A night to remember...

for all the right reasons. Prom night came and went without incident. I simply couldn't believe it: no drunk girls falling on the floor, no cat fights, no guys stripped down to their undershirts wearing ties around their heads jumping off chairs. I will say I have never seen so many white pimp suits, so many tattoos or so much color co-ordination in my life. I have discovered that the Prom experience for inner city kids is much different from those who reside in suburbia. For these kids, Prom really is a special one of a kind night. They haven't been jaded by bar and bat-mitzvahs where parents have dropped $40,000-$65,000. I remember walking into my first prom and thinking, "What's the big deal? This is like a walmart knock off of a bar-mitzvah." These kids didn't spend money on a limo which would cart them off to their big night while their parents stood waving in the driveway, the dad thinking "I can't believe we just spent that much money on a limo, we should be getting driven around, not our lousy kid..." These kids were dropped off by mothers, grandmothers, brothers and aunts. The families lingered to take pictures and one girl even brought her 6 year old cousin as her date. Per order of the powers that be, there has to be at least one clothed Boston Police Officer at any dance. The police officer who attended the Prom said he never had an easier night in his life, and to keep himself occupied decided to serve as the personal waiter to the teachers who were sitting at the welcome table. Oh what a night...