BAE BOY

2-23

Okay, we're inching toward the end of this adventure--finally, right?

But we're also heading toward some rough waters. Which is about right, actually, at this point in a book. Even though I never stick to any of the prescribed plans for doing anything, least of all writing a book.

My life doesn't conform to plans. Nobody's does, but mine seems to just careen all over the place more than most. So it's pretty wild and worth reading about, I think. But the drama ebbs and flows in a less predictable way than a lot of people probably expect.

So thanks for hangin' in. We're getting there.

And here come those rapids I just promised.

Started first thing in the morning, when I was reading through my daily briefings online like a good boy. Cause to be honest, it was kind of fun to check my messages. I mean, those messages included things like, "Possible Chris Pratt project," and "Mark Wahlberg meeting?"

That last one was Nia setting me up to meet people already doing what I wanted to do and doing it ridiculously well. Wahlberg was producing movies and cable TV series that nobody would've expected from him. And still acting, too.

A kid from the streets like me, doing it to death out there. Which is why Nia was planning a meeting over wherever he was shooting at the time. She thought we'd hit it off aside from the business stuff. And I'd like his style better than the usual suits or the slick Young Hollywood guys.

So yeah, "work" in our lives wasn't work. Not the kind a lot of people are forced to do. It was always a new surprise, always something amazing someone was doing that I got to see and maybe help them with.

It almost made me feel guilty. I wanted to come up with something "real" to do. So I was really stoked to see, "Charter school consultants meeting," with an attachment called "Language Arts Curriculum Map--12th grade

We'd chosen a very successful company called EdTech to step in and get the school thing done. They had a whole process for dealing with the everything from the initial applications and certifications to getting the buildings up to code and hiring support and teaching staff. Very efficient and experienced.

They were already holding informational meetings with former administrators and teachers and parents from the area near De Grazia, to get a feel for what they'd experienced and what they wanted for their children this time.

I was going to sit in soon, to hear a presentation of "data" they'd collected. Another suit session, but they were educators, so I didn't feel so uptight about that.

I opened this curriculum "map" thing and just stared at it. I knew it was sort of the blueprint for building courses. I saw the titles and I knew what they were trying to show me, basically. It was all the things the seniors would learn in English classes. What the classes might be called and what they'd read and write, that kind of thing.

But I sent it to Wyatt. I know she was supposed to be off limits, but this was one of the reasons I'd hoped she wouldn't be. It's all good on paper, right? They'd built lots of schools, come up with a whole library of plans based on that.

But Wyatt knew the kids I was aiming for. And I wanted her to keep them in mind as she read the thing. Send me questions to ask, suggestions to make. I told her to give it to Williams, too. And to ask her if she wanted to help us. If she had time, with all she was going through.