been a while

i got out of the blogging habit there for a while, sorry. lots going on for you and me.

here are my kids and two others we picked up walking to school yesterday. you can almost feel the cool wind and smell that dry starr king openspace grass, can't you? not bad.

i went to walgreen's today to pick up some allergy medicine, allergies are killing me lately. as soon as i walked in the door i saw this woman whose name i can never remember but who i have known for years. we worked together at cadillac head start in the tenderloin almost ten years ago, and now i see her around my son's school, where she picks up kids from the preschool and brings them to her daycare. she is an african-american woman, about 65, very nice. at cadillac there was a boy with autism who was very smart but just learning to communicate, and he would only listen to her and had to hold her hand on all the field trips. she was shaking and her eyes were bugging out and told me that the security guard had stopped her and searched her bags because he thought she stole something. her daughter was there with her and calling some head honchos at walgreen's to complain. she told me the security guard didn't like black people and she was the only black person in the store. trying to make her feel better i went up and told the guard i had known this woman for years, she took care of kids, and she was very upset. he said he had apologized ten times, but she was still mad. happy day before mother's day at 24th and potrero. at least they were making sure he would be more careful with accusations in the future.

last night my friend with the beautiful mansion hosted a teacher appreciation party for all the starr king staff. i was on the wait staff and helped bring out and clean up the amazing donated food and drink parents made. sangria, ceviche, paella, lemon squares, grilled chicken, donuts. a dad and his two friends played music and the teachers seemed pretty happy and mellow sipping sangria in the dusk looking over the city. i bonded a little with the special education teachers and once again offered up my offspring for integrated playgroups and any reverse mainstreaming which might happen. i stayed late drinking manhattans and laughing with the funny parents after the teachers had gone home and we had cleaned up. there was not much talk about the drastic budget cuts and crazy state of education funding. more about that later.

i got to talk to my best friend far away today. she called while maya and i walked home from dance class on 24th street. it was some kind of communion day with girl after girl walking by in beautiful white dresses, juxtaposed with the hipsters and tourists checking out murals. while we chatted maya took at least four pieces of gum from my pocket, removed her shoes, and tortured the dog on some concrete steps.

we are all hanging in there together in this random world.