As some of you may know, I have begun student teaching.  That’s right the future of our country is now in my hands.  So Mark Kotiw Has Stories is going to evolve into Mark Kotiw is a Teacher. 

                Today I was speaking to my students about rights, specifically voting rights.  I commented that not even a hundred years ago, some of the students in the class wouldn’t even have been allowed to vote.  I made sure to avoid eye contact with the token black kid in my class but I was referring to women and their pursuit of suffrage in the early part of the 20^th century.  I asked the class if they knew who I was referring to.  One of the students sitting in the back of the room uttered something under his breath.  “What was that James?” I inquired.  I should have just let it go but I thought he said something racist or intolerant.  He quietly spoke.  “Gingers?”  Now I have to admit that’s pretty damn funny so of course I began chuckling with the rest of the class.  That is until I remembered Blake.  Blake is a Ginger, and he did not find it funny.  So we’ll just have to see how much longer I am a teacher after laughing at a student’s handicap.