At eleven thirty my mother calls my name from the living room. The rise and dip of the E resting into the guttural peace of the A, this Emma, Eeeeeeeemmaaaaaaa, Eeeehmuhhh, if anything, this name means home to me, but only ever when taken from her mouth. I go and find a room lit by a [...]
Because it makes very little sense for me to take part in it, for my daily English hour I am sent instead to the Computer Science lab. ”Lab” is perhaps a little too indulgent of a name. I’d consider it more appropriate to term it “attic”, even though, strictly speaking, it’s not really one. It’s on [...]
At six o’clock Alex produces three textbooks and a roll of plastic wrap from his backpack. So far, along with a stained shirt and an equally stained friend, this is what he has managed to bring back from his first day of third grade. Following a great tradition of schoolchildhood, he offers no other answer [...]
During class, I’ll stare out the window, my view of the sky blocked by an enormous office building. I will suddenly feel horribly claustrophobic – what kind of place is this, that children are denied even the clouds, the clear perfection of the sky? I’m not afraid of anything, I just need to know I [...]