CHAPTER ONE Only Kirsten Kogan could make a cute bumblebee costume look sinister.  This I knew before she punched me in the face the night before I lost my job. Kirsten and I co-taught a class at an alternative school in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.  Well, Kirsten did most of the teaching.  I was like her left arm, her muscle. My official title was intervention counselor and teacher’s aide.  Really what it meant was I would take kids who acted up in class to a time-out room.  At this school were a variety of “special needs” kids.  Some would shit their pants, others would punch you in yours.  Some did both. On our first day working together I had to clean up the bathroom…