My voice was hoarse today and it only got hoarser in the school I got asked to sub in at the last minute. The teacher I helped out got sick and showed the same symptoms I've had these last few days.
It was 7th grade English...a grade I take with trepidation. The day went well overall, the kids kept on task, but some of the essays I looked over concerned me, as so many of the girls wrote about how so many of them have sex because they feel pressured by the boys.
Talking about sex to 7th graders is scary. How does one best tackle that subject without steering any heads or getting Puritan parents on my ass? Apparently many of the girls have more intimate experiences than I give them credit for.
All that aside, lunch today was a quick macaroni-and-cheese plate I gulped down in the cafeteria/auditorium. It was a quiet room, as most students were outside in the pleasant sun, eating their meals with their friends.
Ruminating over the sex topic, I looked up toward the ceiling and saw the Mexican flag staring right back at me. The Mexican flag? I got up to look around to make sure we had the United States flag hanging at the same level at the same size elsewhere on the wall. I saw none. The US and Arizona flag instead were hoisted from poles on either side of the auditorium's stage: as per protocol, the US flag on the left and the Arizona flag on the right.
Why was the Mexican flag hanging so prominently on the upper wall? There were no other flags displayed, like the South Korean, Philipino, German, Irish or Guatemalan flags (flags that represent the student body). The flag was totally out of place and its prominence bothered me. It's as if we are to give Mexico special privileges. It's that "special privileges" that angers many of those Americans who get adamant about the illegal immigrant issues, and displaying that solitary flag only foments the boiling situation here along the border.
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