Love Loss & Lunacy in a Small Town by Angie J. Mayfield

Author:Angie J. Mayfield [MAYFIELD, ANGIE J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7414-7093-5
Publisher: Infinity Publishing
Published: 2012-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

On a plea bargain, Jacob was sentenced to 3 years in prison for aggravated battery and criminal confinement. Despite numerous court battles, our justice system failed to recognize the baby as a victim of abuse and later awarded Jacob visitation every other Saturday.

Idealistic Perceptions

I planned to change the world, to make a difference, to mold and inspire my protégés into moral, articulate, model adults. I also thought I could fly when I was a child, but a twisted ankle after jumping off the garage roof proved that theory false as well. After four years of teaching high school, my passion and energy dwindled and my attitude toward the profession became as dark and bitter as the coffee and conversation in the teacher’s lounge.

My proscribed existence included babysitter, probation officer, counselor, and expert at state testing, but “teacher” just didn’t seem to fit anymore. I felt like Charlie Sheen’s 150th prostitute. I knew I could get the job done, but I didn’t know if I could make it interesting.

Where were those students eagerly awaiting knowledge, self-awareness, and opportunity? Where were those illuminating faces of wonder my methods classes and academic journals promised? When would I feel appreciated, respected, or even acknowledged?

My principal’s response: “Maybe you should have become a doctor if you wanted all that?” I am, I wanted to tell him. I’m a brain surgeon – only my students look at me as though English is a fatal diagnosis, and I’m the one waking up every day with a headache, thinking I should be on medication, and feeling like something has been surgically removed! Instead, I said nothing, stood up, and carried my glowing annual evaluation form back to my room, leaving him to play with his Blackberry.

I thought of my favorite teacher, Mr. Schrink, who had died of cancer a few years earlier. How I wished I could ask him for advice. His contagious smile and encouraging words influenced my decision to become a writer and a teacher. He had saved me in so many ways in eighth grade. During a discussion of Abraham Lincoln one day, a boy ridiculed Lincoln’s looks, especially his moles. I cringed, for I had a mole, a dark freckle really, above my lip. “Lincoln was intelligent, distinguished, and a good leader,” Mr. Schrink pointed out. “Imagine what our country would be like today, Mr. Blount, if all voters were as shallow as you.” The class laughed as he proceeded to explain to Blount what the word shallow meant.

“Do you know, class, that some of the most beautiful people in the world have a mole right there, where Angie does, above their lip?” our social studies teacher said next, pointing at me and causing the entire class to look. “Movie stars purposely paint moles on their lips and cheeks just to be glamorous. I wonder what Lincoln would think of that? You should get her autograph, because someday, I almost guarantee that Angie will be a movie star – or even better, a famous writer.

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