At Marvin Elementary
b.r.crandall
3rd graders are writing narratives, tales of
Fortnite and going to the mall after a new kitten
is adopted, and once-upon-a-time, I went to Canada.
I remain in Connecticut, though, to learn Adriana
is 4th of July baby, which makes her sister jealous…
because of sparklers, picnics, staying up late, and bombs
bursting in air. It’s sad not to have a party
in school, so José, who is weaving a story about
waterparks and rollercoasters, might celebrate with her.
I tell them about Kim Ruffin, the Associate Professor
of English at Roosevelt University and how she’s
writing about 4-leaf palettes, rubbing leaves. Joy..
“The top of your mouth,” asks Ronel (his sister
has braces and he loves big words). This week he’s working
on the letter x: foxy, excited, e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d.
I explain palette by pointing to a window with the
trees - what my grandmother called Maude’s magic…
God and Mother Nature doing their thing.
“Adriana,” I noted, “October is like the 4th of
July for trees, an Autumn palette late to your birthday
party. Ali wondered if she could wear a hat.
Kids are quite colorful. They help me branch from
a mundane world (I teach college, too, after all).
I tell them, “academics tend to forget about the
flavors of this miraculous world. We get stuck,
contained and constrained by journals and esoteric
shenanigans played by greedy institutions. Ronel
asks me to spell e-s-o-t-e-r-i-c, and reprimands me
because it doesn’t have the letter ‘x’. I refer back to
the trees. “You need Xanax,” he says. X-a-n-a-x.
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