Archive for the ‘gangs’ Category

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Universal Product Code

June 7, 2010

Neck tattoos are the billboards of skin art — they advertise who you are.  In the mid-nineties I was a substitute teacher in juvenile hall. When I couldn’t remember a student’s name I’d walk up and down the rows of desks and sneak a peek at that student’s neck. More often than not their names would be inscribed on the back of their necks.  Maybe it was important to not be mistaken in a gang altercation?  What interests me most is what someone chooses for you to see that is not visible to themselves. Yvonne has a small tattoo of a woman’s handbag inked on her neck. I asked her if it had something to do with purse snatching. “No, Ms. P, it means I like money. I don’t take purses,” she reminded me with her typical candor. “I’m an international thief.”

Sequoia is a new student who grew up in a small town in Oregon. He isn’t actually enrolled but comes to my school to help out, tutor other students in math. He has a UPC barcode tattooed on the back of his neck. I asked him if he ever tried to scan himself at Target. Sequoia says the numbers in his UPC tattoo have special meaning but prefers to keep that to himself. I showed him our online encyclopedia and every time I glance over he is looking up some esoteric subject like cosmology or pantheism. Sequoia looks like he stepped out of a J.Crew ad until you notice the limp in his walk and the barcode on his neck.

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Police blotter

May 21, 2010

Today my Diogenes, who has turned out to be a pretty terrific student, asked if he could write a letter of intent to be allowed off property. He asked me to print a copy and I was so struck by it I read it aloud.  “It reads like a police blotter,” I said. Here is an excerpt:

On May 13, 2010, on a Wednesday, Vincent, Fernando, and Emilio went to a book signing at the Library. During the reading these three students spoke out and asked questions during the Q&A.  A teacher at a charter school approached them to see if they would like to be guests at her school to speak to the kids about gang prevention. The teacher offered to pick up the students and bring them back.

Diogenes, your case is convincing. I hope you get to speak at the school.

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Why 23?

March 5, 2010

Aryan brothers, I could live without them in my classroom. The first time I saw the number 23 tattooed on a guy I asked him, why 23?  He told me W is the 23rd letter of the alphabet, W for white power. I’ll never forget the time I saw a guy sitting outside my classroom with no less than five swastikas tattooed on his face and shaved head. I wondered to myself, “I hope he hasn’t been referred to my school.” He was just too extreme  and frankly a bit scary.  I’ve been trained not to talk about my religious affiliation so when a ‘brother’ asks me if I’m Jewish, I have to practice an almost ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy but sometimes I will say, ” yes, I’m Jewish.”  I don’t sport a ’10’ on my forearm, you won’t find Moses holding the tablets on my back.  I’ve had skin allergies my whole life and worry I would be allergic to the ink and then there is the history of so many Jews who were forcibly given tattoos during the Shoah. A student of mine once returned from being back in prison with a cross on his forearm. I saw the words, ‘God Bless’ and said, “you found religion?!” Upon further inspection I saw the words surrounding the cross said, “God Bless the Haters.”

Posted in gangs, parolees, prison, tattoos | 1 Comment »

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A ratio on each side

February 4, 2010

Today I read an affirmation to my class. It was from a book of daily affirmations from the mid-eighties. Then I handed the book to a student to read aloud. I need to remind myself to let the students read aloud and short affirmations, simple and direct, are a great start. It’s easy to be the teacher on the pulpit. I asked my students what they think their children do most often after school.  Watch TV or play video games was the common answer. “Not like us, we were getting our exercise gang banging,” one of my female students said. “Yeah, we never sat down,” another chimed in. “I wonder if there isn’t some activity between watching television and gang banging,”  I asked them. Back to math, time to study ratio and proportions for the GED.

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