Ariane has the planner brain and I do not. At least not naturally....see earlier posts about having to repeat details to myself about peanut allergies for the D.C. trip. Sometimes this can clash, but mostly it's a very easy part of our friendship. When she feels like planning something, I step back and watch her work her magic. When she needs to pause that side of herself and delve into a conversation that brings to light really abstract realities, I can conjure that up for her. It sounds crazy to say it, but Ariane and I learned a lot about drugs together without actually doing drugs in the course of our friendship. And this is the story I'd like to tell in honor of her birthday and being friends for literally half of our lives.
One summer during college, Ariane called me and said, "Do you want to work for the police station this summer? If you do, give them your full name and social security number, and show up at 8 am on Monday." We actually did do this together. So summer 2005 included a few new things that have since given me perspective into a field I wouldn't otherwise know about. Teachers don't often work with the FBI and local police.
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| This was the only picture we took all summer. In general they were not thrilled by occasional pictures. |
Here's what I can say about this experience with the 5Ws as a template. I use the 5Ws with students for class. It also applies here.
Who:
- Burly, middle aged police officers who initially had no idea what we were doing there. They would say, "Are you girls looking to get into the field of criminal justice?" And we'd respond, "No, we're going to be teachers, and we're working for Roger and Merle." This happened many times over. Usually this followed with some tactless advice about the world. Awkward. In general though they treated us like they were our dads, I think because we looked a lot like their daughters, and we were seeing some pretty weird things in those case files.
- Merle. He was a consultant specially hired to work on the same project and he used to work for the FBI during the Bush administration. He was intense. I learned the term 'case integrity' from Merle, and then at the end of the summer, learned that he had been moving boxes at the end of the day to make sure we were staying honest about the drugs we were handling and not taking them home with us. Don't worry, Merle. I didn't want that cocaine, even if it really could have paid for 2 years of college at Bethel. Moving boxes kept case integrity, and also explained the moments of sheer panic I experienced when I had to come to Merle and admit I had been looking for a box for 20 minutes, and I just didn't know where it went.
- Ariane and Jessica. We were 20 years old, and very green about most everything. But we had a sense of humor about this job and would wait until we'd get to the car to talk about anything truly funny. We were the only women in the building except for an assistant down the hall.
- Kai. This guy was in the reserves and eventually accepted a job in North Dakota. He had a Norwegian accent (because he was Norwegian). While he was there with us, he made everyone listen to uncensored Norwegian radio and was usually paired with Ariane when going through the evidence. He teased her relentlessly throughout the entire summer, just like a younger brother who won't quit, even though your mom tells you they will if you ignore them. Kai didn't quit. I will admit that the first few weeks I was jovial towards him, and then I thought he was being ridiculous so I shot him enough dirty looks, and eventually he was always paired with Ariane. Poor Ariane. Once when we had to take inventory of a semi-truck full of confiscated bikes, he fell out of the semi-truck, flat on his back, and I felt bad for him. But I did not feel bad for him when he was relentless about teasing us and the Norwegian radio was too loud.
- The police chief. He took everyone out for lunch for the first two weeks of the job, and it got so that the people knew exactly what we'd order when we got there. He took Ariane and a few other officers to the city picnic in a convertible. We didn't usually see him when we were sorting through these boxes so these are my two memories of him from the entire summer.
- Roger. He was a sergeant at the time and acted kind of like our dad. Once Roger sent us to Dairy Queen in the middle of the afternoon to buy Dilly bars for everyone at the station. They really like Dilly bars there and it was pretty fun to eat DQ treats with the cops.
What: (the heck were we doing there)
Ariane and I were hired because we could punch numbers into a software system specific to case files. They needed to match the evidence we were holding in our hands. It was auditing. It was extensive. We were matched up with people who handled more of the evidence (because they actually knew what they were doing). I asked a lot of questions about drugs at this point and decided it was completely appropriate to do so. They quickly discovered that we were not into these details for any other reason besides general curiosity about the world. I learned a ton.
Case in point. The things you experience in life do show up again down the road in weird ways.
Example 1:
This really helped when I subbed at Farmington High School on the day that we were supposed to read through the drug policies in the school handbook. I made sure to give them a debriefing about this job before combing through the policies, and it made 2nd hour a lot more enjoyable.
Example 2:
This job came up again in an interview one of my students did with me for the 7th grade newspaper in Language Arts. 'What is one thing about you that would surprise people?' Well there you go. But how do you say this well for the 7th grade newspaper?
'Miss Christians learned a lot about drugs at a summer job.' Um, no.
While explaining it, I did start to go into details about LSD, until I remembered that I am a teacher, and that shouldn't make it to print in her article. I had to reverse the conversation, which doesn't usually work when you've said something. But she agreed to omit the fact that I said drugs. Very classy.
When:
June, July, and August in 2006. Monday - Friday. 8 am - 6 pm. Not Saturdays - Merle tried to convince us this would be worthwhile.
Where:
The police station. Near the evidence, near the computers. In the vicinity of the computer streaming Norwegian radio stations.
Why:
They needed people who could punch numbers. We needed a summer job. Why the long hours? This was an intense project. Why the official auditing badge? We convinced them it would be thrilling. Why were Kai and Ariane partners in crime? I had mastered the dirty look, and Ariane is a very nice person. Why the quality knowledge of heavy drugs? I have a curious mind. Why the Dilly bars? We all needed a break. Why the glass jars? Some chemicals seep through cardboard boxes. Why the Cheetos from 1989? I don't know the answer to that question, but we found them there.
All in all, I really enjoyed my summer working for the police. It was not always comfortable, and the only interesting things on the walls were pictures of meth users who kept getting arrested and looking progressively worse and worse. Classrooms with colored posters are so much more welcoming. I have a huge appreciation for people who work in criminal justice because they can deal with pretty intense things on a day to day basis. And Ariane and I would always emerge from the air conditioned fluorescent lit evidence room blinking in the sunlight and laughing about something pretty legitimately weird.
Happy Birthday Ariane! (a few days late) I'm so glad we're friends.
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