J.K. Lee...

A very small number of you will recognize that name and if you are struggling to remember, it’s the name of the 9^th degree Tae Kwan Do instructor who had founded and ran the school at which I studied during my final year at Marquette. I really enjoyed those classes not because I had the chance to bust stuff up with my hands and feet but because I learned a lot about leverage, joints and how the human body works. I’ll get to the relevance of all that in a minute.

Today being my first day back I took a good deal of time reacquainting myself with the students of St. Vincent Strambi High School. Many of them remembered me and I was very happy to see them as well. Many of them had hugs for me while others gave me a mouthful for being gone so long, but it was lost on me since it was all in Patois; I hardly understood a word.

My morning was filled with roaming the school, sitting in on a class or two, figuring out what my daily schedule will be and adjusting to a school schedule. It has been so long since my day was composed of a succession of 40 minute blocks; it’s hard to keep in mind that 11:35am or 2:25pm might be significant. It is also jarring to be moving through the realm of high school and the priorities that go along with it; looking cool, the latest gossip in the halls and whether or not one can do something utterly stupid in any given moment. The good news is, these kids are right on track as normal teenagers, eh?

And with the usual order of gossip and high school popularity comes the requisite he said/she said business which typically climaxes in a crescendo of hormones, tears, and maybe even a tussle like the one we had today.

I don’t know the particulars; they seem to change with each person’s telling of the story. All I know is that I saw two kids get into a verbal exchange before a class and after having broken it up I sent them on their way and continued talking with students with whom I was reacquainting. One of the two former ruffians found his way to the classroom of the other and all hell broke loose. At the start of the incident my back was to the action and I had no idea it was happening and had it not caught the attention of the person with whom I was talking, I probably never would have known it was going down. By the time I raced to the classroom one teacher was restraining the instigator which made him an open target for the other one who appeared to be in some unbreakable trance of rage. Here’s where my opening reference comes in.

I raced in to grab the unrestrained one and his gangly arms were flying around as if he were some seriously malfunctioning robot. Something in my memory kicked in and I began to put a hold on him that I had learned in my classes. It’s a very simple move and it isolates the arm at the shoulder and gives one a great amount of leverage and control over someone else. As I tangled my arm with his and went for his shoulder my mind fired off the following thoughts in a nanosecond:

-In the States, doing something like this is not only illegal; it usually results in a lawsuit.
-I really have no idea what the laws are in this country.
-I don't want to get arrested for manhandling a student.
-Maybe something a little less aggressive will suffice.

I settled for a half nelson and it worked fine. All of those hours spent with friends practicing what we saw on TV wrestling came in handy.

I led our young fighter out of the school, across the driveway and past an open field where the other contender had been taken to cool off. The former tried to make a charge for the latter and I soon found myself hoisting this kid in the air by his waist with his legs churning; much like you see in a cartoon before a character goes speeding off. It was quite comical and I wanted to laugh but was afraid my laughter would piss this guy off even more.

I wish I could say the rest of my first day back in Bull Savannah was equally stimulating but I cannot. I barely stayed awake for it. That is less a reflection of the school and more a result of having been awake since 2:30am. It didn’t feel like another onset of anxiety, but for the life of me I could not get back to sleep. My mind was just churning a mile a minute and I have no idea why. Maybe I am just adjusting to the change of scenery. I was planning on getting up at 4:30am anyway (we had to drive here from Kingston and it’s not a short drive) but I sincerely believe that having those two hours of sleep under my belt would have done much to improve my stamina throughout the day and by extension, my observations and reflections of it. All I have right now is that I’m back in Bull Sav and even though the sun has not even fully set, I can’t wait to turn off this computer and get to bed.