I'm working with this really great group of kids from Staten Island





I have to ride the ferry to get over there and friends, let me tell you, if you haven't ridden the Staten Island ferry at 10 am on a Thursday, you are in for a real treat.

The ride itself is quite pleasant. The other passengers are mainly comprised of tourists, mostly non English speakers, taking pictures of the statue of liberty, or patients headed for the methadone clinic at the hospital that is located a short walk from the ferry dock.

These are two very distinct groups of people and the differences between them will become obvious a few short moments into your ride.

Oh, yes. And I'm there, too.

Yesterday I was getting off the ferry when two bewildered looking tourists approached me and asked,

"Um, what is Staten Island? I mean, like, are there things to do here? Why is it famous?"

And I didn't really know how to answer them. But I thought they were pretty good questions. You could probably ask that about anywhere.

For our warm up, I had my students free write answers to those very questions and I LOVE some of the answers I got:

Staten Island is where we are supposed to start from. It is a starting place.

Staten Island is where I go to High School and my IB English paper is due today.

Famous for a trash dump but that's not very fair because people just think we smell like garbage and I DO NOT smell like garbage, Claudia!

Sucks

Where my parents settled and I do not plan on leaving

Thousands of years ago people set out from Asia and walked and walked and walked and they couldn't walk anymore so they just stayed here and then they named it Staten island

This is boring

Home

I thought it was a pretty great example of what most teen-agers go through, a fluctuation of disgust and pride about their hometown, maybe even themselves?

?!

I don't know. It made me remember being that young and how much I hated Michigan and couldn't wait to leave. It was only when I was able to leave that I understood how amazing and boring my hometown was/is. That those two things can exist at the same time. That being 17 is is also amazing and boring and sometimes really, really difficult.

I've been struggling a lot this year with teaching, particularly High School, so this was a really nice change for me. So I guess I would answer my own question with:

A breathe of fresh air, but also the location of a huge methadone clinic and no, I don't have fifty cents so please stop asking, guy with the ponytail and eagle tattoo.