(no subject)
Apr. 2nd, 2002 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckI'm exchanging e-mails with my brother now. For many years, he didn't have a computer or an e-mail address, but now that he's applied to go back to college he's bought a computer. (He had very bad luck with the last one he had. He picked it out himself at age 17 and was encouraged by my parents to go as cheap as possible. It never worked. The company kept replacing it until the warranty ran out, but he never had a usable system.) We're all hoping he'll get in to school here, but I don't know how likely it is. He'll be a transfer student because he did two semesters in Wisconsin five years ago (on top of a lot of AP credit and some credits from Tennessee). He's been living and working in Michigan ever since, so they should consider him in-state. His high school grades weren't dreadfully good because he got bored and frustrated. He didn't want to be there, and the school administration didn't particularly want him there.
Basically, he got himself into trouble in high school. The school was very poor and about 90% minority (My parents left my brother there as a political statement. I think, given that they made no effort to improve the school while doing this, that this decision was wrong). The police came in regularly and did random strip searches of students. My brother refused to allow himself to be searched without a warrant, and my parents backed him up. He was expelled briefly, but the school board forced the principal to back down when it became clear that my parents would go to court and had called in the ACLU. (My mother was practically salivating at the idea of the case. She couldn't find anything else in the case law like it. Most search and seizure cases have to do with not letting the authorities use what they find through an illegal search. She couldn't find anything involving someone being penalized for insisting on his constitutional rights.) The principal had even admitted (on tape) that no one had had any reason to think my brother was carrying anything he shouldn't have been.
A few months later, my brother won a prize in an anonymously judged essay contest. The administration was appalled. They'd slotted him (and my parents) as a troublemaker and didn't want to see him as an academic success. It's another reason I'd have pulled him out of the school if he'd been mine, but? It wasn't my call to make.
I'm hoping to send my brother some Easter candy. Scott picked it up for me Thursday evening, but I haven't been able to mail it yet. I couldn't find a box small enough. (Actually, I need two because I want to send some to my sister in Georgia as well. I'd send some to my sister in New Mexico, but I don't think her mother would approve.) I've got one box of the right size that came in on Saturday, so I'll be packing that up soon. LunarGeography says she has some boxes of the right size; I just need to be able to remind her to bring one.
Scott got some Cadbury mini-eggs, jellybeans, peeps and Cadbury caramel eggs. I divided everything up pretty precisely between two ziplocs. I even sorted by color. I laughed at myself about that but went ahead anyway. It gave me an excuse to sample a little bit when things didn't divide evenly. I don't think the peeps will ship very well, however. They're too easily smooshed.
Basically, he got himself into trouble in high school. The school was very poor and about 90% minority (My parents left my brother there as a political statement. I think, given that they made no effort to improve the school while doing this, that this decision was wrong). The police came in regularly and did random strip searches of students. My brother refused to allow himself to be searched without a warrant, and my parents backed him up. He was expelled briefly, but the school board forced the principal to back down when it became clear that my parents would go to court and had called in the ACLU. (My mother was practically salivating at the idea of the case. She couldn't find anything else in the case law like it. Most search and seizure cases have to do with not letting the authorities use what they find through an illegal search. She couldn't find anything involving someone being penalized for insisting on his constitutional rights.) The principal had even admitted (on tape) that no one had had any reason to think my brother was carrying anything he shouldn't have been.
A few months later, my brother won a prize in an anonymously judged essay contest. The administration was appalled. They'd slotted him (and my parents) as a troublemaker and didn't want to see him as an academic success. It's another reason I'd have pulled him out of the school if he'd been mine, but? It wasn't my call to make.
I'm hoping to send my brother some Easter candy. Scott picked it up for me Thursday evening, but I haven't been able to mail it yet. I couldn't find a box small enough. (Actually, I need two because I want to send some to my sister in Georgia as well. I'd send some to my sister in New Mexico, but I don't think her mother would approve.) I've got one box of the right size that came in on Saturday, so I'll be packing that up soon. LunarGeography says she has some boxes of the right size; I just need to be able to remind her to bring one.
Scott got some Cadbury mini-eggs, jellybeans, peeps and Cadbury caramel eggs. I divided everything up pretty precisely between two ziplocs. I even sorted by color. I laughed at myself about that but went ahead anyway. It gave me an excuse to sample a little bit when things didn't divide evenly. I don't think the peeps will ship very well, however. They're too easily smooshed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-04-03 10:28 am (UTC)