GICC Moments of Grace

Blake Kyriss is a loner, a stocky middle school boy who struggles in school and speaks with a lisp. I can see misery all over his small face and am not surprised that he is absent from school regularly. Little wonder for a kid who hides out by himself and begs to walk the halls unseen. He prefers never to be singled out for attention, and all of us worry and wonder how this shy, lost boy will ever graduate. We underestimate, however, the powers of Mr. James Lowry. James Lowry, GICC   The first day Blake walks into James Lowry's ninth grade geography class will change his life forever. "You!" Mr. Lowry shouts. Blake looks up, frightened. "Me?" "Yeah, you!" Under fierce eyebrows, Lowry glares across the room. "Have you talked to a single person today?" Blake glances around to make sure he is, in fact, the recipient of this outrage.  "Uh, no, Sir, " he mumbles painfully. Lowry shakes his head in mock disgust. "T...

My back aches. This morning I bend to grab a fluff of cat hair from the kitchen floor and very nearly fail to come back up. It's always this way - a small mundane task that becomes an agonizing reminder of my ageing body. Third period 8th grade English. The thing is, I'm not in the mood today for the eighth grade boy who surges into my classroom to dog whistle at the top of his lungs. Nor do I care to deal with uncharged Chrome books, late homework, or the middle school girl who abruptly vomits on my shoes. I'm old. I'm tired. And my back is killing me. It's eons ago that I am in the second grade lugging a small footstool to my bedroom - pretending it's my classroom desk - to carefully arrange two pencils and a Big Chief tablet on its surface. "Boys and Girls," I mimic my teacher Sister William Jane, "let's not have any funny business back there." Fr. Jim Golka Even then, school is my first love. From beginning ...