iona is being wexler tested. to see if she qualifies for ‘gifted’, as in thou shall be gifted the best education the public system has to offer. don’t get me started. i’m just complying. I’m here on hibiscus island. in the home of dr. trushin. an elderly jewish lady who’s been testing for 40 years. iona is in good hands. she’s nervous. mommy what if I’m not gifted? my dutch communist father’s genes convulse in me. you are gifted no matter what, i say. there are knick-knack’s everywhere. in “the room where moms sit”, (is there another room where dads sit?) you may encounter my husband, she says, he likes to chat with the moms. i havent seen him yet but a chiwawa stops by, sniffs my leg, trembles and tootles off as if its wearing high heels. there are three wooden cats in pink spotted pajams fishing off the edge of an old vcr system. (knick-knacks I said). on the glass coffee table: russian dolls, a soldered couple made from scrapmetel dances under a tiny streetlight, a clump of coral, sharks made from driftwood, a collection of swarowski mice (rats?), a rainbow lead glass unicorn in the glass sliding door that looks out over a small kidney shaped pool.
picture perfect come retire on hibiscus island.
i think I’m just gonna leave and drive around for a bit… call my mom in amsterdam. how are the girls? every other house is for sale; miami vice style, spanish style, modern concrete boxes, adobe style, lapidus style, fifties modern bungalows (my favorite), all lush and palms and yachts on the private docks. its tranquil. i drive off the island. onto the busy causeway, the miami business skyscrapers rise ahead of me, biscayne bay on both sides, the docks where vast cruise ships are moored next to container ships. its a city. not just a beach/gay paradise/ eurotrash sundestination/retiree community. miami is a city and its beautiful. it reminds me of a tropical amsterdam.
dr trushin calls me into her office. iona scored very well she says. but she was shy. i get the feeling she’s been sheltered, protected from the world until now. you got that right, but how could that impact her iq score negatively i wonder but do not say. i’m pleased. i tell her about the twins. the tears, the dread of the scary spanish teacher yelling at the bad kids that starts their every day. take them out of that class right away, she says, sounding like a jewish granny. i want to hug her. i love her. i’ve been suffering too, not knowing what to do. she just gave me permission to have a chat with that principal and take a stand. i have an appointment at 11 am tomorrow.
oh and yesterday, while wondering what i’m doing here, i assembled IKEA stuff. i now have a desk and a chair at which i write this and life is much improved.
Barbi Does Miami 
September 23, 2009 at 7:52 pm
just wait for conservatory auditions
or football showcases
September 24, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Alas…when I was placed in a ‘gifted’ class as an elementary school student, I felt special but in reality it was a class (as in ‘middle’, ‘upper’) and race distinction. A ruse used to reinforce this country’s not so secret, dirty secret: We have a very rigid race and wealth based class society. Today we call this system of separation ‘tracking’—same thing–a way to separate the rich from the poor (relatively speaking in the public school system), the privileged from the underprivileged, the light from the dark. Does it have anything whatsoever to do with a child’s inherent ‘gifts’? Absolutely not. Is it healthy? for anyone? Absolutely not–certainly not for those deemed ‘gifted’ Will your ‘gifted’ child get a better education? Not in any fundamental way. But wont she get something more than the poor rabble in the rest of the school? Perhaps a few more bells and whistles–but the most destructive part of the experience is that she will be sent a myriad of messages, as will her ‘ungifted’ peers, some subtle and some not so subtle, that she is better, more deserving and entitled to things that most others could only hope for but don’t really deserve…Iona’s real education happens at home with her family, and in the things she does in the world…Will she be able to recover from this enforced indoctrination is race and class distinctions…Yes! But only up to a point–she will always carry an artificial ‘blankie’ around that will be brought out to comfort her in times of stress and trouble. Seeing reality will be made just that much more more difficult for her. And what about the rest of the kids who aren’t gifted—who are forced to play in this rigged game and told that they are lower orders of humanity…Their recovery will be much slower, if ever, and the sad story perpetuated from generation to generation forever. As you might sense, I have very little patience with this type of torture visited upon our children. Oni is a good kid, she has a deep and sensitive soul-she wont be turned into a shit-head as a result of this but she will be forced to participate in a very destructive game-a game that injures everyone who plays. As for the twins…I would tell the teacher straight up—If she continues to abuse children that you will his/her ass fired. Talk to the principal if you want to but he/she will only do what is the safest thing…
Ro
Ro