The
Insider's Guide to Childhood
Produced
by David Ensminger
Recorded
by Tricia DeGraff and her 5th Grade Creative Writing Class
At Cage
Elementary
Eastside
Houston,
Texas
Do
you believe in fate? I'm not talking the idea of angels descending and
grabbing you by the heels, or that you are meant to be on the silver screen
chasing terrorists besides Mel Gibson, or even that strange sense of deja
vu in the mall when you say to yourself, "wasn't I just here a minute ago?"
Over
a year ago I met Tricia DeGraff at a fundraiser for Mumia Abu Jamal, the
jailed Philadelphia journalist. I remember that she was very nice, you
know, a person that always says thanks twice with a smile that could wrap
around an apple, cute in way that made me think of my friend Kathryn in
New York and Spanish Harlem and liberal politics, and talkative like every
thought was bursting with the sizzle of a Roman Candle. I never saw her
again, until two months ago while drinking late one Friday night with her
friend Chrissie, who along with Tricia forms a core network of local Teach
For America recruits. Alas, two days later I found myself chatting and
brainstorming with Tricia about having me, a creative writing and literature
do-gooder from Houston Community College, visit Cage Elementary, where
she teaches fifth grade to an all-Hispanic group of rambunctious, smart-as-can-be
little. I taught the kids haiku, an ancient Asian poem form, they taught
me about their lives, about the pride, desire, trouble, dreams, and everything
else under the golden sun of La Raza, the sun of the East End that burned
bright as a dying star. I knew right then that I wanted to document their
voices, to use technology as a kind of stepping stone in their lives. One
day, they are scribbling their poems on the kitchen table, next day people
in Hong Kong or Buenos Aires are tuning into to hear them.They
might not write poems again in their lives, but this documents how powerful
their poems are right now and forever.
When
I told my colleagues about Tricia's process-oriented writing curriculum,
and about the memoirs they Xeroxed every semester, most of them laughed,
and said, "Oh yeah, my life as a ten year old." Most people ignore or dismiss
the young people around them. But these poems and memoirs you hear today
are part eyewitness into some incredibly vibrant and thoughtful lives,
and they are a part challenge to adults, because it's not children who
create pollution, or go to war, or discriminate against people of color,
it's us, the adults. And maybe if we listen enough to what they say, we
can turn things around. Until then, they are the visionaries, not us.
This
is for the East End, for all the kids of Tricia DeGraff's class, and for
the parents who love them.Warnings:
The recordings may be raw, or earthy sounding, but that's the sound of
reality knocking on your door. Click the link at the top of the page
(or here)
to hear their works in Tricia DeGraff's classroom.
David
Ensminger
Houston
Community College Southwest
Department
of English