Written On The Board

Malo 'etau ma'u e efiafi ni (Good Evening)       Hello my fellow classmates. We stand here on this great evening to close off on an era that has now ran it's course over the past four years. Starting off as freshmen, now ending it on a graceful note as seniors who are blossoming into young adults with the wings on our back to take to the sky in which we are about to fly off to in the direction of the sunset. When my counselor and principal approached me to give this speech about a door closing right at the nick of time when another one was turning it's doorknob to open for another void that we call the unknown in which was empty for us to fill it with whatever answers we came across, I was full of extreme pride. I was asked to stop by class 33C right after finishing the rest of my school hours to write up some ideas before creating my full length speech. Often, my counselor and principal took it upon themselves to scribble down topics on the board for me to cover. Things such as our time together and all the great memories we've made as a class, better yet, as a school. Like as if we're one big happy family who've been through it all, thick and thin. But then, I realized.......I'm not interested in any of that crap. Instead, I'm gonna keep it unfiltered and keep it blunt with all of you in attendance instead of blowing some kisses up the asses of the very few people who I'm gonna be taking some shots while I'm up here. Because I deserve it. I deserve to air out my laundry that's been needing to be washed and dried after the dirt that's been smeared unto my load. First of all, let me talk about of how I lost about three teachers in the span of a school year. Two of them I very much enjoyed as educators who I've learned so much from and a particular person who I secretly disliked. To begin with, I would love to fondly talk about Mrs. Charlotte Evergreen who was my English teacher in both my junior and senior year here in highschool. She taught with great passion about Hemingway, Salinger, and Steinbeck along with with the symbolism behind their writings that withhold throughout the test of time. She took the most seemingly simple piece of literature and made a universe out of the pages while bringing a new angle to one's perspective. Unfortunately, she lost her job because a parent complained about the fact that their child was reading a book that dealt with sexual themes. A whole petition was signed to have the book removed from class but Mrs. Charlotte just thought it was immoral to ban George Orwell's 1984 just because of a few scenes that consisted of brief sexual intimacy. I knew whose parents it was. Samantha B Jones. Samantha, I know it was you who video taped Mrs. Charlotte. You sneaky sore ass loser. The reason I say that is because I find it funny how your mom became aware of this right when you got an -F on that book report you did about the character analysis. It didn't help that you went and cam recorded Mrs. Charlotte reading right when she was on the sex part of the book to text for your mom to share on her group chat of Karens who throw hissy fits about who took whose spot at the damn parking lot. Very ironic of how we read a book about oppressing people through the power of media manipulation and yet you did poorly to interpret any of that. If reenacting the choices made by the characters were accounted for as points, what you did would be considered extra credit. And here Mrs. Charlotte thought you've never understood the assignment. Moving on, let's talk about Mr. Wade of Physiology. I have got to say, I was a whole mess in knowing what was going on with my whole physical form changing. My armpits were sweating. Heat was gathering in places I didn't want to warm up. All of this was confusing until he began teaching anatomy to his students about the conditions our bodies go through along with the cells that travel in the vessels that build us into what we are today and what we are to become in the future because of how these small particles grow in becoming something that accommodates our new stages in life. It wasn't just the way he taught it that made the whole subject interesting to learn. It was the fact that the tone he spoke in made it sound like he wasn't talking down to you or making you feel little in a way that makes you question yourself like most grown ups do. Physiology wasn't my thing neither was it my greatest strength. But if I were to list any other class to be up there with Mrs. Charlotte, it would definitely be any other subject with him. Unfortunately, his time with as an employed educator came to an end after he too was laid off due to disagreements with the school board on what it is he should teach to the students enrolled in the period they had with him. If you are unaware, Mr. Wade didn't agree with the board's decision to dismiss him after it was discovered that his actual assigned gender at birth was female. I was blown away about this revelation of my teacher. But I guess everybody was caught off guard since he really passed the standardized test where we just rate everyone depending on what we think is male and female. When this was brought into light, the principal had to call him into office where they listed the concerns parents have made at a meeting after a father brought it up. Turns out, he went to school with Mr. Wade and said he recalled the days where women wore skirts instead of pants. Very contradictive for this perspective to be enforced unto a school committee by a dad whose daughter chugged a couple of breakfast burritos before first period and had the balls of a man to persuade everybody it was me by side eyeing my ass when someone asked where the fowl stench was coming from. Everyone please take a chance to focus your attention on Stacy Macgillis, looking constipated as hell as freakin always. Don't know how you're head captain of the cheerleading squad but it must stank when you're on top of the pyramid. God bless those down below. FYI, Stacy Macgillis and her family are the last people you'd want to ask about the anatomy of a human body since her dad said in the same breath of being scared of gender queer folks that he's never been to a doctor because he doesn't trust the medical system all due to them being part of the government who are the definition of fraud. Sir, you go around telling a classmate that they're frauds because they look a little different from what they were back in highschool while you had a major peak of a lifetime where you go from star quarterback to a stay at home loser who eats in the parking lot of a McDonald's. Yeah, me and my mom see you. Going down hard on a Big Mac. My mom took one look at your wife and the guy who does your gardening which didn't take long for her to blatantly say, 'It's only a matter of time.' Now, I'm gonna finish this off by bringing up my least favorable person who I've had the chance of ever encountering. Mrs. Lewis. History  and social studies has never looked meaner. This woman was the bane of my existence. Well, I think that's over exaggerating since she wasn't a horrible teacher. She was just boring. To sum up her character, if I were to compare her to any spice in every kitchen cabinet, she would most definitely be flour. She had a very slow vocal tone where someone would mistake to thinking that she was on the verge of sleeping. The silence of the room and her voice together made an irritating combo that could knock you out during the first few seconds of class. Worst thing, she would raise her voice into a razor sharp sound when she snapped at you for even snoring during one of her lectures. Like seriously, you're gonna get pressed about me sleeping during one of your teachings despite being responsible for me closing my eyes to escape into dreamland? And don't get me started on her homework assignments. Giving everyone the weekend to do a four page essay about the Revolutionary War. What should've been revolutionary is some tweaks made around her teaching skills. Just kidding.Just kidding.Just messing around here, y'all. But besides all that, when I heard that she was let go of her position, I didn't know how to react. I was speechless and yet outraged. Why was I outraged about someone I couldn't care less about? Well, it wasn't about her getting fired. It was more about why. Just last May, it was AAPI heritage month. She was doing her usual lecture where we were learning about certain parts of Asia when she got to the conversation about the celebration of Asain and Pacific Islander heritage. Surprisingly, she decided to share her personal take on the concept since she was of chinese descent. Keeping it up front with everyone, she said she didn't really get it. Said that there wasn't really any point to create a month dedicated to teaching about Asain History. "Honestly, it feels like Asain people are tokenised just so Americans can compensate for their past actions of mistreating folks they consider Japanese or Chinese like me." Everyone's ears turned up to this comment. They've never heard her go off script and give a very personal take on such a subject. I was still dosing off with my head in the clouds as usual until she brought up Pacific Islanders. If some of y'all don't know this, me and my folks are of Tongan descent. Being Polynesian is a huge factor to my identity and hearing her mention it made me feel a little seen. She went on and said that it was confusing as to why were we grouped together in the first place. Why did the government make it so hard by roping us into one big demographic with a very long name broken into acronyms that still ran longer than an actual person's tongue. This. This. This I AGREED with. I wanted to join in. I wanted to get up from my seat and scream of how America is really messed up for categorizing us into one small box like as though we were one of the same even though it was far from it. I was shaking from being overwhelmed from this. Yes, finally. Someone who gets it. Someone who can say it with their bare chest. For all of you in the audience wondering: what's the big deal? Let me explain by pointing out the damn elephant in the room. Asia and the South Pacific. Two completely different continents/territories. Asia: East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia Pacifica: Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia Do you get it? Good. If you don't, retake geography because you've still ain't left the goddamn sixties. It still appears that we've still haven't left the sunken place because some teen behind me got up and said that her comment on the whole ideal of AAPI was offensive. He began questioning her about why she would say such a thing like as if she had spoken a very negative term. She tried to reason with him by setting examples of how over simplifying can be problematic and she never meant no harm. But this fool was all hands over ears like a grown ass toddler. Next, he called her a racist. Then, he stormed off in a Poo Poo diaper mood. As y'all have guessed, yes, she did get fired for it. For spotting the damn difference. As for the big baby teen....Kyle! Over there at the very front row on the left. Hey! Listen bestie, I know you were trying to play hero for a community that you aren't even apart of  but just because you and your family lived in Hawaii, doesn't mean you're ethnicity is Hawaiian. Nationality and Ethnicity: Two separate things. Keep up people! Plus, how are you gonna call yourself Pacific Islander when the first thing you said to my Tongan ass was Hola. Still thinking that I'm Latino, huh? Real Islanders recognize Islanders and I haven't seen you or your folks at any of the luaus so why are you bugging? And you called a History teacher racist. Like as if she and people like me didn't know what we were saying even though it very much is centered around our whole existence. How are you going to fire a teacher who knows what it's like to be Asian and yet tell the difference between both communities? Especially in front of someone who is part of said community. There's been multiple times where I've tried to talk about it but ended up being bombarded by people thinking that I'm stuck up for thinking I'm better than Asian people even though I didn't say anything remotely nasty about anyone considered Asian. I want to end this speech by letting everyone know that I didn't write what was marked up on the board in front me because it didn't make sense to take advice from an education system that undermines the values that their own faculty instills unto their students. Questioning books with deeper meaning outside of sex. Thinking it's inappropriate for someone to switch genders and call them a pervert even though all you hyper fixate on is what's between their legs. Calling someone racist for talking about their own race and how we've chosen to cherry pick what month to acknowledge their contributions to American society besides the mere fact that Asain, along with Pacific Islander, history should be a whole damn calendar. Dear class of whatever year this is since I do not care to look back on my time with any of you tattle taling snakes, I leave you with some word of wisdom: Don't go kicking the lion if you aren't willing to hear from what is already down. 'Alu a pea 'ikai toe (Bye, and never again)