Seedfolks: building off of common ground

"...everybody left.  Buildings abandoned.  Men with no work drinking from nine to five instead, down there in the lot.  Always the sirens, people killing each other." -Ana (Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, pg. 7)

"It had been such a wonderful change to see people making something for themselves instead of waiting for a welfare check.  To see part of the neighborhood looking better every day, and to smell those good smalls of growing plants." -Florence (Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman, pg. 85)

     It's amazing how a little bit of green can completely change a community, even bring a community together like it did in Seedfolks.  Last year I spent my spring break helping out in an after-school program and spending time with the people that live in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Philadelphia.  While I was there, what shocked me the most was how little "green" there was.  There was trash and needles everywhere on the ground, but not trees or bushes.  The parks were all concrete and the little grass that was present was either brown or covered with trash.  I couldn't imagine growing up in a place that had more glass bottles on the ground than trees.

      Early this semester I went to see Majora Carter speak at the IU auditorium.  She is an activist and consultant that has played a huge part in the greening of the South Bronx and other cities around the country.  She spoke on how the greening of a city can truly transform a community for the better.  She said that crime rates and other social "problems" significantly decrease in cities that have parks.  Many of her projects provide employment and empowerment for the community members. While I was listening to her speak, I kept getting all these grand ideas in my head about partnerships between my future classroom and local activists and all these different things I could do to empower the students in my classroom through hands-on experiences.

      The garden in the book Seedfolks brought that desolate community together.  The people had something to take pride in, something that made their community visually beautiful.  The garden bonded them together and connected them with their physical location.  It provided them with healthy food to eat and a non-threatening place to meet the people that lived next door to them, the people they saw in the store and on the street everyday but had never thought about talking to.

Photo from www.greeningofdetroit.com

It makes me excited thinking about getting involved myself in projects like this, and then getting my students involved.  Something like this with a class could be a beautiful collision of life lessons, practical skills, and academic "standards."  And that, it what makes me excited to teach.

*another cool organization to check out is The Greening of Detroit.  They have been doing work like this in Detroit for over 20 years now!  They do a variety of youth and community educational programs and would a be a good resource for ideas of things to do with a class.