ABSTRACT
Jay and I are seated in a small room, approximately 10 feet long by 6 feet wide, down the hall from Laura’s. A large table consumes most of the room, and Jay and I face each other across it. My pocket tape recorder rests on the table between us, its microphone aimed toward Jay. The room is used to sell breakfast and snacks in the mornings and as a sort of “time-out” and “extra-help” room during the rest of the day. A poster taped to the painted cinder block wall above Jay’s head reads “Practice Random Acts of Kindness.” Above my head we are told “Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” There are no windows in this room, but if we leave the door open we can see through the windows in the exit doors across the hallway. Over the course of the next 5 months Jay and I will spend approximately 60 hours in this room together.
