maligned mary poppins

it happened again. i pissed someone important off... by being myself. i thought it was a fluke when i got 'let go' from working at Tippy in the summer of 2006. but it happened again. i got 'let go' from volunteering at UpTown Arts.

it was the same story... they didn't need me, they found someone else. but underneath the technically true pulsed the same vein of extreme dislike. it sounds paranoid, but i am not kidding. it is the same personality type: women who are used to being in authority over children, who have a 'tried and true' method of being very stern and demanding so that the kids 'know who's boss.' unfortunately that's not the way i handle children, and the change in method is disturbing, disruptive and seems to challenge authority. these women also have a vindictive streak in them, and both times the lot has fallen on me to be the one blamed, dispised, corrected, and even yelled at.

i am excellent with children, and working with my fourth and fifth grade artists has been one of the highlights of this past year. to be fired because i was not good at teaching or helping is one thing, but being cut off, with no warning and no chance to say goodbye because of a personal dislike is quite another.

so, what is it? it could be my exuberance. my tendancy to stray from the beaten path. an example?

once, in order to get the kids down the stairs single file and quietly, we played a follow the leader type game, where as leader i kept one hand on the rail and then moved my free hand up, down, in the middle as we walked slowly down the stairs. it engaged them, kept them quiet, in one line and concentrated on what they were doing, as opposed to running down the stairs, bumping into one another or being noisy. as we got to the bottom of the stairs i was proud of myself for getting them to behave so well, and i turn around and get scolded by Lois for playing games and endangering the kids. she hadn't actually observed what i was doing, only glanced, assumed and charged ahead. i could tell you forty more things, but surely you get my point.

i am confident in myself, and it shows. perhaps this is the most frightening thing of all, to those who wish to exert as much power and control as possible.

to the Rebeccas and Loises i will meet later on in my life, i say, watch out. you can't slow me down, and you won't stop me from helping kids out.