Editor: I do not live close to Kingstown and so it takes me about 45 minutes on a van to get to school daily and 45 minutes again, depending on the traffic, to get back home in the evening again. I, along with two friends, will wait at the bus stop and if we are lucky we might meet up with two or three other schoolmates on the way. My friends usually “friend up” with the conductors to get front seat sometimes and sometimes I wonder if there is not a kind of attitude where if I don’t smile up with them, I will not get no good seat in the van.

I don’t want to have no situation where I get touched up too much, but my friends say I acting stush sometimes, cause I don’t let them pass their place with me.

I not sure mommy them don’t know what happening these days all about the place. It has so much porn in school on my friends them phone. Some of the girls in my class are just doing what they see on them with each other.

I find it hard to concentrate especially, cause is like carnival morning and evening on the van. I go to church, but the rest of the time is just dirty word and bad girl music I hearing all the time on the van. Sometimes the bad words just playing over and over and the song is about how the girl them putting themselves and what they want. If they say do not watch porn, then why we hearing bout it still? I usually get headache too and have homework till late and have to get up so early to get ready and pack my lunch.

I am not sure how many people supposed to ride in the van, but most of the time I squeeze up and if I am lucky to get a good seat, I under somebody arm, smelling like them by the time I get where I going. I see our international airport and wonder where we going in St Vincent for schoolchildren. Is everything for tourist? They talk about Education Revolution, but what about the ride to school? I doubt the leaders and politicians ever ride in a van and those kinds of rich people. They need to do it to see what we facing every day. And you cannot say nothing because everybody silent or vex. I do not think this is fair. I am calling for love to not be only in the air, but also on the ground where we are.

Tingiling Cork