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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: October 2, 2004
Latest Update: October 2, 2004
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
TITLE OF ESSAYMessage 419 From: Darcy Alsop Date: Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:59 am Subject: A funny story Hi Everyrone, Just thought I'd share an experience I had on Wednesday morning with you. I'm sure that all of you with children can relate to the chaos that is dropping off in the morning, right? Well, I am guilty of double-parking and getting my son out of the car, however I hopped right back in and got moving (as do so many parents at our school). Anyway, I got honked and sneared at. That hurt "my little dog" and I came out fighting and promptly gave both of these women the finger, in front of the school no less. Am I proud of this, ABSOLUTELY NOT! It get's better. One of the women I apparently offended and blocked for about 1 minute pulled over, got out of her car and walked about 3 feet into the street waiting for me to drive up. I did and as I rolled down my window to apologize for my ridiculous and childish behavior, she starts screaming at me. This goes on for about 1-2 minutes, all the while I'm trying to explain why I was parked like that, etc. She finishes off by telling me that I'm blocking traffic AGAIN~ and then storms back to her car. I was so upset. I drove away and barely held it together long enough to pull over. I thought about it and went back to see if she was there. Her car was but she wasn't inside. Visions of this woman telling the front office and principal about the incident danced in my head! I wrote her a note and fully explained the situation, apologized but said that we really should not have yelled at each other and there may have been a better resolution. OK- there is a point~ I calmed down, thought some more and wrote a letter to the principal. I told her what happened and offered a solution. You see, there are no parking/drop off regulations. It's sort of a free for all and there are tons of people doing the exact same thing I did that day. I'm sure I'm not the first parent to get into it with another over morning chaos. I suggested that a system be implemented so that the mornings will run more smoothly. They need someone out there directing traffic and creating a specific loading/unloading zone. I felt like I took action and felt great about it. I'm learning so much from Soc 328, about myself and social agencies! I was able to recognize my behavior quickly and then take responsibility for it. -Well, I never heard from the other woman so she probably feels bad (or stupid) about making such a scene and I've yet to hear from the principal. It's frustrating but I intend to make this happen. Thought you all might find my small act of trying to transform a very small dominant discourse a little inspiring and perhaps slightly amusing. I mean how often do you see a soccer mom give someone the bird? ~~~Rock the vote! Only 3 more days!
