Educat Is The Name The Pigs Gave Me, You Call Me Tanya!

I've been thinking about Patty Hearst quite a bit today.

Her story has always fascinated me. How could a girl who seemingly had the world on a string forsake her privilege for a crazy life that would lead her into crime? How could she look someone in the eye and believe that she was not the person she truly was?

Brainwashing is strong and today I have seen it.

My sainted one hasn't returned from Christmas Break. Her friends have called the sainted home and the sainted mother (who, remember, has limited English) tells them she has run away. And we're pretty sure it's with her 26 year old boyfriend.

It's high drama in my teeney world. The kids have all sorts of speculations about this guy (Some of which were verified by simply searching local court records. If I ever have a teenager, I am searching these records before my kids ever go on a date.) and today in class, I even pretended not to see a cell phone when a call came from her sainted cell phone. It's the not so sainted boyfriend, who cusses out my babygirl and tells him the saint is enrolled at another school and to leave them alone.

So her We The People team is muddling along with out her. The rest of her team is two freshman boys who have risen dashingly to the occasion. After their hearing today, I sang their praises loud and long and told them that if they had to do this without their saint, they have done an awesome job. We miss the saint, I told them, but we can't cry over it now.

I dare you, DARE YOU, not to tear up a bit when a freshman boy looks you in the eye with tears in his and says, "Is it ok if I cry? What would you do if I cry?".

"You can't do it.", and my eyes totally defy that my voice is still strong "because I will too."

Pause, pause, pause...

and up pipes Shecky Green who sings, "Iiiiiiffff you're happy and you know it, clap your hands!".

Thanks, Shecky. I clapped. We all clapped. We needed to.

Want to know something funny? A girl ditched that very class today to go sit in the cement tunnels that border the lake by my school. In the snow (Oh, yeah, it snowed just a bit today. So it was wet and soaked the ground just a bit. It's not enough but it's something). I wished a bit I was in that tunnel with her (and would that not have been hilarious! She ditches to get away from me, and I show up in the tunnel! Someday when I'm not wearing any dry cleaning, I might try that).

Think gently of us tomorrow, internets. I have an appointment with the counselor of the sainted one to report her to DHS first thing in the morning.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.