Yesterday was a great day at school. I was in a good mood all day. I had seen Dolly Parton at the Chicago Theatre Thursday night, and she was superfantastic, as usual. She is so amazing! I got a new t-shirt, which I wore to work yesterday, because I knew it would impress my students.
One girl asked me who was on my shirt, and then said that I was prettier than Dolly. Which though sweet to say, is just crazy and not true. Prettier than Dolly? Please!
Actually, many kids asked who was on my shirt, and no one knew who Dolly was. Even when I mentioned "I Will Always Love You," and said that that was Dolly's song and not Whitney's, no one knew what I was talking about. Whitney's name just brought us several comments concerning crack use.
Fridays we have long division, which means I have to sit with my division (homeroom) kids for 45 excrutiating minutes, and they are so incredibly loud. And since it's not a real class, I can't threaten their grades or anything. But yesterday we had an assembly in the auditorium. Which usually means that we get lectured by various administrators and it's really boring. But not this time.
We walk into the auditorium and there's a zydeco band on stage performing! The band is called Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies, and they were awesome. It was so much fun. Of course, here I am rocking my Dolly tee -- how perfect is that??? I was dancing in the aisles and my kids were just staring at me like I'm crazy (which happens all the time, so I barely notice). A couple of other teachers knew I was in hog heaven and were goading me to go on stage. Then I looked behind me, and there were a few teachers dancing at the back on the room. So I boogied over there and got them to go on stage with me. It was so fun.
A few students got on stage, too, and this kid was dancing behind me. All of a sudden lots of kids were cheering and laughing, which made me realize the kid was trying to "freak" on me, so I had to shimmy away from him. Some teachers yelled, "Stop freaking on Mrs. Fuji!" He yelled back that I wanted it, which is completely inaccurate. I saw him later in the hall and told him to never do that to me again.
Anyway, the performance was so much fun. The band was really good. They explained about New Orleans music, and that lots of hip hop has roots in zydeco. The kids just sat there and wouldn't act like they were having fun, but I could tell some of them were. Then at the end of the concert, I got a couple more kids to go on stage with me, and then more kids joined us. It was just fun and carefree and no one was being a jerk.
At the end I told the band how great they were and how much I appreciated their being there. Turns out they are local -- they are based in the Chicago suburbs.
Here's a video, for your entertainment!
1 comment:
that sounds like so much fun!
I wish you could somehow get the Caroline Chocolate Drops to come play at your school. they play old fashioned mountain music....banjos, fiddles, spoons, etc. They also dance jigs and sing old Appalachian songs. They're so awesome. One of their missions is to teach black kids about the history of roots music...that it's not 'white' or 'black'....just 'poor.'
good for you for dancing!
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