Day 78

The kids never cease cracking me up. Today Taymen was out in the hall singing at the top of his lungs "Don't you want me baby, don't you want me, aaaaaa-oooooh!" Were I to rank songs I'd expect inner-city middle school kids to sing with enthusiasm, the Human League's "Don't You Want Me" would be near the bottom of my list.

"Where did you hear that song?" I asked, curious.

"TJ was singing that shit. He all gay," Taymen said. His manner of speaking is in itself hilarious, hung halfway betwixt the speech stylings of Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle. I reminded him that we don't use "gay" as an insult in my classroom, to which his response was "We ain't in your classroom, God-fro. We in the hallway." Again, I was cracked up.

I saw TJ in 3rd period. "TJ, why are you singing 1980s pop songs?" I didn't even have to mention the specific title, he just burst out with: "Donchoo wan me ba-beee, donchoo wan me aaaaaa-yo!"

I asked if this song was in a movie, or perhaps had been sampled by a hip-hop artist. TJ said "I dunno where I heard that shit. Who sang that, Mr. G?" I told him, and said "That song was out when I was about your age."

"Dag," he replied. "You like 50 'n shit."