NEW
Library Project
Volume 1, Number 3 - Winter 2003
Reader's Respond
Wholeheartedly at Norris Square
Differences Spark
Discussion
It's
more than an hour until lunchtime at Philadelphia's Norris Square Senior
Citizens Center, but an anticipatory buzz leaks through the accordion
doors to the room where Gente y Cuentos happens.
Nury Vicens opens her yellow vinyl bag. Along with copies of today's
story, she pulls out a swatch of white lace, a long peacock feather and a
length of shimmery red fabric to spread over the plain tabletop. Soon ten
people--nine women and a man--are gathered around, ready to listen.
The story is "Mama de Niebla" ("Mother of Mist"),
by Argentinian writer Poldy Bird. "Es un cuento nuevo, que dice
muchas cosas en corto tiempo," Nury tells the listeners. A new story
that says a lot in a short space. "Yo les pido de todo corazón de su
participación." I ask with all my heart for your participation. And
then she reads the story of a girl raised by her childlike, mentally ill
mother, whom the girl adores; later, the mother is hospitalized and the
girl goes to live with a pair of strict aunts.
"What is 'Mama de Niebla'?" Nury questions. One woman believes
that the mother described at the story's start never really exists; she's
a figment of the girl's idealization. Another participant notes the
ending, when the mother, now institutionalized, is a ghost of her former
lively self.
Nury asks the group to consider the story's contrasts. The mother and the
aunts demonstrate "dos formas de cuidar a Elda," two ways of
caring for the girl. "What does a child need?" she asks.
"What's the most important thing?"
"Amor," says Octasia Rodriguez. Love.
"Alimento," says Graciela Robles. Food.
Others add to the list: clothing, shelter, education, rules.
Natividad Figueroa tells of a grandparent who lived at home during a
decade of suffering with dementia, "parte de la familia," as
part of the family.
Georgina Morales nods. Only if a mentally ill person is aggressive should
they be locked up, she says. And the mother in this story, observes Nury,
"no era peligrosa...pero era como niña." She wasn't dangerous,
but she was child-like.
She leans across the table, coaxing her listeners to search their
imaginations, to voice what is on their minds. "Dígame," she
says, as the 90 minutes ticks to a close. Tell me.