Where Life is Inappropriate. Mr. J has been working at Ed Abbey Middle for two years. This is the first classroom he was allowed to decorate, but his students haven't noticed the original art by his friend SF McBean or the Black Flag poster. They told him in teacher school that he would have to choose-poet or teacher. They told him teaching required absolute dedication. He discovers (too slowly to save either his vocal cords or his sanity) that they were right, but for the wrong reason. It's just very difficult to teach their values and destroy them at the same time. Most of the subjects he's interested in-sex, death, racial justice, gay rights, radical feminism, punk rock, Bukowski's poetry, anti-capitalism, modern art & B pictures-seem to be taboo in the classroom. In a dark afternoon of the soul, he experiences a crack up that sends friends, family & students scurrying for cover.