And SOMETIMES It’s Worth It

Today we had a Hispanic pot luck for the teachers at my school. Everyone who wanted to participate could bring a covered dish – but it needed to be Hispanic food. Er – did I mention that my school is 70-75% Hispanic kids? AND this is Hispanic Heritage month to boot!

So last night I am casting around for something to make that wouldn’t require a lot of re-heating and post cooking maintenance. Well, that AND that I could make and be reasonably sure of not coming off as the WORLD’S WORST cooking teacher!! No pressure.

I decided on empanadas (little meat pies – pastry stuffed with meat and deep fried). Nope – never made em before but they were much less trouble than an entire pork roast! I made a YUMMY filling consisting of ground beef, onion, garlic, red AND green Bell Peppers, salt, pepper and a touch of cinnamon. It was very yummy. mmmmmmmm. Then I went to the grocery store and bought the ingredients for the pastry crust. Ingredients? I misspoke. INGREDIENT. Pillsbury ready-made pie crusts – available in the refrigerator section. Came home, rolled em out a little, cut them into cute little circles, glopped on the filling, folded them in half, sealed by forking – er – crimping with a fork, and threw them into hot oil to fry. All done – nice and golden brown and ARTFULLY arranged on a platter.

Today I am partaking of the food – and sitting holding my breath to see if the empanadas will pass Hispanic Muster. And then it happened. One of the older teachers came up and asked if I had made the empanandas. Uh-oh. Should I admit it or look offended? What the hey…I admitted it. She then began to RAVE about how wonderful they were. She is originally from Cuba and they don’t make their dough quite that sweet and she has tried for YEARS (years, mind you) to get a perfect sweet dough recipe JUST LIKE MINE. Could she PLEASE have the recipe?

Gulp. What to do? LIE was the first thing that came to mind. You’re the COOKING teacher – you should actually COOK. Then it occurred to me – hey! I’m not just the COOKING teacher – I’m the SMART COOKING teacher. I know when it’s a good time to let somebody else do the hard labor! So I confessed – and I think I disappointed her a little. I think she was hoping for a really complicated dirty little secret to making sweet dough….not “Go to the refrigerator section in the grocery store…” Heh. Nonetheless – my empanadas disappeared like hot tamales! This gringo passed Hispania!

Then one of my truly wild 7th graders – a girl who is (to borrow a phrase from Whoopi) all lips, hair and attitude came wandering into my classroom during my planning period. I thought she had her schedule confused – reminded her that her class was still more than an hour away. Then she explained to me that she was there to get some work – she had landed herself in ISS (in-school suspension) AGAIN.

So…silly me… I asked her (in a very exasperated manner) “Carnation, when will you learn to just PLAY THE GAME?!” At which point she felt she needed to justify herself to me – and we sat down and talked for 20 minutes or so. I actually got her to calm down and listen once or twice! We talked about the way things SHOULD be and the way things ARE. I think I helped her to see that she really needs to be able to deal with things the way they ARE while she’s trying to get them to change to the way they SHOULD be. She listened carefully enough to understand what I was saying at least – that much I know. Whether she chooses to incorporate it or not…….

We talked about demeaning yourself. She had been told she could never again wear the t-shirt she had on today – because it says “PIMPETTE” in big glittery letters all across her chest. First she argued with me that the word pimpette could be demeaning at all. After we went back to the ORIGIN of the word…she couldn’t argue any more. THEN she asked why I (or any teacher) would CARE if she was putting herself down. Oh my. You really don’t know? Well, it’s my job to help you become the best YOU that you can be. If you are busy calling yourself names – how will I tell someone else it’s wrong to call you names? When you go out into the big wide world to get a job, Carnation dear, you often get only ONE chance to make an impression. IF that impression is PIMPETTE – chances are you won’t get the job (Unless you want to be a Video Ho on MTV – and tits and ass is a dime a dozen)

There was more…and we had a good person-to-person talk. She wasn’t being all about attitude by the end of the conversation. Tomorrow she mad go back to Miss Outrageous – but today we had a “real” conversation.

Last period I had a chance to talk with another student. She and I went to the library to get a movie for the class to watch. When I asked her why she had been so angry all week, she proceeded to give me a rundown on her “man” troubles…and of course her best friend is mixed up in the middle of it….and OF COURSE the “man” in quertion is a LOSER. Been tossed out of multiple schools, all about attitude and intimidation, about half a brain….a real charmer. We walked and talked….and I had her smiling and calm by the time we got back to class.

I know – you want to know why an 8th grader is talking about “man” troubles. Let me just tell you – these are not sheltered kids. They live in tough homes in a tough environment….and they grow up way too fast. If I lecture about “You shouldn’t be thinking about that….blah, blah, blah…” I lose them all together.

Looking back on today – it wasn’t so bad. It was pretty darn good.