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A self-desrribed chollo,
Antonio Villa____ told me
that three of his California cousins
were students of mine
at Jefferson High School
in South-Central
Los Angeles
I correctly named
the street gangs
his chollo cousins were
associated with
but we both knew
we were BS-ing
each other
Three months after retiring
at the ripe age of 55
—the year was 2004—
I both moved to Virginia
and got a Math position
—for the next school year—
at
in Rockingham County
Mr. Ashby had been
a Confederate General
and the primary means
of income
in Rockingham County
was poultry processing
As another student described it:
"Chickens are no longer beheaded,
they are processed."
Latinos at Turner Ashby
accounted for less than
one percent of the
student population
Caucasians comprised 98.7%
of the faculty
Three black or Latino teachers
were all in "Special Ed"
The other faculty/staff
of Turner Ashby were
of Asian descent
My sister's four children
all graduated with honors
from
—also in Rockingham County—
My eldest niece
described Samuel Spotswood
as a "Procurer"
during the Civil War
and the school's secret nickname
was the "PIMPles"
The secret logo
featured big-bottomed girls
in the 19th Century
equivalent of
"Hot Pants"
The mixed-case spelling
of the secret nickname
was exactly
as my niece described
Antonio Villa_____
was a mediocre Math student
of mine
until his other teachers
willingly issued him
bathroom passes
Those passes were for
almost entire period lengths
during which
Antonio "hung out"
in Mr. Oliverio's
classroom
By Christmas,
Antonio had the highest
grade scores in
his Algebra class
Before Easter,
he had learned everything
an Algebra II student
needed to know
But pre-Calculus
was learned entirely
on his own
because Oliverio
was incapable
of teaching it
All I did was
provide textbooks
either stolen from the school
or purchased at
my own expense
The last correspondence
I had from Antonio
was in 2010
by which time
I relocated to Long Beach
He was about to become
the first Latino
full professor
in the Math Department
at the
The school was designed by
who doubled as
a President of
the United States
Honestly,
I have no idea
of what a "full professor"
is
BUT
—like I previously said about Malcolm X—
I love you Antonio
However
that is an incomplete statement
because it has nothing to do
with my sexual preference
The complete statement is
I love you Antonio FLL
[ditto for Malcolm X]
I love you FuckLessLy
© Oliverio ©
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