This is my favorite week of school: Spirit Week. Granted, I love celebrating Halloween; so this is almost the “warm up” to that. Monday was “Crazy Hair Day.” Most days, I fight with my hair to minimize its craziness. On this particular day, I upped the ante. Several Halloween celebrations ago when I still lived in Monterrey, Mexico, I had enough time on my hands to design and assemble several snake headds out of felt in order to be Medusa. Although I took a huge creative license, I did a great job conveying “snakeness.” Medusa needed her snakes in order to turn people into stone. I, on the other hand, with a close up of my morning face, can stop people cold in their tracks!
Tuesday was “Twins Day.” Last year, I wanted the other teachers in my academy to wear one of our academy Tshirts and I also asked if they would wear a dreadlock wig. I’m sure there was a collective laugh over that request. Well, this year, I loosened my net and invited the entire school to wear their HS rockets club Tshirts and dreads. This time, one other teacher took me up on my offer; so I had a twin this year!
Wednesday was “Wear Your Class Color Wednesday.” Students were quite enthusiastic, dressed in their assigned class colors: black, pink, yellow or green, depending on if they were a senior, junior, sophomore or freshman. I dug up on of my Class of 88 Westover Wolverines Tshirt. None of my students seemed to noticed that I graduated from HS before they were born.
Thursday was 80s Day. As much as I’d like to forget the horrible fashion of the decade, people still love to dress up like clowns. About the only thing I had to contribute to my look were the black spandex pants. A friend lent me the chain belts and for some funny reason, she also lent me several banana clips. As if I’d bother fighting with those things in my dreads. Instead, I spent far too much time, putting my locks into a series of elastic bands to form a ponytail. That was pretty authentic since I’d used to wear my hair like that in the 80s–predreadlock days.
Friday was School Spirit Day. This was the least creative day for me. All I wore was a school Tshirt that I would have normally worn on a Friday. Yet, something miraculous occurred. One of my students had hinted earlier in the week that he had a gift for me. This morning, he brought the gift. My jaw dropped when he handed me three Bob Marley LPs. Vinyl! I didn’t even know my students knew about vinyl. Over the years, thanks to technological advancements, my students barely know how to tell time, using an analog clock, the concepts of clockwise/counterclockwise and how to write in cursive. I hugged my student for gifting me the albums and said that I’ll now have to buy a record player at Goodwill. One thing’s for sure: I’ve now got more interesting art work for my walls at home.
