Today, I was in actual tears 12 minutes before the first period bell rang, locked in my classroom by myself. The morning got slightly better, but I chose to be a brat and leave campus for my lunch/conference to get a coffee. Yes, I was treating myself on a bad day. I grabbed my purse and stopped across the hall to ask my friend if she wanted something from Starbucks too. I confess that she was mid lesson when I barged in and the following interaction occurred –
Me: Good morning, Superstars. *looks at colleague friend* What do you want from Starbucks?
Colleague: Oh, you don’t know…
Me: *moody* No, girl, I don’t know! Don’t come for me that I don’t remember your drink please please not today!
Colleague: Noooo, not that! I’m boycotting them
Me: Oh..this is embarrassing. Wait, what? Why?
Student 1: They support Israel?!!
Me: Uhm…oh .. I –
Colleague: I’m sorry, friend! I thought I’d told you!
Me: No, no, don’t be sorry! Are you – Can I – Is this – Uh…. Am I allowed to go or will that negatively impact our friendship?
Colleague: Oh, nooooo, you do you!
Student 2: I say you go!
Student 1: *eye roll*
Me: Did we just… Are we voting on this?
Students: YES.
Colleague: HAHAHA
Student 1: *extremely serious* Go. Go ahead. Just KNOW you’re supporting genocide.
*crickets*
Me: Uh…uhm…. I feel…
Colleague: *chuckling, walks to desk drawer* Girl, I haven’t even used this $15 gift card since Christmas!
Me: So…. You’re gonna waste it…?
Colleague: *cracking up* Here, you have it!
Student 1: WOW.
Colleague: The money is already spent, so it doesn’t count!
Student 2: See? Go get you a coffee, Ms!
Student 1: OKAY. They already sent that gift card money to Israel, so go use it but don’t even tell them your name. Give a fake name because you don’t want them to know WHO is supporting them. So like –
Me: So like, don’t collect stars on my app account?
Student 1: EXACTLY!
Me: OOOOOOK, this took an unexpected turn, and I did NOT intend to derail class….. BYE, Y’ALL.
Takeaways/Wonderings
•Juniors are so passionate (I love it)
•I did go to Starbucks (why do I feel like I let students down??)
•Random, fired up conversations are life giving (even when they aren’t my students)
•Getting the coffee did make me happier… (aahh)
SOLSC24 ||27: Evolution of my bad morning
britt escribe 
Wow! I loved that you recounted the whole conversation. What a dilemma and how embarrassing, but in a way that it shouldn’t be. Personally, I think people are too quick to share their political opinions without giving thought to how they can make others feel. Glad you decided to “Do You!”
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Your story-telling through dialogue works really well, and the students entering into the conversation were a surprise to me but of course added a lot of depth and layers to the exchange and all your underlying thinking we “get” from what is said. Good piece. Life is complicated, right?!
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This piece was tremendously engaging to read. I love the set-up (and sorry you were crying this morning!), and then the *boom* honesty of your colleague and then the *boom* interjection of her students. The fact that you ended with takeaways/wonderings brought the piece full circle – thanks for that. It really is a moral dilemma – Starbucks, Amazon, Chick-Fil-A, and so so so much more. I love that students are thinking about this, and that adults are, too.
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I love how the students jumped into your conversation and turned it into a bigger production than you were intending. The way you’ve written out the dialogue makes it so fun to read! (If you want to feel even less guilty about going to Starbucks, here’s a fact-checking article from Snopes that suggests it’s not really as clear-cut as social media would make it seem: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/starbucks-in-israel/)
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Never a dull moment. The students’ interjections were the surprise here and you pulled it off as if we’re there with you. Teachable moments at their finest. I wonder what their takeaways were.
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This was great to read and what a dilemma to be in but love the conversation and the interest and thoughts of students. Also glad you got the coffee. Sometimes it is needed.
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