Our neighborhood is a mix of Hispanic, black and white. We all disagree with the balance of ethnicity, so I'd guess that it's a pretty even mix. In our old neighborhood people beat the heat by sitting on their stoops, but in our new neighborhood the stoops is just part of it. Primarily Hispanic families bring out the lawn chairs and make it a party on the sidewalk and open car doors to flood the street with Latino music.
Back to the present...
On Wednesday Cam graduated from 8th grade at the Computer School. Hunter told her that as a recent high school graduate he observed that her graduation and prom were on the same par as some of the best high school celebrations he has scene. Because the kids all go on to different high schools the middle school graduation is really designed to celebrate the time they had together and to wish them well on their journey forward. I can not say enough about the quality of education and the dedication of the teaching/administration at her middle school. It was the exact opposite of what I had thought an inner city NYC school would be like. The school was bright and well maintained with the most up to date computer equipment and the teaching staff was young and full of new ideas, eager to teach the diverse group of kids.
For the prom Cameron and her friends met at one of the girl's apartments to get ready. Rachel's mother, Barbara, invited parents over to take pictures of the girls before they headed out. Of course, I was as interested in seeing their three bedroom apartment on 157th and Riverside Drive as much as I was in seeing the girls. Ten months ago Cameron started the Computer School knowing no one and here she was with a group of six wonderful girls in a lovely home heading out to celebrate an amazing year. When we moved here my biggest fear was that Cam's school would not be up to par with Colorado schools and she would not make any close friends. The graduation and prom confirmed how unwarranted my fears had been.
After we took the subway with the kids down to their venue the parents headed over to Jessie's parents house, where K and Charlene were waiting with a gorgeous spread of food and wine for the parents as we waited for their return. Charlene and K live in an amazing townhouse. Considering the average size of a New York City apartment their townhouse is huge and a wonderful place to entertain. As diverse as the girls are so go their partents. Of course our common ground was to discuss the girls.: how frustrated we are when they don't call after riding the train to a friend's house, how expensive it is to keep up with open campus lunches in Manhattan, and who was going where for summer vacation (no child stays in the city over the whole summer - hummm? a... what? I guess I need to make some plans for Cam, quick).
Work at "un-named retailer" is bad. Exhausting. Management by intimidation. Anyone who knows me will understand that I do not respond to that and I will not follow in those footsteps. Of course juggling HRPlus and the retail management job is impossible and new structuring at HRPlus is making things change immediately. Stay tuned. For better or worse is yet to be determined.
