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NEWS
RELEASES
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Program
Descriptions
Classic Program
Senior Focus
Crossing Borders
Volume 7, Number 2 - Spring 2009
People & Stories coordinator Pat Smith read
Langston Hughes’ “Thank You, M’am,” in which a formidable woman named
Lucella Bates Washington Jones offers a dose of tough love to a scraggly
kid who attempts to steal her purse.
At first, Smith’s listeners—African-American
girls from Trenton and white women from the nearby suburbs—regarded each
other nervously at Vessels of Praise, a church-based mentoring program.
Pat Coleman, one of the adults in the group, had little experience with
adolescent girls. Some girls wondered if they could open up with this
group of strangers, a few of them old enough to be their grandmothers.
But “Thank You, M’am” began to soften the gaps
between them. One girl said Mrs. Jones hadn’t been tough enough on the
boy. Others said the boy, Roger, seemed shocked that Mrs. Jones took him
home, fed him dinner and eventually gave him $10 to buy blue suede
shoes.
“I think the girls appreciated Mrs. Jones as
someone who would take an interest in people in the community,” said
Coleman. “They said you don’t see that in today’s world—a stranger can’t
take you by the ear and bring you home. There was a recognition there
that there’s something we’ve lost in our neighborhoods.”
And then, one of the girls from Vessels of
Praise spoke about the program created 11 years ago by Rev. Nadira
Keaton. ‘You know, this is what Rev. Keaton did for me. She saved me
from the streets like that woman saved the boy.” Still, it
took several weeks for the girls to talk freely with the group’s adult
members. “I think they originally thought they were going to be judged
by the women or looked down at,” recalled Keaton. “The stereotype has
been that we are so different: that black people act a certain way and
white people act a certain way. I said, ‘Just give them a chance.’ They
did.”
The stories kept opening doors. After reading
“Abalone Abalone Abalone” by Toshio Mori, one girl told how a home left
to her family by deceased grandparents was destroyed because the family
didn’t appreciate it the way her grandparents had. In a discussion of
“American History” by Judith Ortiz Cofer, participants on both sides of
the table discussed pros and cons of growing up in mixed neighborhoods.
The girls and women talked about stereotypes
after reading “Chin” by Gish Jen, and about loneliness, depression and
guilt following “Homework” by Peter Cameron. “The stories they heard
were stories they could identify with—people who have had struggles,”
said Keaton. “They thought that ‘back in the day’ it was different. They
could relate to a lot of the stories, and it gave them hope—that if she
can overcome, maybe I can, too.”
For Coleman, who has no sisters or daughters,
the girls’ perspective and energy was refreshing. “They were wonderfully
lively and bright and interesting. They had good insights into the
stories.”
Keaton said People & Stories left its stamp on
the girls. “It gave them a chance to see the world with a different
lens, rather than seeing just what their own neighborhoods bring and
what they’re accustomed to.”
At the last session, there were bagels and fruit
platters, a dance performance by some of the girls, and laughter and
hugs all around. Even some Crossing Borders members dared to shake a
move on the dance floor. “It was comfortable,” Coleman said, “in a way
that never could have been possible without going through the series.”
Women & Girlls, City & Suburbs Meet
in Stories
by Anndee Hochman
The first story touched a nerve.