PaulPallazola
Malden, Massachusetts May,1983
In the spring of 1983 we were informed that Educational Mastery Systems was losing its contract for the Yeull School Special Needs program. In a matter of weeks I would be unemployed for the second time in less than a year. It had been a challenging program working with some uniquely challenged individuals. Getting punched, kicked, spit at or bit was an almost daily part of our work experience, & heavy partying usually followed the worst days. In what now seems like a poorly planned practical joke the program’s last field trip was a visit to the Stone Zoo.
We were asked to walk a group of individuals who were labeled as functioning in the severe to profound range of mental retardation, several of them visually impaired or struggling with sensory integration issues through an area filled with smelly animals making unusual noises. Not surprisingly the individuals were less than thrilled with this activity. It seemed symbolic to me of the deeper problem with our program…DMR and the management were making guesses about what would benefit these guys & the behaviors we encountered seemed to indicate these weren’t what the individuals wanted. Well live & learn. I made a conscious decision not to call or hang out with April,a coworker I had spent much of the past few months with.
April was a tough scrappy woman from the Malden Projects who could open Heineken bottles with her teeth & drink me under the table. Over the school year she did this frequently & many a night I would be half awake driving her to a junkyard in Everett or Revere to buy cocaine. I decided it was time to be a little more healthy. I stopped calling her & didn’t answer her calls. I set to looking for work. Within a few short weeks I was working again & dating April’s ex-girlfriend, who told me she had wanted to hook up months before but had been led by April to believe April & I were together. It turned out to be a great summer.
