Under Pressure

So here's what's going on. Our biggest account is up for review, and somehow I ended up in charge of all the creative. It's not the kind of thing you would normally hand over to someone at my level; a project of this importance and magnitude is a job for the Head Creative Cheese, and all his loyal Creative Director Minions. I am a full level below them, and would usually be assigned such important tasks as Holding Up That Chart and Ordering Takeout For Dinner. But since we are currently sans a Head Creative Cheese, and his one and only Creative Director Minion has been on vacation for a week, I drew the short straw. It's been a crazy amount of pressure, and stress, and yes there has been weeping, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The big presentation is Wednesday, so I need to spend the next couple of days collecting loose ends and psyching myself up to walk into a room of heavy hitters and pretend I belong there. I even bought a suit. By Thursday I think I'll either be promoted or at the unemployment office. Cross the fingers.

Meanwhile, filling in on the blogging front is 12 year old Dylan, who wrote this essay for school and secretly became my favorite child for several days.

THERE SHOULD BE NO RECESS FOR GRADES 6-8

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong. You should not, under any circumstances, take away a child’s joy at school. I’m sure that there are many of you out there that love school and take great pride in your work but deep in your heart you know that every kid loves recess.

They say that we should begin to collect ourselves at around the age that were in junior high, but really we should squeeze fun into the last years of being a little kid and recess is perfect for just that. Mr. Duncan, Superintendent of CPS, is trying to rip some of our precious childhood out of our hands before nature intended anyone to. Yes, we may be swimming in the delta to our adulthood, but that should be a reason to keep our valuable time, not rid of it.

Recess is not always just about going outside for some fresh air, but also about staying in and catching up on some work or helping the teacher and so on. Many people here at our school go to the computer lab at recess, the library, and the gymnasium. It is also a time for punishment. The teachers have a perfect time to punish the bad kids and it is called recess. Recess is a good time for punishment for two main reasons: it is the only free time you have to punish them, except after school, and it is taking something they need and saying without words if you do not behave well then you will lose something dear to you.

There would be a lot of extra space at the school, and the teachers have been complaining about a parking lot. There is a catch for the teachers, though. Considering that not only do you take the kids recess from them, but then you make it impossible for them to do anything after school because the teachers are parking their cars in the playground. I’m just saying that eventually this is gonna push someone off the edge, especially the delinquents (NOT ME!!), and they are really gonna let your car have it. You know it’s true. So if you do take our freedom away from us in the time you own us and turn the extra space into a parking lot you’re taking a big risk parking there.

Depression would cover the most important three grades of the school until the students that are currently going there, go to high school. Basically what I’m saying is every single student of 6th, 7th, and 8th will no doubt be depressed until the next generation comes and it eventually wears off. And knowing our principal, I’m sure he would rather have a few minutes off of school than the most important grades full of depressed students. And to prove it, all principals always care about what rate their school is with his or her student’s grades or scoring. After saying that, just picture 3 depressed grades full of depressed kids being worked non stop for 6 hours and 30 minutes. No recess could ruin a poor, innocent kid’s life. I have read somewhere that when they made a law in China that they had to go to school much longer, the suicide ratings flew to the sky with all the depressed teens.

Hopefully you were persuaded to keep recess and keep kids happy. Recess should stay forever.

Amen.