Thursday, the boy were just awful. Oh my gosh, they were in a mood. Yelling and slinging furniture at each other, and storming out of the classroom, and hitting each other, and stabbing each other with thumbtacks... I actually had to jump in between them several times to stop all out fighting. And I'm pretty sure they weren't even at each other because of each other- they just felt like bucking the system, but they knew they'd get kicked out if they fought with me.

And then I met their old Art Therapist, Joelle. She and Marco told me a story from a few years back when some of the boys in her class got into a paint fight. Marco started calling a couple of them the Blue Man Group, because they had shaved heads and were covered with blue paint.

THEN, while covered with wet paint, the ran into the rectory- into the living room with all the nice furniture. Fortunately, they didn't spread the paint past each other.

Joelle said through her laughter, "I nearly quit that day!"

And I felt better, because I was no longer alone with my bad day.

Later, Sonia (one of the receptionists) said to me, "They were so bad today!" Every time they would storm out, they would go mess with her (because she's young and pretty and I'm more than fairly sure N's got a crush on her). I said, "you're telling me!"

Then she told me about her awful day. Apparently, everyone was having a bad day on Thursday, and since Sonia is a receptionist, she got to deal with everyone's bad moods. She said, "I don't get paid enough for this." I said, "Neither do I." She said, "I don't know how you do it." I said, "I just take a deep breath and remind myself that I love this, even on the bad days." And it's true. I'd much rather be here than delivering chicken for WingZone (as much fun as I had at that job- it just wasn't very fulfilling, you know?) Later, Marco told me that he and Sonia decided that when the time comes and I die, I"m going straight to heaven for working with J and N.

Then I got on line and did my taxes and found out that since Michael and I only worked half a year last year, we came in under the poverty line- so we get everything back! Woo-hoo!

No one came for tutoring. I went home early.

Friday, the boys were ten minutes late when Sr. Angie stopped in and told me that N had been picked up by the cops. He was in the back of the police car, and the cops came in to check out his story that he was on his way to school and was going to pick up his friend (Later, Sonia told me that the cops were giving her attitude, which is strange, because Holy Cross is a rather cop-friendly place).

Anyway, Sr. Angie said that they drove off with N, so he probably wouldn't be in that day, but that didn't explain why J was not yet in, because he wasn't with them. I asked if I should go down there and check on him, but Sr. Angie said, "No, if he did something to get arrested, there's nothing you can do right now."

Fifteen minutes later, I went to call Oscar and Alberto to tell them J still hadn't shown up. But I heard voices, and found that J and N had just walked into the office, and were yelling to Sonia about the cop. We went into the computer lab, and they yelled for about five minutes, and then sat down and got to work, and were perfectly pleasant all day long. The difference was night and day.

Apparently, N got picked up for 'running from the cops', but it had been someone else. So they drove him around and then brought him back. But it's sobering. A friend of theirs was picked up last week with a semi-automatic weapon, and he's going to be doing some time.

The fire keeps creeping closer. I really hope we can help them stay out. But it's hard sometimes.

Job Number Six

I met with Sr. Angie on Friday, and while we talked the idea came up of me being trained to teach adult literacy. We started talking about this because two people who were going to join CCP Lab were not able to because they just cannot read well enough to be in school. It's not even a matter of needing remedial programs, because they are just too far behind.

But anyway, that led to this, and now I'm researching training classes that I could take maybe in the summer, maybe earlier if applicable. I'm very excited about this new possibility. It would be really neat.

So let's see...

1. CCP Lab Instructor
2. HOPE Program Peer Educator
3. RCIA Mentor
4. Tutor
5. Art Teacher
(6) Adult Literacy Educator.

Plus, I"m helping one of the Novitiates with his English.

Love it. I"m not happy unless I'm busy. And I hate being tied down with a boring and repetitive schedule. Some days I work five hours. Some days I work twelve.

Oh yeah, and during the summer, when RCIA is not going on, I"ll have that theatre program... Woo-hoo!

Anyway, Phil and Valerie announced last week that they are leaving the program at the end of the month. They decided that while they love the work, this is just not for them. They're going to be heading on, taking a road trip through Arizona, where they will probably be settling next.

And Molly and Eric and Ian are coming to visit on the weekend of March 20th. I can't tell you how excited I am. There's all this stuff I want to take them to. The model train exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. The Children's Museum at Navy Pier. Plus, they've just got to see Holy Cross, and the Marimba.

I told the CCP Lab boys about Ian. First, they didn't believe that I had a son. Then, N told me I needed to be on the pill. J didn't come today (word on the street was that he is in court), so N and I worked alone. N started telling me about his life growing up, and asked me a lot of questions about Ian and the adoption. He spent a large chunk of his childhood being raised by his grandmother. His older siblings were still with his mom, who had some problems. He seems to relate the adoption to his own experience, and thinks it is strange that someone would *choose* to place their child for adoption when they didn't have to.

We played Jenga the last ten minutes of class. He even stayed a few minutes late to finish the game.

But things are going good here. The weather got up in the sixties last week, which was more than welcome. But it just made it worse when the temperature dropped again. It's supposed to snow tonight. Bleh!

But Daena and Fabian and I went down to the lake to run and roller-blade and read (not respectively) while it was warm out, and it was really good.

Speaking of running at the lake, I signed up for the Lakeshore Marathon. It is on May 31st. At this point, I know i'm going to be ready to make it through. I projected my finish time at about 4 hours, which is a reasonably hopeful goal, I think. My super-hopeful goal is under 3 hours, and if I actually make that, I'm getting the time tattooed on me somewhere, because that will be damn cool, and certainly worth showing off in my old age. Maybe tattooed right under my copyright. If it takes five hours, I'm not telling anyone the time. I'll say I forgot. I'll say, "I ran a marathon, but I didn't care about times, so I didn't bother with all of that crap." It's still a neat accomplishment.

But yes, things are good here. I re-started my book. Again. I"m on, what? the fifth writing now? This one I"m putting up on the Internet as I write it, to give me some sliver of completion as I make my way through. If anyone wants to read and review as I put it up, let me know, and I'll send you the site address and my user name and the story name and all of that. I have a Harry Potter fanfic up right now that gets about 4000 hits a week. There is, apparently, a huge demand for Harry Potter fanfics.

I don't even know what I"m talking about anymore, so I'm ending this entry. Love ya, bye!