I don’t mean to sound like a bitter old schoolmarm, but when did it become the teacher’s job to stop lessons to provide supplies?  I remember forgetting my pen or pencil and asking to borrow one in whispers, hoping my teacher wouldn’t catch me unprepared. So usually when my teenage students announce “I don’t have a pencil” and look at me to fix that, I remind them that I’m not a pencil tree, and go on with class.

I take that back. Maybe I am a bitter old schoolmarm.

In Chinese school the other day, one of my high school boys announced that he didn’t have a pencil. I handed him a pen from the collection I have in my bag. I’ve got some one-jiao pens that must have fallen off the back of a rickshaw, and a bunch of promo pens. Stick’s stepmom Char works in elder care, and she has a seemingly endless supply of drug rep swag. The pen I happened to hand to the boy happened to be a Viagra pen.

I didn’t have any trouble getting my pen back after class, and I don’t think he’ll be asking me to provide one again.

Be Prepared