[journal]
I'm on my way to the earliest class in the world, but before I leave I wanted to write my dream before I forget it.
I've been reading a book called
Savage Inequalities by
Jonathan Kozol and it is about the economic depravity of some American school children. The true stories are difficult to read because children -- of all people -- should not be subjected to the gross inequalities that are depicted in this novel.
My dream takes place at a college situated in said depraved location. The dream is set at night for the same reason that horror movies are always foggy or rainy. I'm running to school because I'm being chased by a guy with a gun. The field is muddy and strewn with garbage. At one point I'm on my stomach crawling because I don't want to be seen and killed. The wail of sirens inform me that the perp was captured and I feel more safe when I reach the light of the city. I have only moments to recover before I'm approached by a man, sickly, unshaven, asking me for money; he doesn't literally ask me but it looks like his intention. I ask him how to get to school and he tells me that I need to take so-and-so bus and as he does this he puts money in another beggar's hat below him and then gives me a Toonie and says, "Here, you'll need this for fare." I'm so touched by his kindness that I pull out my wallet and give him five dollars. Suddenly I realize that his toonie is fake toy money and so was the money he put in the beggar's hat, and I get the feeling I was not only tricked, but set up for something else. Another dude comes roaring by and tries to snatch my wallet that's in my hands still and I spend the next unpleasant moments wrestling with my grip on the wallet while being kneed in the groin and kneeing back. In mid crotch attack my alarm wakes me up.
Okay I'll admit, now that I read the dream it sounds lame, but I assure you that if you had experienced the dream you would have been at a constant state of alertness and stress. There was nothing in me but the feeling of fear and the instinct of survival. I did not feel at all in control of my situation, rather the situation felt like my owner. I can easily imagine how children living in similar cities as mentioned in the novel must live like. The thing that peeves me off more is that I've been to schools like Yale and seen how
excessive their accommodations and amenities are . If they only shared a fraction of their wealth, less fortunate students could have heat in their classes, toilet paper for their rolls or water in their fountains -- or hey maybe if they are really
really lucky they can get
garbage pick-up.
