Honk If You Like to Honk

This morning, on my way to work, I passed a school that has been slated for...well, clearly it's been slated for something. Not closure, I don't think. Maybe turnaround. Anyway, a lot of people are unhappy about it, as you can imagine. They had a pretty sizable demonstration going on the busy street alongside the school.

"HONK IF YOU WON'T LET BLOOMBERG DESTROY ANOTHER SCHOOL," read one poster. Well, I like honking and I don't like destroying schools. I honked merrily and waved at the demonstrators, who gave me a hearty cheer. And good morning to you all too!

The point, of course, isn't to get Mayor Bloomberg's attention. I mean, this is in the hinterlands of the outer boroughs. It's pretty hard to hear honking from the comfort of your Batmobile from the Upper East Side, and even if he could hear, let's not pretend he'd care much. The point is to let the demonstrators know that they're not alone, to give them some pep and fight for the struggle that remains ahead.

I don't know those people or their school. I have a longish commute; I don't work in my neighborhood. But I wish them all the best. It's been a tough week for city teachers, what with the TDR publication going through and the closure votes coming down on the side of closures. I don't begrudge them a couple of honks. I hope they have something more substantial planned, but as a first step, it's better than doing nothing.