don't you forget about me

So I covered Friday DT for a friend tonight-- my plans canceled as hers ramped up to include interviews. I asked for the list of players and was shocked at some of the names that appeared-- three kids who probably haven't even had a regular DT in all their years of school. Turns out it was a joke went bad that landed them in a 2.5 hour Friday afternoon session, and there is no doubt that the real punishment was just being there, in that room, with the other kids who'd done other kinds of wrong. I mean, they probably would have spent at least that much time working on homework over the weekend, so that wasn't a big deal at all. At one point, as I was talking to another kid about what he was doing potentially landing him in another Friday, one poor girl broke out laughing and put her head on the table-- and the "oh my heavens, I can't believe this is happening to me" look was unmistakable. Twenty years from now I would not be surprised to learn this was a monumental moment in their development. I hope it turns out to be, because otherwise it was just an afternoon spent with John Bender and Claire Standish.