Everybody's Got a little Black in them

February 9, 2006

Apparently, I displayed ghetto qualities today. According to my students. My eighth grade students.

Urban Dictionary says that ghetto means "jury-rigged, improvised, or home-made (usually with extremely cheap or sub-standard components), yet still deserving of an odd sense of respect from ghetto dwellers and non-ghetto dwellers alike."

Let me explain.

I made brownies for my students. However, I forgot to cut one of the batches in order to distribute them. I looked everywhere for a knife. (Hard to believe, but they're difficult to come by in a school setting. Well, some school settings at least.) I couldn't find a plastic knife either. Nor a spoon or fork of any kind. Plastic included. I began to get desperate. The bell was about to ring to signal the end of the day, and I knew what would happen if the three who didn't get one from the other pre-cut batch had to go home without. I'd never hear the end of it. ("Hey, remember when everyone else in the room got a brownie and I didn't? Remember? Huh? Huh?)

My eyes searched my desk. And that's when I saw it: the jumbo paperclip.

As I cut the brownies with my "improvised, home-made, cheap" knife, my black students cracked up.

"That's ghetto!" one said.

Another replied, "See, everybody's got a little black in them."

And though it may seem weird, I, who've always been told by my mother that because I couldn't dance I had NO black blood in me, was a little flattered.