The Reason I Quit Blogging

I never wanted to have to write about a kid dying. I knew I would have it happen eventually. I knew I had kids who made dangerous choices and lived dangerous lives. I never, ever, ever, thought I would write about a kid like Monae Turnage dying.

 You can google her name and look up all the awful details. I taught her for 3 years. She never missed a day of school, she sang in the church choir. I taught her brother, Malik, when he was in middle school. He is one of the nicest, most composed young men I have ever met. Monae was part of the debate team. She came to Saturday School. She loved being the boss of things and she wanted her teachers to love her more than she wanted anything in the world.

 She went to a neighbors house. He was a 6th grader. He was playing with a gun. It went off. Monae was shot. They dragged her still-breathing body outside and hid her underneath some trash bags. On Sunday afternoon, as the neighborhood was doing a full-on search for her, the 6th grade boy led Malik to her body. She bled out underneath some trash bags in the alley less than a block from her house. 

Monae Turnage was a good kid in a bad place and she is dead and sometimes that is very hard to deal with.



 Rest In Peace, Monae. Even though I doubt you are resting at all. I bet you've already re-organized heaven and explained to everyone the proper way of doing things. :)