Good Samaritan; Bad Mouth (Granada Visit Pt. 2)

I was on my way out to the staff parking lot when I heard some laughing and yelling behind me. This group of freshmen bops and bros- well, I guess they’re sophomores now- were standing on the grass in front of the leadership room, and they were yelling at a freshman that was just minding his own business walking home.

“Hey freshie, I like your belt!”
“You really know how to dress!” 
“Nice shirt f*g.” 
“Some swagged out glasses you’ve got on, homie.” 

It was like something straight out of a movie, they were picking on this kid just because he was dressed up in a polo and slacks, and wore glasses. I turned around to tell them to mind their own business, but then an older kid walking behind the little freshman beat me to it. 

“Oh yeah, who are you to talk? It’s like 100 degrees out here and you’re wearing an overpriced, oversized, f*cking generic-*ss Obey box logo hoodie. Shut the f*ck up.”

Can’t condone the cursing, but that kid made my day. You hear a lot of scary talk about bullying in high school, and not enough about kids that try to stop it.

No school is perfect, because people aren’t perfect. But as long as there are kids willing to speak up like that, I know we’ll be all right.

Spilling Thoughts (Granada Visit Pt. 1)

On Friday I dropped by my old high school for a bit with my good friend Matt to visit our friends and some teachers. It was the first time I had been back since graduating, and I was excited to see how things had changed.

Our leadership, ASB, and class offices are composed of some really good people, people that aren’t just creative and energetic and funny and charismatic, but respectful- and that’s what makes all the difference in dealing with different students, teachers, and organizations. Granada’s got some awesome student leaders, and I can’t wait to see the things that they’ll accomplish this year.

Hip Hop Club is in good hands with Justin. It’s weird to know that the last of the OG members graduated with my class. I still can’t believe it was four whole years ago when we came together and started it. We used to mainly practice bboying and tricking, and the focus is more on modern choreo now, but that’s a good move. It makes us more marketable to new members and more entertaining to watch, to most students at least. We’ve got some real hypebeast-looking freshmen that are trying to join, but if anyone can teach them about dancing for personal devotion rather than hype, it’s Justin. I just wish my man Mitchell was still here to teach them how to dress too.

2013’s taken over Senior Bench, of course, and they’re probably feeling the same way we were when we started our last year of high school, with all the humility of Kanye West times Tony Stark. But they’re a good class, and they’ll do good for our school. I’m excited to see what they do with this year’s homecoming theme. (And how they balance that with college apps.) They’ll be fine though. 

It’s so weird to see little siblings of my friends at Granada. They still belong in 5th grade to me. Some kids get lucky and have senior or graduated siblings with a “high school legacy” already in place. We won’t mention any names though. All in all, most things are good.