NoJoMo 1: Think Twice

And away we go!  I actually have some stuff to write about today so lets get started.

We have this kid at school who is in first grade, which makes him at around 6.  He had a hard time when we first started this year, getting used to school and new kids (he had just moved to the area so knew nobody).  I remember when we were doing the before school daycare thing before school actually started this year and we went out in the woods and he decided to just not go any further and it was very difficult to work with.  If kids figure out that they can flat out refuse to do something and there is very little we can physically do to force them then you are in trouble.  And I think he has figured that out.

Cut to now and he has become enough of a problem that they are calling for extra help from social workers, at the parents initial request actually.  I have him for only an hour a week, but that hour can be exhausting.  One day, he did nothing but run back and forth screaming stuff like "POOP!"  and "PISS" in other kids ears.  The best way to handle that is with total zen calmness.  If you get mad you give him what he wants, I think.  The trick is to calm him down.  It works…for about 5 minutes.  But what I noticed is that he has a hard time even looking at you straight in the eyes and when he does you can see his eyeballs jittering all over the place.

So, probably AD/HD.  The problem now is that he has hooked up with another kid in the class who is almost as bad.  The class clown.  The kid who says nothing except in some cartoon monster voice with his face all contorted.  Walks around like a monkey.  So, yeah, worst duet ever there.  The two of them together are almost unstoppable.  I had told them that it was time to go out this morning and they yelled, "NO!!!!" and literally ran around in circles around me.  It was like a sitcom.  

Then when they got outside, they teamed up with a girl from the second grade, and a poorer choice they could not have made.  She has very few friends, in fact, nobody who you would call her best friend.  She spends most of her time picking one or two other girls in the class, follows them around and disrupts whatever they are doing and then comes running to an adult when they finally tell her to fuck off, in so many words.  She is the kind of kid who pokes you repeatedly until you finally have had enough and swipe her hand away and then cries because you hit her.  I have seen her whisper in kids’ ears that they are stupid and dumb and when they say it back she comes to me and says, " They are calling me mean names". 

So the three of them together make up pretty much the most dreaded trio in the history of school children.  A loud, chaotic, out of control, six armed mean kid.  This is the exhausting and frustrating part of this job.

And then you get some kids at the pool who are afraid of the water, afraid of getting water in their face and you are in the water with them and holding them up and giving them a float to cling to and trying to get them to do the breast stroke kick and suddenly they get it and jet ahead with each kick and you see the joy on their face, that they overcame their fear and they are doing it.  And that makes up for all that crap I just wrote about.

Videos!

First up, a little ditty from a Norwegian techno band from a few years ago.  The band is called Ralph Meyerz and the Jack Herren Band.  The song is Think Twice.  Some of you may have heard it.

And to get the full effect of Ralph Meyerz, the same song but live with a live drummer, percussion and guitar.  Freaking awesome!

And finally a video a friend sent me.  History first.  Daniel Miller, the guy who started Mute records which is probably most famous for foisting Depeche Mode on the world, back in 1978 put out a single under the band name The Normal called Warm Leatherette.  It has become a staple of early underground synth and industrial.  In 2006 Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Peter Murphy (Bauhaus) and others recorded a version for a radio show in Boston that kicks total ass.  Here it is.

 And that’s day one.

Zaphod