Affirming

At the start
Of 47 years
Pedagogical
I am thirty-one
Teaching my first
Of five years in East
Austin at the community
College campus Ridgeview
Where my classes are mostly
Black some Hispanic and a few
Whites when I inadvertently use
The phrase pot calling the kettle
Black at which point I look up and
Say well, I won’t be using that old
Phrase again and my students
Explode into laughter as I find
My students think I’m funny.
One old black man in his
Late 70s slaps his hand
On his desk each time
I try to emphasize a
Point that may be
On the test as I
Learn he is just
Affirming as
In church
To help
Me.
One quite
Large black
Man who wears
His desk like a tool
Belt says nothing all
Semester but is passing
When one night about ten
Ten half an hour before class
Ends I tell my History students
Smiling broadly tongue on check
That the Travis County jail must
Be the safest place in town
Because it is located over
The Court House where
The law insures safety
And the large man in
His desk tool belt
Looks up at me
And raises his
Hand stating
Ah been ina
Dah Travis
County
Jail,
Yoh doin
Sleep on yoh
Stomack in dah
Travis County jail,
Which explodes the
Class into laughter as
I learn about black humor
And culture being invited to
Churches picnics parties and
Folk wisdom as one young black
Woman tells me the blackest berry
Has the sweetest juice a fact I tell
Her I am not allowed to verify so
For five years my classes turn
Until classes are sixty-five
Percent white fifteen per
Cent Hispanic and only
Twenty percent or so
Black but my night
School students
Always amaze
Me as they
Sustain
By a
Humor
Refreshing
In honesty and
We share our time
Learning about history
Affirming our own America.