One thing I have always been good at is being resourceful
in terms of figuring out how to get from one place to another. Growing up my
parents didn’t always have a steady vehicle and I couldn’t afford one so it was
up to me to find my own ways of getting to work, school, and extracurricular
activities. When I was sixteen, I got a job at a local Wendy’s which was luckily
only a fifteen minute walk from my house. Of course there would be times that
co-workers, classmates, and anyone who happened to know me who was driving by
would offer me a ride, but my only truly guaranteed way of making money and
getting an education was myself.
As I got older, and was still without a car or wings, I
started taking public transportation. I can remember the first time I ever took
the Ripta. I was with a large group of friends and in celebration for one of
their birthdays we decided to go to the Providence Place mall and see a movie.
None of us had our own cars at the time and if we did, there was no way we’d
all fit, so we decided on busing. Busing wasn’t something my parents approved
of, but then again neither was waking on a main road during any elements to get
to work.
When I started going to college, a close friend named
Laura knew I was nervous about taking the buses (there was a transfer involved
to get to RIC) and took me under her wing. At the time, RIC had two separate buses
that both came into the college. Laura had her own car, but didn’t like driving
in the city, so she’d often bus. She showed me around the bus terminal, which I
had never really been in because the sixty stop is separate from the main
terminal at Kennedy Plaza. She also showed me where to grab a quick bite to eat
that wouldn’t cause me to travel too far away and miss my upcoming bus. As we
took our first trip together, she pointed out the streets we went on, what was
around us, and helped me get familiar with the area. Because I was able to plan
adventures to class in the timeliest manner that ensured I’d get to campus on
time and would be able to navigate my way home on foot if I needed to.
Looking back on this, it all sounds kind of silly. Of course
everybody needs to be an adult and find their way to their various obligations.
But it’s much more than getting from point A to point B. Because of
circumstances I’ve always had to be responsible for my own life from a very
early time. If I wanted to work, then it was up to me to get there. Having to
take full ownership of myself from so early on made me have to think about the
future. I never could go into any day blindly. If I was in a routine, mornings
were easy and mindless, but if I had to travel outside of the normal route, I
had to do some researching around bus schedules and mapquest to figure out how
to get there. Just planning for this class required me to look at routes;
checkout bus times look at street views of Central Falls to make sure I was
going to be heading in the right place. There’s not GPS guardian angel for me
to pop on my dashboard.
Having to be resourceful like this has taught me a lot
and helped me grow a lot. For example, running across busy city streets to
catch the bus that’s about to pass by me has taught me the importance of
timing. No but in all seriousness, having to problem solve, plan, and be ready
to make adjustments to an already perfectly planned schedule sounds a lot like
creating lesson plans and altering them to the needs of the class. Taking buses
has helped make me adaptable to limitations and circumstances. I’ve been forced
to be resourceful and figure out ways of getting to me where I need to be and
when I need to be there. For example, there is a new trolley system that has
taken the place of the two buses that use to go to RIC. Trolleys are much
smaller than standard buses and in the morning it is hard to find a seat or
even get on a trolley because the commuting Mt. Pleasant high school students
are also trying to get to school. In order to get to class on time and avoid
waking up an hour earlier, I figured out that if I got on the trolley before it
hit the bus terminal, I could just stay on and continue to ride it all the way
to RIC.
Busing, like teaching, can be trial and error and of
course there’s no way to ever get it right all the time. But being able to
adapt and learn from experience is something to ensure each ride will be
smoother than the last.
