The Heart of the Matter

I’ve been teaching American history and American politics for more than 20 years and I’ve grown to be experienced at explaining the very complicated story of slavery and race.  I say explaining as if I can help students to make sense of America’s tangled racial history; that’s rather an overstatement.  But I can help them to wrap their minds around the ways in which race has played out in our story.  I can help them to be aware of these questions as they move into the world.  

Nowhere has this task been as difficult as it is at my school.  It has nothing to do with the minds of the students I teach.  These children are bright and capable.  However, the diversity of the school and the racial tolerance the children routinely demonstrate toward one another and expect from the world is a complication.  Many of them truly can’t imagine that the color of another person’s skin would cause you to treat them differently.  It seems so obvious that such a view is sheer ignorance that they struggle to understand a world that is intolerant.

If something like slavery in the Americas were as simple to understand as a demand for labor solved by the short-term use of slaves, it might be easier to teach.  But of course, that’s not at all how it played out.  Enslaved people arrived in the American colonies as early as the 1600s and the institution didn’t formally end until 1864.  We’ve been living with the legacy of slavery and the racial prejudice that drove it since then.  More than 400 years of racial prejudice and animus can’t be easily explained away to students who see such views as outdated and ignorant.

So I take time to set the stage for this topic that will run as a significant thread through the American story.  In my diverse classrooms we pause to process the feelings that slavery and its legacy generate.  Though I wouldn’t say that I enter into these conversations easily, I do take for granted my ability to manage them.

Last week, we were at the start of the journey to think about slavery and its legacy in the United States.  It’s our first go-round with this topic in the 7th grade.  They aren’t too young to handle it, but the topic is potentially alienating so I had spent some time thinking about where we would start our discussions.  We had earlier explored the demand for labor in Jamestown and now it was time to think about the Middle Passage transportation of newly enslaved Africans.  We discussed the journey and the horror of the experience.  There were thoughtful questions as 12 and 13 year olds began to get their mind around what happened.  Things were going well and then one question caught me off-guard.  It came from a 12 year old of mixed race parents; a bright, organized, and sensitive student who likes her world in literal and exacting terms.  A raised her hand and when it was her turn to speak she looked right at me and with her heart on her sleeve asked, “Didn’t anyone understand how wrong it is to treat people this way?”

I paused at this heartfelt question.  Then my eyes filled with tears.  Because, honestly, isn’t this really the heart of the matter?  Was there not one passionate leader who could speak to people and lead them to reject the madness that is slavery?

In the pause, the class sprang into action.  M handed me a box of tissues.  J asked if I need a hug.  I wiped my eyes, explained what a good and powerful question it is, and told them how much their hearts and minds give me hope for the world.  Then 16 7th graders and I got back to work, wrapping our minds around the cruelty and injustice of slavery, all of us just a little more aware that these children make the world a better place.

Your Weekly Dogwood: October 15

Fall is upon us in all of its splendor.  Despite the fact that this week has brought warmer days, the cool nights seem here to stay.  In my yard, there are leaves everywhere underfoot.

The dogwood is afire with red leaves and bright berries.

Some morning soon, I will wake up and find that the dogwood has lost all of its leaves.  The day is not yet upon us.  For now I plan to enjoy all that the fall has to offer.

The Pumpkin Season

Almost as soon as I swapped out the summer flowers on the front porch, the weather grew cool enough for me to get some pumpkins and gourds to set out.  So I did just that last weekend.

They join the mums and make for a lovely porch to greet us when we come home each afternoon. The older I get, the more I find that embracing the season at hand helps remind me to enjoy the moment I am in right now.  That's happy!

Bright Idea

Early next month, we’ll turn back the clocks.  I’ll enjoy the extra hour of sleep that weekend but will not enjoy the early darkness that will come the next afternoon.  For the next two months, the daylight will get shorter and the sun will be set by 5 pm.  That means we’ll be coming home in the dark.  

As I get older, the less I enjoy shorter days of late fall and early winter.  Last December, coming home to twinkling Christmas lights on the porch made the dark cold nights more cheerful.  I put those lights up with a timer and that timer can be used year round so this past weekend, T helped me hang some cafe lights on the porch.

Equipped with a timer, they will come on in the late twilight and shut off at dawn.

I could leave the porch light on, of course, but it’s not on a timer and it seems lonely to leave the light on all day.  The cafe lights won’t come on until they are needed and will add some cheer to our evenings when the sunlight is shorter than our days.

It feels good to take command of this; as if I needn't mourn the loss of the longer days and have instead embraced a new way to manage to chilly darkness.  That's happy!

Your Weekly Dogwood: October 8

JT is running cross country this fall.  Our school competes in a rather large athletic conference so each week this fall I have driven to a new place in the state to watch the boy run.  Though most people’s impressions of New Jersey feature a picture of noxious fumes spilling from chimney stacks in factories along the 8-lane New Jersey Turnpike, in fact this is a state packed with dense woods.  So most journeys to a cross country match feature a drive through the woods.  It’s a perfect opportunity to take a deep breath and admire the changing season.  We aren’t quite at peak fall viewing, but as the dogwood in my yard shows, we are well on our way.

Dressed for Success

The Upper School has a dress code which requires that boys wear either a school polo or a shirt and tie with their trousers.  Having endured years of complaints about any occasion that required him to wear a tie, I went ahead and acquired several of the necessary polo shirts.

Then JT realized that he could wear a St. Louis Cardinals tie to school and not be in violation of the rules.  Said tie was duly acquired.  He wore it to class today, convinced that he got one over on the rules.

When the St. Louis front office calls, he’ll be ready for the interview.

Early Fall Porch

The arrival of cooler mornings motivated me to get some mums and make some changes on the front porch, the sort that spell fall.  The fall tablecloth,  squirrel flag, and the mums I set out last weekend invite in the next season.  That’s happy!

Real Life Conversations with JT: Jersey Pride edition

The backstory:  Like every place, New Jersey has its own particular culture.  It is a running joke in my family that you can’t go to a public place in New Jersey without hearing the music of either Bruce Springsteen or Bon Jovi on the radio.  In the great Springsteen vs. Bon Jovi debate, we’re Bon Jovi people.  The other day, JT and I were at a diner (another New Jersey tradition) when the matter of Jersey tunes came up.

JT:  Really?  We’re leaving the diner and now Bon Jovi comes on?  

Me:  Our timing is poor, son.

This wouldn’t have happened if we were natives; the kind of people who ate pork roll or Taylor ham at the diner.

Your Weekly Dogwood: October 2

The dogwood handed over its Wednesday spot to the front yard flowerbed this week.  But even one day late, the tree is well on its way to fall splendor.  

The dogwood grows under the protective canopy of old man tree, whose leaves are slower to embrace fall.

So the dogwood leads the way into the colder season, looking more lovely each week.

Front Yard Flowerbed: October 1

We are having a rather lovely fall around here and though we are a bit behind on rain, we are way ahead on cool nights and sunny days.  The morning chill now requires me to grab a sweater when I take my dawn tour of the garden.  The last of the green tomatoes are fighting a mighty battle to ripen before the first frost.  The flowers and plants in my flowerbeds look a bit ragged, as if they are ready for a well-earned rest in the months ahead.

But there is splendor of its own in the colors of these days and I am ready to trade in impatiens, geraniums and begonias for mums and pumpkins.  The busy squirrels amuse me when I take the time to sit and watch the backyard.  I am reminded again that the four seasons provide well-timed reminders to appreciate all that Mother Nature has to offer.