some updates: my personal email is scherrerben at hotmail dot com, my work email is benjamins at pcpsb.k12.la dot us, and yes the toad was found shortly thereafter, alive and healthy. Since then, the toads have been growing on the students, who now stop in after school to feed or hold them.
Last night, a Friday evening, I decided to do something that I have never done before: watch a high school football game. On my way, I picked up some spicy fried Cajun chicken at Big Boyz, the local drive in. The two high schools in the area, one being the private Catholic school and the other public, were poised for their annual cross-town rivalry. My students at Rosenwald had been talking about the game for weeks as many of their older brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles attend the public school, Pointe Coupee Central, some of whom play on the team. The scene at the game was very positive but still quite divided, as Catholic is primarily white (but not the football team) and Central has a similar demographic to my school, Rosenwald, which is about 99% African American. As it got darker, clouds of bugs swarmed around the floodlights and kids ran everywhere. The bleachers were still pooled with water from the brief thunderstorm earlier that evening, a normal late summer occurrence. Back to the game, standing on the wet bleachers on Central’s side of the field, I picked at my tasty chicken and watched Central fumble and turn over the ball play after play, too many times to count. All the hype about Central turned out to be all talk, as they were thoroughly defeated. I think the final score was around 50-0. The Catholic fans began to celebrate early in the third quarter. Although deflated, the Central fans still seemed to be having a good time. I surprised a number of my students by sticking to my word and actually showing up to the game. It was good to talk to them in a different setting. I almost did not recognize a few. Out of their school uniforms they dressed in bright flashy colors, much different to the khaki and navy blue of Rosenwald.
