summertime chi

I'm done with TFA's NYC Institute! And I can honestly say it was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done. Even the thesis. The fact was, I could've quit or gotten out of any of my previous responsibilities without much fallout however, as a summer school teacher, quitting was never an option. I never even considered it, and now that I'm done, I feel confident that I prepared my students as best I could for their Global History Regents next week. (I hope they remember the lesson I gave them where we made facebook pages for global leaders).

As a bit of a reprieve I decided to book a vacation to Chicago. Not much sun and surf, but I have a lot of friends here and the tickets were cheap. And now that I'm here, trying to figure out ways to hang out with the Obamas, Common and Kanye West my mind keeps imagining the fall, when I'm an "adult", leading my own classroom, being responsible for the education of children. I just graduated and already I'm being thrown into an unknown world, after being certain of my steps for so many years.
First there was doing well in middle school to get into a good high school, then working hard in high school to get into a good college (Amherst), then it was surviving college with good grades and a thesis in tow to get honors. And now I am to feign maturity in front of my kids. Show them that being black or Latino doesn't have to me academic ineptitude, while at the same time juggling a grad school course load. But its all been done before by others, so why not me?

Last night, sitting with my friend in her living room watching the commencement DVD, I realized that corny as it sounds, this really is the commencement of my life, things are getting started. But before I get down to it, there is still time to chill, and enjoy my little budget vacay and be with friends as we sit and guess what life will have in store for us.