Recently during a book club at my local library we were asked what our favorite TV series is right now, and Abbott Elementary came in first place. The last I can remember watching us on screen being normal and funny was Michaela Coel’s 2016 sitcom, “Chewing Gum”, about a young British woman living with her immigrant parents while trying to explore her sexuality. I was hooked on the freedom of seeing her just be weird and awkward. Issa Rae’s Awkward Black Girl web-series had the same effect, which eventually translated over into Insecure. I get tired of seeing the struggle script, where we always have to get it out the mud. I enjoy seeing us come from nice homes and live normal human lives. So when Abbot Elementary came out, it was like a breath of fresh air to me.

The idea of the school being in a lower income community, but still showing the normality of a kid was my favorite observation. I went to Atlanta Public Schools all of my primary school years, and yes, inner city kids are normal kids too. The life of a kid with limited resources isn’t always some fight for dear life. The teachers at Abbott genuinely care, which I also experienced at my schools. I vividly remember us joking with our teachers and feeling safe enough to talk to them about how we feel. I think Janine and Barbara are perfect depictions of the veteran teacher that everyone likes, and the younger teacher that kids can relate to but joke about on the side. These simple and funny scenarios allow us to experience emotions outside of grief. Principal Ava is my second favorite character after janitor Mr. Johnson. Ava represents the hip, up to date professional that doesn’t take life too serious. She is deep down the principal we wish we all had growing up. And Mr. Johnson always including conspiracy theories in his class stand-ins makes we wish he had more screen time. He doesn’t seem displeased or bitter, he understands the science of cleaning and is super cool about it. Quinta Brunson managed to create an admirable character out of him which I’ve never seen done before.

When I brought up the show to a friend, they asked me did I think the show being based on a low income school was counterintuitive, and I don’t think so at all. There’s this stigma around Black public schools being war zones and that’s simply not true. Demystifying the reality of us being normal and not constantly in trouble reflects back to the world that we do actually live regular lives like everyone else. One of my favorite episodes is S2 E7 “Attack Ad”, about wanting to turn the school into a charter school. I was like, this actually happens a lot with these kinds of schools, and for some reason people think the good teachers don’t belong in the “bad” schools. I had an art teacher in high school named Lisa Whittington who constantly poured into us and did the best she could with the resources she had. Dr. Whittington was a Harlem woman who had the type of class where you could hang out, play your favorite music, tell her your dreams, and freely create. She had the type of influence you never really forget. I wrote my first poem in her poetry club, where she would have actual poets come and tutor us. Years after graduating I saw her on Ted Talks, then coincidentally at a Mary J. Bilge concert I attended. I say all this to say that I went to schools similar to Abbott, and they were just as quirky and fun. The Black experience is multidimensional and we are allowed to be seen in more ways than one. You can be an awkward, weird, quirky Black person and still be cool. I think society expects us all to be a certain way, and the beautiful thing is..we are not.