be nice to me or i will break your shirt’s extra button, your polo, arrow, brooks brothers, van heusen, they arrive by the armload, stained, smelling like sweat & drakkar noir, but usually i’m in the back where it’s 91 degrees in windowless july scrubbing collars, tagging light or heavy starch, searching pockets for misplaced five dollar bills, i work alone, no music, 1pm to 5pm, three days a week, $4.25 an hour, my mom got me the job, wanted me to experience real life with ms. goodson who runs the place with her eye lash extensions & pall mall cigarette breaks, danny, she calls out with a richmond, va drawl, i need help up front, blind man tapping near our front door, clothes tumbling to the floor, i guide him, take his wrinkled jumble of pants & shirts, they reek like he’s worn them for a week straight, we get him sorted, later watch him tapping toward the bus stop, for a second i try to imagine his life in darkness, then i take a long sip from my lukewarm big gulp & get back to work.
Category: Childhood
Remembering Mr. DeLong: 1946-2023
I attended Taylor Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia during the late 1970’s into the mid-1980’s. I had some incredible teachers at Taylor. Very high on that list was Mr. DeLong (Mr. D). He was my physical education teacher and had played college basketball and baseball at George Washington University. His approach to PE was methodical; he was so dedicated to the Presidential Fitness Test, Field Day competitions, and all of the details that went into games like dodgeball and earth ball. I remember his deep love of basketball and can still picture his smooth jump shot. After I graduated from college, I came back to visit with Mr. D. We shot hoops for part of an afternoon, and I enjoyed just being near his calm energy. A couple of years later I taught my very first class of students at Malcolm X Elementary School in San Francisco. With those 4th graders I went by Mr. D, in honor of Mr. DeLong.
You can read his obituary here: https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/arlington-va/jeffery-delong-11255200?utm_source=obit_alerts&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=obit_detail&utm_content=decedent_name
Remembering Gordon Lightfoot: 1938-2023
Gordon Lightfoot will forever be on the soundtrack of my childhood.
