Them That Has, Gets

I spend a lot of time thinking about the kids I know and who will make it and who may not. I would like to be surprised. I would like to pull one or two of them out of the fire they are determinedly marching toward.

Usually, though, it doesn't work that way. The ones you don't have to work real hard to reach, like Junior and his family, take a good idea and run with it. Or like the Brady Girls and their summer jobs at Radio Arte. Once they did the applications, they got accepted and I got out of the way.

I hope Beth down the block is doing OK, too, over at Kennedy. I haven't heard a peep from her since the school year started, except that one of her sisters told me she really wanted to earn that money for kids who get all A's. I haven't heard how her progress report came out. I'm really curious about that.

Meanwhile, Peter Pan's sister is flunking a couple of classes at Perspectives Math & Science Academy and the girl up on the next block missed a whole day of school over there one day when her ride didn't show. Will they get it together? Remains to be seen.

Will Picasso pull himself out of the path he's going down? This one's a toughie. Actually, he and Dawn might be sort of in similar places. Picasso hasn't been as far down the wrong road (yet) as Dawn has. Dawn's been down the road and is still trying to pull herself back up. Picasso might have enough sense not to go too far down that road, but then again he might not. And I don't know how his brother's recent death is affecting him in that regard. From what Junior's mom said today, maybe it's making him less cautious, not more so. Not good.

Meanwhile, I saw Dawn at Big Picture this week. She's doing an essay for Columbia College. She remains interested in the arts, visual and performing (theater). I told her we need to get her into at least one class at Marwen next semester before she graduates, so she can take advantage of their college and career advising services. Her GPA is a 1.9, and I'd still say the odds are not better than 50/50 that she'll graduate on time.

Then you get down a whole 'nother level and start talking about Joey and if not Peter Pan, probably some of his brothers. I think one of Peter Pan's little brothers tagged my composter the other day. I just spotted the tag this afternoon. It's in gray marker on a black plastic surface, so not easy to see, but it's there. People on the block are talking about Joey. They've definitely written him off. "He's going to be in jail, just like his brother." I've already heard people say that.

Anyway, it's pretty easy to see why them that has, gets. It's just a lot easier to help the people with enough resources and initiative to take steps on their own. If it only takes telling someone something, or maybe telling them and one or two followup steps like filling out an application with them or going to one meeting, that's not that hard. It's when they need someone to hold their hand every single day that it gets tiring.

Plus, when so many people don't know basic things like where to send their kid for high school, it's so much easier and more rewarding to help those that just need a little pointing and handholding, who is left to tackle the bigger jobs? And the people who like the bigger jobs around here are all tied up with the really big jobs, which doesn't seem to leave them much time for the Joeys or the Picassos, at least not until they drop out of school or shoot somebody.