Monday, April 04, 2011

Day #120

Field trip today for the 7th and 8th graders. We took them to Shake and Bake in the morning--a community center on the once-grand Pennsylvania Avenue where they got to roller skate to loud music for 2 hours. I was heckled roundly for not putting on skates, but the last time I rolled a rink there was no such thing as hip-hop and we were spinning excitedly to AC/DC and disco and even, strangely, Roger Waters' Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. I suppose I could have done it again but why risk a cracked tailbone? I'm thinking my last skating experience was 1982?

After the rink we took the kids down to the Inner Harbor. It was a glorious warm and sunny day, and the kids wanted to spend it walking around the fucking Gallery Mall. So we spent about an hour in there and then they at least wanted to climb Federal Hill. We got to the top and sat and they asked me about the statues and cannons and then we got a rare treat: a flight of A-4 jets out of Andrews Air Force Base buzzed across the harbor for the Orioles' home opener, right at our eye level. That was very exciting for the boys, who wanted to know all about the jets and where they come from and how fast they go and all I could tell was very basic stuff. Maybe tomorrow in homeroom I'll have them look up stuff online.

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