I'm finally getting around to reading an article from February that my mother clipped and mailed me. At the time, it was too close to home, and I couldn't read it without anxiety. It's about a school in Paterson, NJ (my birthplace, the town where my mother grew up, and a very troubled city I've lamented before) that sounds like the east coast sister school to the place where I worked first semester.
Story: JFK teachers say school is out of control

The more I look back on my first, last, and only semester at Crazy-Ass High, the more I wonder about the staff there. I don't know if they were really, really strong or just defeated, resigned, and a little dead inside. I complained about being harassed, threatened, and assaulted and was told that's just the way things are and I should "grow a thick skin" and "not let things get to you." Teachers at JFK, on the other hand, filed a complaint with the state demanding a safe working environment. I'm just sayin'.