Developing Minds

Two
unlikely friends learn about life and hard work through the students they
teach.

Driving
to Miami on a whim, 20-something Luke Entelechy and best friend Billy Lalina,
both recent college graduates, embark on a life-changing journey in search of worthwhile
jobs in education. Billy is beyond excited to flee southward and away from a
teaching assignment at a menacing school in New York City. It’s likewise for
Luke, an aspiring writer who became mired in a series of stagnant substitute
positions in Buffalo. Initially, both men love Miami for different reasons:
Billy, who is gay, enjoys the Cuban eye candy around the notorious City of Sex,
and Luke appreciates the fresh start. Things get rocky quickly, but the men
adapt. Billy scores a teaching position at highly ranked Little Havana
Elementary, while Luke settles on a job at a lower-accredited inner-city school
with high instructor turnover and classrooms full of rude, violent students. A
trip to Key West refreshes him—a good thing, considering the coming weeks of
trial and error Luke sees in his troublesome classroom of rowdy students who
eventually (and miraculously) acquiesce to the idea of learning and succeeding
as a cohesive group. Meanwhile, Billy frets that his homosexuality will cause a
rift in his own employment as both men socialize with some of the more
unrestrained teachers, like “Hurricane Margo.” Luke enjoys an unexpected, long-distance
romance in Mexico and attempts to make the best of their time in Miami even
though, working in the public education network, “every day was psychological
warfare, and if you didn’t stay sharp, the system would grind you into human
pencil shavings.” Inspired by his own travels, screenwriter and author LaPoma’s
narrative is raw and edgy, effectively anchored by two protagonists whose brio
and “same sense of adventure” keep the story alive. Luke, who principally
narrates the novel, will resonate most with readers who sympathize and respect
today’s teachers, who guide a greatly distracted generation of impressionable
minds.

Entertaining
and authentic look at the troubled American educational system, courtesy of two
men propelled by perseverance and adventuresome spirits.