Housefly

July 2007     San Francisco

While living in the Lower Haight, I and my three lovely roommates had a great old Edwardian house circa 1880, with an Irish bar on one side and a house on the other. I loved being in that bar: The sweet young bartender had been, somehow, one of my students back when I taught public high school in NYC. So I didn’t pay much for drinks, but the Irish weren’t the best neighbors. When stepping out our front gate, I often faced an obstacle course of puke, blood, undergarments, and extra-sleepy drunks. Weekends were worse. (more…)

February 2007    Oakland, California

Our girlie C.R. teaches at a high school for juvenile delinquents outside the city. By any account, her “students” are violent, disturbed, sexually uninhibited, non-academically inclined and soon-to-be-incarcerated. She is full of stories that make you want to laugh, despair, pay your taxes and lock your doors. (more…)

February 2007    Oakland, California

Another pearl from our hero, C.R.: I saw the US History teacher gave the kids an assignment to write a biography, I asked him how it was going. He rolled his eyes. (more…)