The Last Class

Adeola, me, Sandra, Brendan, Benita, Kwame, Janet, Dolores

Last Wednesday at 5:30, I had a very bittersweet feeling. The eighth and final class had ended. Sure, it was a great beginning to a model that I hope will spread. But I realized that I would miss everyone present. Who knows when I would see them again?

But enough with the depressing talk! The last class was amazingly awesome, and so was the project as a whole.

From the preparation to the execution, I loved every minute of working on this project. The last day was a tremendous send off to the “little sister” class.

Let me break down how it went for all of you who weren’t there:

There was a lot of food. (And I mean a lot!) So much that I wasn’t hungry for dinner that night. The food represented the generosity of all of the members, everyone was willing to bring in their most delectable recipes and finds to share with the class!

We had some visitors from our “big sister” class! Benita came along with senior, Doris and Mr. Gordon returned for yet another class!

We departed from the regular stories–instead we wrote communal “once upon a time” stories (per Brendan’s suggestion.) And it was a fun, and still thought-provoking way to share stories. If you’re confused my my phrasing–how it worked was that each writer began a story with “once upon a time…” and wrote for five minutes or so. After the elapsed time, they would pass it onto the person next to them, and that person would continue the story. This happened one more time and the stories were finished! I really felt that these stories represented how well we all worked as a team.

Here they are:

(Note: the portions that each person wrote are separated by typeface. i.e. Bold for first writer, underlined for second, italicized for third)

Adeola James, Arlin Gordon, Benita Cooper

8/31/2011

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, before the eyes were below the knees, people lived together as one family. We cooked and shared what we had. It was a great time for children. You didn’t have to pay for baby sitters because the children belonged to everyone and we were considered the responsibility of everyone. No wonder a child does not have just one mother but many, and reveled in the beautiful blessings.

The joy in the lives of children is what we need today, because they have no cares and no worries. That is what we as adults need today: to love children and have peace—they only worry about today. They don’t worry about tomorrow, they just have today.

Learning from our children, spending time with our children, maybe that is the very thing that can make us better adults. Maybe it is possible to, in some new way, return to that time when we cooked together and shared what we had and looked after one another’s children. And through the process, look after one another, too.

I’m in, are you?

Benita Cooper, Doris Lang, Kwame Edwards

8/31/2011

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, I lived all the way on the other side of the world, in Hong Kong. I saw the city from a child’s eyes. I loved the amusement park and the harbor. The reason I loved it was because it had a fifty-foot roller coaster in the shape of the dragon.

We rode the dragon around the whole city, going through buildings, crossing over lakes and rivers all on this flying dragon of a roller coaster. I never saw such a beautiful city in so little time. Amazingly enough, we never came off this ride. It flew off the tracks and we lived happily ever after.

P.S.—best day ever!

Bob Sisson, Kwame Edwards, Brendan O’Hara

8/31/2011

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time, when I walked by the corner store I saw the red stapler and I knew I had to buy it. It reminded me of one I saw floating down the river. How odd, I thought. And not far behind it was a car, an old one. First the stapler and then the car hit the shore. I went to the car and I looked in.

As I looked in the car, I saw a matching blue stapler to my red stapler. I said “I have to have it, I have to have it,” jumping up and down. Pacing back and forth, I began to wonder how I would break into this car. Just then, I saw the rock  by the side of the car. I took it and threw it through the window and stole the stapler! But when I took the stapler out of the car, strange things began to happen.

First, the stapler turned a dull grey color, not nearly as beautiful as the blue, festively colored stapler. Then it began pricking my hand like a thorn bush. I could barely hold onto it, so I threw it in my bag. The next day, I woke up early to find my bag filled with staples. What a mess that was to clean up!

And then the kicker came. I returned home from school to find the window open and a cold breeze coming in. I got upset and confused. But then my eyes found their way to my bed. On top of my bed, spelled out in staples, a message said…

“I left you because you unfairly took me. You should never steal a stapler, even if it is beautiful and blue.

Kind regards,

The blue stapler”

Madi Garvin, Dolores Frank, Adeola James

9/8/2011

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, there was a slimy slug. This slow critter loved to travel, even if it would take him hears to get from one place to another. His best friend was a humming bird. Humming birds tend to be fast, so this created quite a jealousy.

One day, when the humming bird alighted on the edge of the bird bath, the slug crept up onto the bird’s back. He held on, expecting an exciting journey.

The humming bird felt uncomfortable, wondering what was tickling his back. The bird continued to shake, hoping to shake off whatever was irritating it. The humming bird who likes to sing could not even thing of singing, so angry he was! Finally, the bird noticed this slow critter, this slimy slug, and just as the bird tried to pick it off with its beak, the slug slid down its throat!

Well that is the nature of the humming bird, just like the story of the tortoise and the scorpion. The tortoise agreed to carry the scorpion on its back across a stream. Midway, the scorpion stung the tortoise and both drowned. Can the leopard change its skin? Be careful how you deal with people’s requests.

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