the Life and Times of Miss Madison

 Over three years ago, just after the death of my mother, my sister and I found ourselves in need of a job. I couldn't work when we had to take care of our mother, but now I could. However, my circumstances threw me a curve ball: how could I become a teacher without my credentials? Years of wasted education all so I could escape my father's abuse. It wasn't a total waste because without it, I would have never become a substitute teacher. I finally passed the CBEST and with a little help from a friend, I got my permit. But subbing is not a regular job. Some days they call for a half day which means half pay and some days they don't call. Subbing isn't like a teacher with credential. A credentialed teacher has one class all year long, but the students respects them more than the sub does. How anyone can love subbing is beyond me. They must have patience and the ability to maintain a class. I don't. I used to enjoy it. There used to be favorable assignments, but in...

 Living in poverty sometimes means you have to rely on public transportation. It would have been nice to have a car and take it whenever you need to and where-ever you need to. Buses don't always stop near or close enough to your destination. For example, I sub  in another town at any of the three schools. The one that is a walk for me is Meadow Lane. The closet stop is either the Pioneer Square stop or the Pizza Hut stop, but it takes fifteen minutes to walk to the school. On those days, I get quite a bit of exercise. Sometimes I take the flex route to a bus stop if I schedule it in advance because it s just a couple of blocks away. What really drains me is the bus ride to and fro and I believe I have wrote about that in another blog Long before my mother passed away and while my father was alive, we have found that the bus driver would stop just a block from our alley. That was a blessing as my mother wasn't getting younger, and after my father passed away, it became more of...