“Instead of putting others in their place, put yourself in their place.” -Amish Proverb The hours of inactivity in the Thai refugee camp deadened the spirit and the soul. So the Hmong women turned to the comfort that needle and thread had given to generations of women before them. As their sharp needles […]
The one thing that every family in the 1930’s Dust Bowl savored for Christmas was an orange. In our own culture of entitlement and excess, the thought of one orange constituting the holiday pay load is unimaginable. But getting an orange was a big deal because citrus fruit wasn’t affordable during the rest of the […]
The superintendent of the New Orleans school district sat in his seat behind his desk. His offer of a teaching job for first grade at Frantz Elementary School produced only one question in Barbara Henry’s mind. “Will the school be integrated?” she asked. “Would that make any difference to you?” The superintendent raised his eyebrows. […]
“The journey of a lifetime starts with the turning of a page.” –Rachel Anders Christmas is a time of anxiety for the students in my behavior disorder/emotionally disturbed classroom. Living in poverty, the expectations of the rest of America accentuated their lack of “stuff”. Depression, despair and desperation etch their twelve-year-old faces, and move […]
Carol Ropp has taught more children as a retired teacher than she did when she had her own classroom. Over 12,000 city kids have learned about life on a farm by visiting the Ropp Jersey Farm in Normal, Illinois. When a group of visitors from preschool to seniors arrives, Carol is the teacher of the […]
I spent 28.43 years in a large urban school district. During that time I worked with every age of student from 3-21, students with every disability (deaf, hard-of-hearing, autistic, deaf-blind, emotionally disturbed children, cognitive delays) as well as students with no disability other than a simple articulation problem. I was and still am a speech […]
“Local food is primary care.” –New England Farmer’s Union Photo by Dominica Cipriani Growing up, canning is what we did in the summer. Living on farms and in small Midwestern towns, boredom never dogged us like it does the urban kids. Pulling weeds, watering gardens, and stocking up for the winter captured the days of […]
“Food is simply sunlight in cold storage.” – John Harvey Kellogg As my husband brings in another wire basket full of potatoes to can, my heart sings a song of thanksgiving. Being able to safely preserve the harvest from the garden is not to be taken lightly. As the motto on my apron reads: “I […]
Border Crisis, Southside Chicago Crisis, Five Points Crisis By Cleo Lamps The United States is no stranger to crisis. On our southern Texas border, tens of thousands of children are crossing into this country without documentation in the hopes of being reunited with relatives or to start a new life. These children endured brutal conditions […]
Bookmobiles, Literacy, and Hope By Cleo Lampos Looking around the Oak Lawn Public Library last Saturday, the wealth of books, music, and videos on shelves filled me with awe at the availability we have for literacy. The rows of computers to reach beyond the walls of the building added to the amazement. A library is […]