cta conversations

i'm never wearing my headphones on public transit again. this stuff is better than surfthechannel (i'm over television)!

today i hop on a bus around 3:15, so it's half-full of schoolkids. i'm sitting across from (these ages are guesses, obvz) a 9-year-old white boy and a 12-year-old black boy that are discussing ways to melt a bus card so they can get free rides. not a bad idea. it's obvious the younger boy is trying to impress the older boy. for a second i thought he might have been autistic or something. everyone's autistic these days.

all of a sudden, i hear whitey say, 'yeah, did you ever notice how the black guy always dies first in the movies?!' i know i've heard this 'joke' at least once before, from a black comedian (chris rock? he's the only black comedian, right?). i was totally shocked. i giggled.

then the kid starts acting out a movie scene or something and i hear him say something along the lines of 'and then i slash the nazi symbol into you, and then it's done!'

what?! i'm totally shocked and now i'm staring.

there's a group of non-caucasians standing about five feet from the dudes. they start trash-talking whitey. the older kid does not stick up for him. whitey starts saying lots of bad words. b words and f words and kill words and 'i'mma rock you offa this bus, bitch' words. they didn't let down for a good eight minutes. the poor little boy's eyes were filled with hate and anger and i wanted to reach across the aisle (john mccain taught me something!!!) and hug this little man and tell him that everything's going to be okay and that he shouldn't let them get to him. he was doing the thing where you make a fist and then wrap your other hand around it, kind of like you're packing a snowball.

then i wanted to rock that bitch offa that bus.

anyway, that confirmed for me that i should be a teacher because i'm scared to death of all the hate that i saw on the bus today.

fatefully, i returned home from a free haircut to an e-mail of acceptance into an internship for this program! i'll be going into classrooms and helping integrate the travelers' travels with the classes' respective curricula!

that is good news.