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“My grandmother got us out of foster care, piece by piece. At one point there were like fifteen kids in her home: all my siblings, all my cousins. She worked all the time, sewing linings into hats for Jewish men. There was a room in the basement with four sewing machines, and everyone had to do their part. It was tough love. But she kept us together. My mother never came to visit, not even once. Not even on weekends. And I was a curious kid, so that killed me: never knowing why. But every morning I got to wake up with my siblings and my cousins, and I was thankful for that. That was beautiful. And our grandmother gave us that. One morning when I was twelve she sat me down, and said: ‘Your mother wants you back, but you’re welcome to stay.’ She gave me that choice. And I decided to move in with my mother. By that time she’d gotten clean. And she showed me love. Way more love. Way more. Not in the way of: I’m going to give you a hug, or a kiss. But listening. Like, I’m listening to you. My grandmother was stretched too thin for one-on-one. So I’d never felt heard as a child. But my mother would take me on these long walks. She’d let me talk and talk. She’d be my ear. She taught me that I have a personality. I never knew I had a personality. It was always just wake up and do what everyone else does. My mother showed me how to be happy. She was so joyful. She wore the brightest clothes. She was like a rainbow in a person, and she became my best friend. She died of a heart attack when I was fifteen; she died in my arms. And part of me is always going to feel broken because of that. That’s the part I don’t show my kids, you know. The part that still feels alone. But we had three years together. And during that time she answered all my questions; that’s what I’m most thankful for. She was an open book. She told me her trauma, her story. How she met my father. How she was introduced to a lifestyle that she just didn’t know about. How she got so addicted, and how she never wanted me to see her like that. Not even once. Now I’ll never have to wonder. She gave me the gift of knowing. Knowing why she did what she did. But mainly, knowing what having a mom feels like.”

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ABBOTT ELEMENTARY S02E13 | THE FUNDRAISER

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ABBOTT ELEMENTARY S02E02 - WRONG DELIVERY

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It’s not your job to figure out people and why the mistreat you, your responsibility is to get out of harm’s way and start doing what’s right for you.

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It’s not your job to figure out people and why the mistreat you, your responsibility is to get out of harm’s way and start doing what’s right for you.

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There are a bunch of white celebrities who Barbara thinks are black. (…) And we just let her keep thinking that. It's easier.

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In case you need this today

- you are not a failure - you are not a waste of space - you are loved - you are wanted - i believe in you - you can do it

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I literally have been crying off and on this morning .

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“When he was born I took him see his grandfather. I brought him to the construction site where he worked, so they could meet. But my dad didn’t even make an effort. It was the same thing I remembered from my childhood. Never once do I remember: ‘Oh, let’s go to the water park.’ He’d spend all his money on friends and girls. And when he did come home he was always screaming, always hitting. For every little thing: if we didn’t brush our teeth, if we didn’t help out enough around the house. He treated my mom bad too. I tried to stop it. When I got older people would have to physically separate us. The anger is in me too. It comes from the inside. I’ll start to get mad, and suddenly it’s all over me. But whenever that starts to happen, I think: ‘I’m not going to be him. I’m not going to be him.’ I’ll walk away and calm down. Then I’ll come back and apologize. I’ll say: ‘What you did was wrong. But it was also wrong for me to speak that way. And I promise not to be like that again.’ I try to show him respect. Even though he’s a kid, he deserves the same respect as any person, even more, actually. Because an old person knows what’s going on, and he doesn’t. I always say goodnight with a kiss. And I just try to be as patient as I can. Always, always, always. I can read the way he is. Like, he doesn’t need to tell me if something is bothering him. Because I can see it in his face. He’s a super kind boy. I haven’t noticed any anger in him at all. Not at all. Sometimes I worry, that I need to push him a little harder to be tougher. Because he’s just so kind,  I mean, look at him. Look at him.”

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“The school wanted to create some new after-school programs. I’d run track in high school. Was I good? No. But I ran. So I volunteered to create the track program. The minimum to form a team is eight girls. Luckily I’m a cool teacher. I’m not rushing them to be grown. And I know the memes. So I had some girls who signed up just to be around me. In the end I found my eight. Nobody had any track experience. But these girls had playground reputations; they were fast. We just needed to build up our endurance. At our first practice we ran around the track one time, just to see how we were feeling. I ran out front to show them how it’s done. At one point I turn around, I got girls walking, I got girls stopping. My goal was just to finish the season. I wanted them to learn commitment. So when they grow up they can determine their own way without somebody pushing them. We were a little nervous on the morning of our first meet. Some of us were panicky. Some of us were crying. I told them: We don’t need any MVPs. We don’t need any Rookies of The Year. Just don’t stop running. No matter what, just don’t stop running.’  All of them raced in different heats. Then the scores started coming in; it was like: ‘Whoa. What’s up. We winning this?’ A lot of the girls placed. Our captain Jaziah was second out of 24 girls. That was the day we became a team. I started buying Gatorade. We chose a team name. Every time I gave a suggestion, they’d be like: ‘That’s corny. That’s corny.’ They’re in that phase of like, they hate everything. But when we got to ‘Baby Got Track,’ that hit. BGT, baby. BGT. Now before every meet we do our BGT chant to give us a little bit of that braggadocious energy. These girls are committed. During the 7th grade trip to the Poconos, the BGT girls were in my cabin. We woke up an hour early, ate breakfast, brushed our teeth, then we ran track. Tomorrow is the championship. We know that we can do it and we’re gonna show that we can do it. But no matter what happens, these girls are already leaders in the middle school. Our principal has noticed the results. We’re getting brand new jerseys. And next year we’re going to have an indoor track team too.”

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