I ended 2025 visiting my husband’s family; my extended family living across the Atlantic in a country I fell in love with waaaaay before I got married.
The first redhead I fell for was Eric Stoltz back in 1987; he was an actor in the romantic teen drama film ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’. He may not be Irish, but ‘gingers’ are definitely associated with the Emerald Isle. His role of a misfit, well-spoken, artistic teen, in love with the ‘it’ girl, and best friends with the girl who secretly loves him… That was the story of my life as a teen!
Then there was Dolores O’Riordan, lead songstress of The Cranberries. Her voice was what memories are made of. Unequaled, raw and soothing, and real and surreal at times, all in one song. I discovered her existence at a time when I was in deep pain; her words gave me moments of strength and sparked my curiosity about her, her people, and her history. She wrote of Yeats, and my love for writing continued to grow….
I guess, along with, I developed a ‘type’, and it was fated for me to marry an Irishman from ‘the Bronx’, John, lovingly known as ‘The Gaf’.
After saying our ‘I do’s’ in City Hall 2024, I wanted to mark our life event by sharing our joy with as many people as we could gather.. and instead of ‘breaking bread’ in one place, why not three more? And so this past July, we gathered our loved ones in New York, the Dominican Republic, Ireland, and Italy.
Our celebration across four countries this past July was one of the happiest of my days.
And then there was the end of my teaching at the high school I was groomed to teach in when I was a teenager back in the 90’s. The principal, along with the superintendent, decided I no longer deserve to teach at Fashion High. This was the biggest betrayal I’ve experienced as an educator, as a public servant, and as a human being. Imagine the rug being pulled from under you after 15 years of service in the same building, working fervently, tirelessly for the young people you identify with, creating academic opportunities for them, raising funds for the financially challenged ones.. I never tired of making my school a better place, but it’s still unclear why I was transferred out. It’s a question I hope to gain an answer to through the legal system. One lesson learned? Don’t let bullies win.
Teaching Fashion was my oxygen, my daily purpose, and my daily bread. I felt I was born to teach it every time I walked into my classroom on the 4th floor of HSFI. As long as I could walk into that classroom and teach what my former mentors taught me, my degree and license, and what my grandmother loved to do as well, I was ok, and I could breathe. It was more than a job to me, and the fact that I still have relationships with my former students, now adults, is a testimony to what I do, or what I did in that building. Many of them came to the Dominican Republic to celebrate my union with the Gaf… I can only thank my Creator for that. I’m blessed.
And lastly, the meaning of ‘friendship’ was recalibrated for me. A person I believed to be my friend stabbed the proverbial knife, and it’s as if.. You are left speechless, and you replay the whole relationship from beginning to end. Some things start to make sense, including all the red flags, questions of ethics, and behaviors that made you question them, but you excused them because you cared about them. I cared so much that I was by their side in the last moments of their spouse’s last breath, even cleaned their partner’s soiled diaper in their dying days. I’m still recovering from that and tell myself, the devil is alive and kicking, and even at 50, you can be wrong about who to trust.
2025 was by far one of the crappiest years for me, for I always saw my career as part of my DNA. Being a teacher was always first, but now, in this new school, picking up the pieces, I’m reminded that it is only a small part.. the students’ smiles and spontaneous responses, full of youthful innocent curiosity, give me joy, and I continue to be thankful. The subject I taught, Technical Fashion Design, was what guided me, kept me connected, interested, productive, and purposeful, but now.. I decided to dive into language and make my first language, Spanish, the focus of my teaching career in the last years till I retire… I thought I would never utter THAT word, but I am easing into it.
This experience was a beaming spotlight in the cavernous cracks in the public system I have been serving for more than 20 years, and it’s disappointing and delivers answers to why our Black and Brown students are underserved. Another reason why I want to end my years sooner rather than later, I can’t be a part of a system that keeps the status quo in certain areas and doesn’t move the needle to empower our students, our society.. I hope I am wrong, and if I am not, I guess this is a New Year, same shit.
Rosa Isabel Chavez 