Lunch should classify as a class. Or, anyway, my lunch. I am lucky enough to be part of a lunch table at which, I learn at least as much as in any of my other classes.

Reasons Why My Lunch Table is AWESOME

-It is THE most diverse table in the cafeteria

-It is a strange group of people

-The people there are obsessed with manga and anime

-They are obsessed with food

-And many other reasons

The People at My Table

(named by the Hettalia (anime series) Character that we have taken on (I'm Canada!))

England- A slightly awkward girl obsessed with Wisconsin who is constantly filling notebooks with fan fiction and other writing. We have become very good friends this year.

America- Ironic since she is the only one who is NOT an American citizen. She moved from Pakistan in 3rd grade and talks about how her parents moved here for her and how she wants to make them feel that it was worth it. But she struggles to relate her life to her parents since it is such a different world. She is totally out there and ridiculous and hilarious and more than that, a very interesting person.

France-Born in Haiti, she shares much of 'America's' immigrant anxieties but is much more closed than 'America'

Japan- A hispanic girl who sketches incredible anime characters. Always a light and funny presence. She has invited 'America' to travel with her family to El Salvador this summer.

Spain- Another hispanic girl who is gearing up for her Quinceañera even though it is still a year and a half away. She has told us all that she is inviting us and selected 'America' as one of her special guests. 

Germany- She was born in Germany and lived there for a few years but no one seems to know that. She stays at our table because it is the place she feels she fits in best. 

At our lunch table, we constantly joke about why we ended up there: that we don't fit in with any of the OTHER groups. I wouldn't have it any other way. Every day I learn something about a different culture or different life and have wonderful friends to discuss all this new knowledge with. I don't know why I felt like blogging this. I suppose I just wanted to give three cheers to my table. So: hip-hip hooray for the type of diversity schools constantly lecture about!

I know, it's been FOREVER! What can I say, I've been busy.
Not with school, but other things. Anyway, a lot has been going on. Last week, a private security company in gray suits and shiny, bald, heads showed up at our school without a word. Apparently, our superintendent has hired an entire Private Security company to make sure that students aren't hurting themselves or getting pregnant on the THIRD FLOOR. This is the floor that they evacuated when they split the school in half two years ago. There are some offices and some used classrooms up there and ow some really tall guys with bald heads, but besides from that...

Last year I wrote a story about how one of my classes defeated zombies on the third floor. Somehow, the fact that I had written it and the basic story line circulated throughout a quarter of the 8th of grade. Now it's an inside joke. I am planning on writing a sequel. "The Real Story: How the Zombies became Private Security Guards and Why." 

Wow! It's already almost the end of the quarter! We get report cards this week. We are reading The Wave in Language Arts right now. It is based on the true story of a school in California. There was a teacher who decided to create a social experiment to show his skeptical students how people can fall easily into a movement like the Nazi Party. However, things end up getting carried away. It's interesting. I mean, the way it relates to our school and how my peers think it relates to our school. Most are uninterested and probably won't read the book. Some will read the book, but think of it as some other world. Isn't that ironic, seeing as the book is about kids who don't see connections between past and present. Of course, there are some that will see those connections. They are the ones that keep me sane. It drives me nuts how closed off middle-schoolers are and how hard it is to get us to focus and take anything seriously. It isn't that middle-schoolers can't. Find an excited, engaging teacher to talk to kids about their lives and other's and people will pay attention. Maybe not all the time, but at least for a while. And that's better than letting kids live in their own little bubble of middle-school drama.

On the cover of my friend's binder is a family tree. This is no ordinary family tree. She is at the top of the tree and five branches come down from her. One of her daughters, according to the family tree, has five wives. Yes, wives. And she's not the only one. Polygamy, gay marriage, missing fathers, adopted kids, and transgenders are all on are tree. 'The Family' as members call it, is constantly growing. It is interesting that, in a setting that is one of the most unforgiving places in our society, this imaginary family is so incredibly creative. As for me, I'm the family elf.

One Month Into the School Year

Interims are already about to come out. However, in other ways, the school barely seems to be in session. We still haven't had our first PACE class; an International Baccalaureate Program introduction/remediation time period that we were supposed to have beginning with the first week of school. For the most part, I like my classes and my teachers. But I'm a whole lot more forgiving than most of my classmates.

Science

My teacher is a soft-spoken woman from the Dominican Republic. This year we are studying introductory chemistry and introductory physics. Part of science class every year is the science fair. For over a year, many of the science teachers have been vying for virtual science boards and this year they have finally succeeded. 

P.E.

This is the only class that I know I'm going to have a field trip for. In fact, we will have at least three field trips. I know, kind of strange, right? Field trips for P.E.? Hey! I'll take it.

Geometry

I am in the a class known to my peers as 'Super-TAG'. This means I am taking math two years above my grade level. As you can imagine, there is a relatively small group of people who take this class. In 6th grade, we were all in the same math class and became good friends. Last year, with the splitting of the schools, no one saw each other. This year, we are all back together again because they decided it didn't make sense to have two geometry classes. So, it's a little awkward, catching up on everything that went on in the past year, but almost everyone is very happy. It's kind of like a family reunion.

Language Arts

This curriculum was completely redone over the summer, apparently. Currently, we are reading Lord of the Flies, which every eighth grader has read for, probably, ever. Now, instead of having 'over-arcing themes', we have 'essential questions' and 'learning communities'.

Social Studies

My social studies teacher has a voice that drones like the buzzing of a fly, and lures you to sleep. He is a former cop who is easily distracted into telling 'cop stories' and having long discussions about things completely unrelated to civics. As for the actual curriculum, he shies away from anything even touching on controversy. I think I scare him. I brought up Sharia Law on the first day of class.

Engineering Technology/Woodworking/Nobody Even Knows

I signed up for Engineering Technonogy. Not Woodworking. But one of the engineering technology/woodworking was either fired or 'asked to leave' last year, so now we have one part-time teacher who is supposedly creating the curriculum for my combined class engineering technology/woodworking. (How those were thought of as the same thing, I have no clue.) But he isn't even teh one teaching us. We have a substitute who will be here for the first quarter only. Then, we will get another substitute. I really like the substitute but I spent the first two weeks learning how to measure an inch. However, maybe that was needed because it was truly impressive how many of the kids couldn't name the 1/2 inch marker and started measuring on the 1''.

German

Deutschklasse ist echt toll!!! German is really fun. This is my third combined class; the two 8th grade German classes have been condensed into one, so I get to see a lot of my friends. I also really like my teacher.

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