2 years ago
When Keeping it Real Goes Right
This morning, I was hanging out in a sixth grade classroom during recess. In the back corner, there was a group of 8-10 students huddled around three girls: Elizabeth and Joanna, seated, looking sullen… and Diamond, standing, and preaching about: keeping it real.
Diamond was yelling: “I hate it when my friends fight!! Yall have just got to keep it REAL!!”
Joanna cracks a smile, and Diamond goes on: ” R-E-A-L!!! Keep it real! You, and me, and Elizabeth, and Yesenia are gunna be friends til the end! But you have got to keep it real!” When her friends have no response to her desperate pleas for realness, Diamond runs over to the bookshelf, grabs the American Heritage Dictionary, and reads aloud the definition of the word ‘real’.
Well, my mind was blown.
The origin of Joanna and Elizabeth’s conflict was never revealed, but Diamond had a captive audience for at least another four minutes, when the bell rang.
