"My First Year In Purgatory" is a memoir with illustrations, about my adventures and insights as a Gen Xer teaching in a crumbling inner city school district. In it, I lead two semi-functional lives: embattled educator by day -whose students make Damien from the "Omen" look like a lightweight, and urban adventurer by night. I witness teachers driven out of classrooms by students they can't control, bullies given free reign to torment the weak, chaos that makes learning nearly impossible, and administrators who sweep discipline under the rug. Weekends, I scour art openings, cafes, bars and the...