poverty – Peaceful Reader

Demon Copperhead

“First, I got myself born. A decent crowd was on hand to watch, and they’ve always given me that much: the worst of the job was up to me, my mother being let’s just say out of it.”

Barbara Kingsolver’s opening line is a great introduction to Demon, our young hero, who will become part of the reader’s heart and soul. It’s a magnificent tale of heartache, addiction, family, and poverty set in the Appalachia Mountains. From the very beginning Demon is burdened with tough choices. His mother is young and grieving over Demon’s dead father. He and is mother occupy a doublewide trailer near another family, the Peggot’s who are raising their grandson because his mother is in jail. He loses important parts of his family and gains others. He shows us the hardship of foster care. This is your cast of characters: people down on their luck trying to do their best but often failing in an area of our country that has been torn apart. I loved the book so much I could start the first page again and as I finished the last paragraph I shed some tears.

I’m glad I finished the book when I did because I was able to devote a good amount of time to it even reading a few pages before school and during lunch. I’m feeling overwhelmed with a too long to-do list and the knowledge that I’m on too many committees. I’m on rotation this year for observation and need to complete my professional portfolio by March 1st. I have a book fair coming my way in March. I have a district-wide tech conference and planning for our school’s literacy night both in February. Beyond that I’m on our district’s equity committee, and our teacher’s association, as well as daily lesson planning. I spent most of my Sunday planning for Black History Month and a connected research project for 3rd-6th graders. Whew. I need a night off.

On the relaxing side I have kept up almost daily with Adriene’s January yoga challenge and that keeps me together most days. I’m headed there now to connect and wind down for the night.

Be well.

New Year, New Me

Not really. Why would I want a new me? I like me, most of the time and I’ve had a really pretty great 2018 so I say more of the same in 2019.

{Happy graduate with his two sisters}

Psychologically at this time last year, I had a major life meltdown. Things were not good in my family of 5 and we had a breakdown in communication. I bring this up only as a way to say we worked through it and we made it. That kind of life event does take a toll and I forced myself to find a therapist. I wasn’t sure how it could ultimately help but I needed someone to talk to other than family. It took two tries to find the right one and with that came the realization that talking to someone, sharing your inner struggles and concerns, is about wellness; not about being broken. While this life concern was resolved positively (thank the mighty universe) I am still happily visiting my therapist’s office every few weeks. I might choose to close that door soon but I know I can go back to it at any point.

{Celebrating Anton’s 24th birthday together}

In the midst of that family struggle, I worked hard to get our fostered adult Anton out on his own. While he really disliked living with us with our reasonable family rules and expectations he was afraid of how hard it was going to be in the real world on his own. He lived with us for 16 months trying to begin a different life. He was a community college student for two semesters, he held down a job for almost a year, and he learned (sort of) he was not a great money manager. He also learned once he was fired that finding another job is no easy task and that once you have a job it is so very important to treat it with care and respect. The world is filled with rules and expectations, ideas and norms that many people never grow up understanding.

It’s not that collectively we all need to know the same things but it is important for your own personal survival to understand how to get along. And the better you are at code-switching the better you are going to get along. I mean simple things like how to address an envelope, put on a stamp or pay a bill, how to dress up for a job interview no matter what position you are applying for, how to not bend rules at work to make it easier for you, how to get along and work with others who you might not like, oh the list is endless. Thankfully this young man is now living in our community with his friends trying to make it work. I’m glad that I still see him and can help him out when I can. I’m also very happy that he isn’t living in our guest room anymore. It was adding a great deal of undue stress into my family life. All I can do is remember that we did our best to help him create a new life; one where he can see past cyclical poverty and unemployment, even if he doesn’t understand those recurring roles in his life. Thank you to these lifelong friends for helping me through this tough journey. And for all my friends who support me.

My goal for the year is to bring yoga back into my life as it was the one thing I let go of in the wake of last year. I chose sleep over yoga but I have to find a way to have both. Other than that more writing and reading, more time for being tranquil. Peace and love my friends and hello to a new year.

School is Out; the Good and the Bad.

(photo courtesy of Mark Lilly’s travel blog)

Our fifth grade students are now 6th graders and won’t be back next year. (Sob) Over the summer they will grow by leaps and bounds, ready to enter middle school and they will search for book clubs! Hurrah. Most of our other students will be back in the Fall, ready to learn more, ready to check-out more books. I worry about many of them over the summer. A few live in households where they will take a vacation, go to the pool, have play dates with friends and have good old summertime fun. Those are not the kids I worry about. Many of our kids have parents who are less-than-involved who will park their kids in front of a television set and go about their business, not caring exactly what parked child is watching or playing.

While I haven’t been to their homes I do listen when they talk and they tell me about movies (starring Freddy and other gruesome things that slash in the night) that I’ve never watched or dream of letting my own kids watch and the same with video games. I worry that these unwatched kids will not get enough food to eat or anyone to greet them in the morning, giving them the kind affirmations that many of our teachers do everyday. Many don’t have bicycles to tool around on or shorts and t-shirts that fit. It all makes me weary. I know many of them won’t have learning opportunities over the summer like my own children will and I wish I could bring many of them home. They don’t have library cards, (sob) which means they won’t know the joy of weekly visits to the library just to show off how many books they read all week!

When we played with sidewalk chalk at school I was amazed at how many kids don’t have this creative and inexpensive tool at home. I wanted to package some up and give it away. I didn’t get it done but I did give away a lot of books to students. I hope they have healthy food to eat over the summer but my second hope is that someone will take the time to read to them sometime during the week.

Thanks for listening to my rambles as I begin my summer, happy, but pensive about the grumpy faces I see everyday who rely on a teacher to cheer them up.

Saraswati's Way

by Monika Schroder

2010

233 pages, including glossary

I love to get books directly from the author. Monika Schroder contacted me and asked if I would read and review her book and I casually replied “Yes, I’d love to…” and at that point you never know how it’s going to turn out but the book was wonderful. I especially loved learning more about Indian culture and I fell in love with Akash and his passion for learning.

Summary: Leaving his village in rurual India to find a better education, mathematically gifted, twelve-year-old Akash arrives at the New Delhi train station, where he relies on Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, to guide him as he negotiates life on the street, resists the temptations of easy money, and learns whom he can trust.

Akash’s story demonstrates how difficult in many cultures it is to become educated and even though the United States has a public school system we experience the same; if your family does not value education that fact alone will make it hard to be a good student. Akash has been in school but his math knowledge exceeds his teacher’s and he needs to locate and pay for a math tutor so he can pass the a test and get a scholarship to get into a good high school. His father believes in Akash’s education but when his father dies his grandmother is quick to send him off to work in the rock quarry.

After only a few days at the rock quarry Akash has the chance to “see” the ledger keeping all the accounts for the quarry. When he realizes it will take him years and years to pay off his grandmother’s debt he chooses to run away. He knows he has what it takes to change and his desire is to be educated. Jumping a train to Delhi Akash is hidden by a portly train employee.

In Delhi he doesn’t know anyone and ends up sleeping in a box through the night. While he’s taken himself out of one bad situation (rock quarry) he quickly finds living on his own has its drawbacks. He has to deal with other boys fighting to stay alive, police, and drug dealers. While Akash makes some good decisions and some bad ones he learns to keep his focus on finding an education. On the train platform he eventually meets Ramesh-ji who runs the magazine stand. He lets Akash sleep on top so he isn’t bothered by the police officers in the night. Ramesh and Akash build a good relationship, realizing there is more to each of them than one would think.

Three Quotes:

Other street boys befriend Akash and teach him the ways of the station. They all have ways to deal with their homelessness and hunger.

“I will fly away,” Deepak said, fluttering his arms. His face distorted to a horrid grin.

“Are they okay?” Akash asked.
“I told you,” Rohit said. “The glue makes you see things that are not there.”
“At first,” Sunil said. “Then it makes you drowsy and when you can’t stop it turns your brain into glue.” (31)

and

“How come you didn’t go to the movies?” Ramesh asked. “Isn’t it Friday today?”
“I didn’t want to go. I need to save my money for a tutor. I found a man at Pahar Ganj who will teach me math.”
“That is very wise of you,” Ramesh-ji said, suddenly speaking in English.
“Ramesh-ji, I didn’t know you spoke English.”
“Maybe you would like to practice your English with me. For the kind of school you want to go to, you need to speak, read, and write English well. Didn’t you even bring an English textbook?”
“How do you know English?” Akash asked.
“I used to work as a cook for British people,” Ramesh said. “That was a long time ago.” (35)

Schroder does a great job of intergrating Indian culture so anyone reading will have learned from their experience…

Akash would have like to accompany him to the temple, but since Ramesh didn’t offer to take him, he didn’t dare ask. Navratri, the nine nights before Dussehra, had always been one of his favorite festivals. In the evenings he had joined the other youths from the village to watch the dandia dance. The men would form a circle on the outside and the women one in the inside. When the music began each cirle started to rotate slowly in opposite directions. (34)

I loved reading this book and couldn’t wait to see how Akash dealt with the street boys and the drug dealers, especially when he decided to become a courier to make some money. It is an intense story and I was cheering for Akash to get back on the right path. Luckily his deep desire for an education does win out and Akash and Ramesh find a way to work together.

This is a perfect middle school mulitcultural read. Thank you to Monika Schroder for sensing my need to read her gem. To find it at an Independent bookseller near you, click on the title…Saraswati’s Way

Bread Givers

I purchased Bread Givers by Anzia Yezierska a few years back while my family and I were in Washington D.C. We toured The Holocaust Museum, which was heartbreaking but informative and well worth the tour. Afterward we spent a few minutes browsing the museum kiosk store. This book’s synopsis caught my attention so I bought it, brought it home and added it to my bookshelf. Maybe I should have read it right then but I waited four years and pulled it off just recently.

Snynopsis: Sara Smolinsky, the youngest daughter of an Orthodox rabbi, watches as her father marries off her sisters to men they don’t love. The sadness and injustice of their broken lives leads her to rebel against her father’s rigid conception of Jewish womanhood. “No girl can live without her father or a husband to look out for her,” he proclaims. “It says in the Torah, only through a man has a woman an existence.” But Sara replies, “My will is as strong as yours. I’m going to live my own life. Nobody can stop me. I’m not from the old country. I’m American!” She leaves home, takes a job as an ironer, and rents a room with a door: “This door was life…the bottom starting point of becoming a person.” Set during the 1920s on New York’s Lower East Side, the story of Sara’s struggle toward independence and self-fullfillment-through education, work, and love-is universal and resonates with a passionate intensity that all can share. (from the back cover)

My thoughts: You can see why the book appealed to me. Sara is an intense character who, as the youngest, watches all these family mistakes play out. Rather than allow her father to ruin her own life she strikes out on her own, leaving behind her mother, father and sisters. Her sisters make fun of her even as they complain about the terrible marriages their father has forced them into. Father’s love of the Torah and studying are completely (for lack of a better word at the moment) CRAZY! He takes the Torah at it’s word only as it applies to help his cause.

The struggle between family members, old and new traditions, right and wrong are so fanatical and vivid-I raced home every night to read a few more pages before making dinner. It made me grateful for my own father who was very forward thinking and giving of his time and thoughts, unlike Sara’s father, who never listens and always talks with bitterness. Not only were the characters memorable but the language was extraordinary. This book will stay with me for a long time but only in spirit because as per the Reading From My Own Shelves Project I must depart with it-I’m glad it is going to a good home. Tina graciously accepted to take it home with her.

Memorable quotes:

and this one from a particular blue day while she is living alone working hard each day to put away money to go to school:

Had a miracle happened? My father come to see me? In a rush of gladness words from Isaiah flashed before me as in letters of fire: “I will join the hearts of the parents and the children.” Never had there been any show of feeling between Father and us children. Only once a year, on the Day of Atonement, he put his hands over our heads to bless us. Now, as I looked at him, he seemed to me like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Solomon, and David, all joined together in the one wise old face. An this man with all the ancient prophets shining out of his eyes-my father. (she’s so happy to see him even after all the bad)

“Father,” I cried. An then my voice stopped. For I suddenly became aware of his cold, hard glance on me.

“Is it true what Max Goldstein said?” His eyes glared. “Is it true you refused him?” Not a word could force itself out of my tight throat. “Answer me! Answer me!” His voice grew louder and harsher.

“It wasn’t the real love,” I stammered, hardly aware what I was saying.

“Love you want yet? What do you know about love? How could any man love a lawless, conscienceless thing like you? I never dreamed that a decent man would want to marry you. You had a chance to make a good ending to a bad play, and you push away such a luck match with your own hands. I always knew you were crazy. Now I see you’re your worst enemy.” (204)

There is so much wonderful in this book-this newer version has a great forward and introduction written by Alice Kessler-Harris, which gave me a lot of insight into Anzia Yezierska’s life. It’s not often I wax poetic about an intro to a book but it’s a great opening. I wish this book would be mandatory reading for high school or college. It’s fits into many different themes: history, gender studies, religion, philosophy, early immigration to the U.S., and American labor in the 1920’s. It shows what it was really like to work hard and hope for a better life. I’m so glad the forces that be made me pick this book and purchase it. I’m trying to get Teen-age Boy to read it before I pass it over to Tina. Purchase this classic book from an IndieBound bookstore near year…click on the title to find it-Bread Givers

Whatever you’re reading today-I hope you are enjoying it! I’ll be reading and lesson planning while the game goes on but if I had to root for a team it would be the Green Bay Packers. Why? Because I’ve read about both quarterbacks and Aaron Rodgers wins in my book.

“I’ll show you how quickly I can marry off the girls when I put my head on it.” “Yah,” sneered Mother.

“You showed me enough how quickly you can spoil your daughters’ chances the minute you mix yourself in.

If you had only let Mashah alone, she would have been married to a piano-player.”“Did you want me to let in a man who plays on the Sabbath in our family? A piano player has no more character than a poet.” “Nu-Berel Bernstein was a man of character, a man who was about to become a manufacturer.”

“But he was a stingy piker. For my daughters’ husbands I want to pick out men who are people in the world.”
“Where will you find better men than those they can find for themselves?”
“I’ll go to old Zaretzky, the matchmaker. All the men on his list are guaranteed characters.”
“But the minute you begin with the matchmaker you must have dowries like in Russia yet.”
“With me for their father they get their dowries in their brains and in their good looks.” (71)