But you know it's gonna be/ alright

So, although I have many favourite students - so many are 'my favourite' - but I have a new one. He's been a favourite of mine since last year, but this years he's been put under my 'protection', so to speak, and it's been a good thing.

He's a very special -special as in special - immigrant fro China who is now a senior here. He is very hard to understand when he talks - he not only has trouble getting out his words, but his accent is very heavy. And then there are his thought processes. Very off. He constantly gets on a thought pattern and it's very hard to get him off it. He likes to write to the principal pages long hand written letters complaining about this or that. For example, his latest sthicht is "Why are the students allowed to loiter after school around the El stop?" Or, maybe, he was asking "why are they not allowed to hang out there?". Maybe - I'm not sure. He shouts when he is excited. He falls on the ground when he is sad. I've caught him riding a book cart like a horse. Crazy stuff.

He has lots of trouble w/ security here. He is basically a nuisance - people do not like him around, so they try to get him out of their area. So, the basketball team - get ready to read a lot about them, since season opens......to-morrow(!!!) had their annual preseason varsity-JV game (I am stealing the idea this year for the girls- so excited am I about THAT season starting in 3-4 m (!!!) ) last week in our gym. I took the kid- Mayo - to see a few minutes of the game and when I got to the door, they all yelled @ Mayo to "Get OUT of Here!!" and "You're NOT COMING in here". Yes, sometimes here, you do get belligerent ghouls.* A lot of trouble w/ security, who view him a a total pain.

I used to deal w/ hi last year in the library a lot. We have the kids pay ten cents for every page they print (we'd be penniless in a matter hours if it went free), and when paying he would generally come up to the circ desk and just drop coins all over it. I realised immed. that his was a different case and I rather enjoyed when he would drop coins all over the place. He has outbursts and realised that people treat him the way they do (bad). And he has trouble understanding why.

So, I thought: am I being cruel to a special ed kid finding fun in the way he pays? Nah- I knew I liked him as a fellow human, and knew that someone here needed to show him dignity. (I know, I know; Hilts: are you again trying yr 'i'm like Jesus -i am, I know it!!!" sthicht again? We are so sick of it)

So, this year he got a 'job' working in the media center. We take in a lot of kids who are in the 'work study' program - they are seniors and have enough credits to graduate except for those couple classes they take in the A.M. My first year here, we had a real good worker. She knew her stuff and was real good. I still see her around the area and always tell her "College, girl, and then come back and work or us again"**. She did it all as a clerk - handled the $$, dealt w/ circulation, readied the books to go out, etc etc etc...But we also get alot of special ed kids whose duties include, well, stuff like pushing the chairs back in and picking up the trash on the floor - meaning that's a bout all we could depend on them for.

So, in September, the work study/special ed lady - I'm not sure which she is - came into the lib. and asked if we could have Mayo in the lib for work. My colleges, I'm sure, slumped shoulders inside immediately - but said "we'd try'm out".

Now, understand, we all were like -even me -uh-oh!! this is gonna be interesting!!

I put myself in change - I knew how people treated him, and immed. wanted to shield him. So, he was given a few easy duties and I tried to teach him how to do it. So, re shelving the books was his first duty -and guess what? Not only did he not mind this task (we librarians are too good/busy to do mundane things like 'reshevle books' - it's always th clerks and kids job.), but because of whatever is his makeup - HE LOVES TO RESHEVLE BOOKS. A caveat - only the non fiction books are his specialty - because novels are shelved under the authors first three letters of their last name (Ulysses, here, is labeled FIC JOY) - and Mayo is numbers oriented. However, give him a 940 (WW2), a 921 (Bio), a 362 (social problems) - or, maybe, the 740's (art), the 200's (religion), etc etc etc... and he's perfect.

And today, I realized just how much he likes to do it - when I had to go to the office for paperwork etc, I told him that there was a great deal of books to reshelve-and when he saw the stacks of stuff there, he let out a great shout and a leaped up joyously like it was '83 again and he'd just see Harold Baines lift that fly into the outfield and - in that instant of shouting and jumping - was the realization that Julio Cruz is gonna make it in from third ***.

I have a feeling that numbers are easy for him, and he enjoys the logic of them. My guess is is that he has some autistic in him, and -not a 'Rain Man' deal -but something like that. It's funny- in cps, we have various ways that differ fom the regular Dewey Decimal System. For example, the all bio's are shelved under 921. All fiction is not in the 800's - the novels, again, are under "FIC" and those three letters. And, sometimes, if we think - because we know the teachers and know the assignments and have been doing this for a long time - we sometimes shelve them where we think it will best help the kids. So, he's good -when something is strangely labeled, he will take it out and ask "Why?".

He also has some other jobs - but he hates them. Shelve reading is one of the boringest jobs in a lib. It's , get the chair out, sit, stare 2 the books, and make sure they are all in order. The worst. Mind rot. I tried to get him to do it and he told me he didn't like to do it.

But his other big love? Vacuuming!! The library is full of books, and is also full of dust. So, since no one likes cleaning or vacuuming - we were all happy when he took to this job as well.

So, reading this, you may think -"shit, they are exploiting this kid - doing the things that no one else wants to" - but it's not that. Because of me, we tried to get the kid a position for his work study - no one else wanted him. So, we were very happy that we were able to get some use out of him. And it's better than that.

I'm pretty well liked @ the school,and I am trying to use 'my good offices' or whatever 'goodwill' I've built up here to make it easier for this kid. People know that he's under my 'protection', so I Hope that he will not be picked on - even by the adults. And it's also been my my mission to treat him w/ attention. Where most view him as a total nuisance -and I realise that he is such a giant handful - I make sure he gets my attention. When he stutters out some almost incomprehensible statements, I make sure to ask again and look him in the eyes until I understand what he's saying. Every library question is answered -although sometimes I just have to say "Trust me, that's the way it's supposed to be".

So, he's won his place in the library. The other people I work w/ now ask Mayo to do little favours - w/ kids, it's funny- they love when you ask them to do little favours. I like the maybe Mayo finds our place a safe place for him. i think it is.
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*=generally here, my impression of most of the teachers is thus "Fuck - that's such a good idea!! Man, I wish I was even 25% of the teacher you are"

**=always do I talk of university and that ya just gotta experience it, kid ....all the time

***=sorry, sorry, sorry, somethings just stick in yr mind. 16 again.