07/06/2021
“This right here is Rosso. You found the right person today. She deserves this, she really does. She gets it done for us at this school. You know how every school has that one person that’s kinda famous? That’s our Rosso. I can’t even tell you what she does exactly, cause we work in different departments. But I think she’s the social worker. She does a little bit of everything for these kids. They’re innocent kids. Not rich or anything, this is the Bronx. Sometimes they do wrong but these are our babies. I call them my babies, cause I’m from here. People talk about gunshots and stuff, but this is where we live at. It’s a family thing. We gotta care for our babies. On Thanksgiving Rosso had us out here with damn turkeys. I’m not even sure where she got em’, but she shows up with turkeys and says: ‘We’re giving em’ out.’ She’ll do anything for these kids. If a kid is absent, she goes looking for them. She doesn’t care if it’s in the projects. She’ll knock on their door, pull them out of bed, and make sure they go to school. She tells them the facts, the truth. But they love her cause they know she cares. Rosso’s English is a little off. She can be hard to understand sometimes. But nobody cares. She calls me Hawkinson, and my name is Hawkins. But it’s all love. When my mom passed, Rosso came to my house. Asking me if I was OK. Asking if I’d eaten. She said: ‘Hawkinson, is there anything I can do?’ That’s our Rosso. And this isn’t just a job for her, either. She’s the last one to leave at night. She’s the first one here in the morning. I know cause I open the school. I unlock the front door and here comes Rosso. She walks in, and she does a little turn. Nice clothes, hair done. Sometimes a little bit of make-up. You just have to compliment her. You know what I call her? I call her ‘Sexy Rosso.’ The sexy angel who loves our babies. She just have that heart. Not many people have that heart, but Rosso have that heart.”
