Bright Futures: Slice 7

This post is #7 of 31 slices for the Slice of Life Story Challenge sponsored by Two Writing Teachers. 

Now that's a mohawk!

When I look around as I stand at my doorway in between classes I can't help but wonder about the future. Kids' futures, the community's future, where is all of this going? I'm sure, in some part of myself, that the kids with the spiked mohawk who'd decked out in dog chains is just going through a phase--that phase of figuring out what and how you fit. He may well wind up on Wall street, all business and boardrooms. I wouldn't be surprised. 

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Have you ever wondered what your students will do when they grow up? What will their real lives be like?

What will Lillian be like at 40? Will she have children? a job? Will she be a soccer mom or an engineer? She's sitting doe-eyed in front of me,14--what does her future hold?

I wish I had Sara Holbrook's "Whooping It Up at the MTV Saloon" with me at home so that I could send a line or two your way. The poem begins with a stern look at those "teenagers" and then the speaker in the poem sits back in awe as the child takes wing and flies. It's in Isn't She Ladylike--a collection of poems of rare range and reach. I've had the sort of day that makes me want to grab that poem in my fist and shake it. I've had the sort of day that makes me want look to the amazing heights to which many of my kids will soar-- instead of looking of down to see where a few have so recently fallen.