NEW
Library Project
Volume 4, Number 1 - Fall 2005
Listening to a Participant
from Gente y Cuentos:
Interview with Carolina Morales
Until
her senior year in high school, Carolina Morales barely cracked the novels
assigned in her English classes. She was a slow reader who found most
books and classes boring—that is, until the day her teacher led a
discussion of Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. Carolina hadn’t
read the book, as usual. But as the class discussion heated up, she began
to wish she had.
“I
felt like I was missing out on something I wanted to read and know about.
The very next novel she assigned, I decided to read, and I couldn’t
believe I actually liked the book. It was Of Human Bondage, by Somerset
Maugham. The characters seemed very human to me. They weren’t like [the
daughters in] Little Women, who were all nice girls and very brave. Here
was a character with a real flaw. I felt I could relate. That was a
turning point. It was the right time and the right book. After that, I
read more on my own.”
After
high school, Carolina took an introduction to poetry class at Mercer
County Community College. Again, her assumptions about literature were
shattered: “[The instructor] presented poems that absolutely shocked me.
I had thought of poetry as a very formal thing, very elevated.” But on
the first day, students received a packet of poems that included
everything from excerpts of Beowulf to raw, contemporary poems about
alcoholism. “In this poetry I also saw people who were flawed and very
human.”
For
her final project, Carolina chose to present a portfolio of original poems
rather than a traditional research paper or essay. “I wrestled with it
and decided to do it. We had to have seven poems. He liked the poems, and
I got a good grade, but what really impressed me was that I had a body of
work. I started the course not really knowing what poetry was, and I ended
by having seven poems I had written myself, something that I had created.
I was really knocked out by that.”
About
two years ago, while browsing in the Trenton public library, Carolina saw
a flier for Gente y Cuentos. She attended the first session and was
hooked. Even with her rusty Spanish (she learned at home from her father
and his Puerto Rican relatives, but hadn’t used it regularly), she
managed to comprehend and even participate in discussions. “I was
surprised at how much I was able to understand. Though when it came to
discussion, I stuttered and mumbled and reversed the words.”
When
that series ended and facilitator Alma Concepción began another in New
Brunswick, Carolina, a 54-year-old mother of five, made the weekly
commute. “I saw it as an excellent opportunity. You can sit and read
something on your own, but you don’t get what you can when you’re in a
group and hear other ideas, other interpretations. The discussion makes a
huge difference.”
Carolina
continues to write poetry about “whatever comes to mind” and reads as
much as time will allow—mostly poetry and short stories from The New
Yorker and other venues. “I think [Gente y Cuentos] made me a better
reader. The group teaches you to look for things you might not necessarily
think of. It made me more open-minded.”