Storefront Step-Up Day 2015

That moment when you realize that the children who you taught in middle school are now young adults, but you don't feel any older!

Sick of Spring Break

Ugh.  I spent the last week of Spring Break sick in bed.  Chloe scarcely recognized her poor mother picking her up from school without her face and hair done.  It was a sweatpants, Uggs, and messy (ok. ratchet) ponytail kind of week.

Anyway, I got this really sweet note from a former student that cheered me up and made me look forward to the week ahead back at school.
  
Hi Ms. Cardwell! 
I hope you're doing well. I'm back at Mount Holyoke and in one of my classes we're reading The Bluest Eye. I told my professor that I'd read it before in middle school and he actually didn't believe me at first. This isn't the first time a teacher has been surprised at the books you assigned us; in high school I had to read Invisible Man for a class and the teacher was surprised that I had read it at The Storefront. Just so you know, I'm actually really glad you made us read those books. Even though I didn't appreciate it very much at the time, it is easier reading these books the second time around because the discussions we had at The Storefront start to come back to me.

-H.

Invisible Man by Elizabeth Catlett Riverside Park @ 150th.

It's a Reunion!

I'm sure that it is clear to anyone who reads this blog that I miss aspects of working at The Storefront immensely.  This Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend the annual Student Art Exhibit and Cocktail Reception (which began as the Men's and Women's Art Show, under the leadership of former artist-in-residence Matthias Leutrum). 

It was wonderful to reunite with my former 6th and 7th graders, watch them articulately explain their artwork, and brag about their recent high-school acceptances.  The most fulfilling moment of the night for me was when Djemo (a sophomore at Berkshire School) told me that she and Johnese (a sophomore at Calhoun) quote Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man to each other as they excel at their respective schools.  "Play the game, but don't believe in it."

To donate to Storefront Academy click here.

(And by the way, Christopher Williams needs to remember that I am THE PRINCIPAL OF HIS LIFE, and always have my champagne on deck!)

Scholars and Chefs

Although we fancy ourselves food critics, Carol and I are both Middle School English teachers. I have worked at The Children's Storefront School in Harlem for the past ten years. Located in three brownstones on 129th Street, The Storefront is unique because it is the only tuition free independent school in the city. 

Dress-Up Day at The Storefront began three years ago when a fellow teacher, Juliana Garofalo, and I decided that we needed to inject some positive energy into the week before Winter Break. Anyone who works in a school knows that the days before a long break can be marked by exhaustion and anxiety.  Somehow our small idea turned into a feast that continues to remind us of the creativity and dedication of our students, parents, and faculty. 

Students in grades five through eight were given two expectations. The first was that they dress up (because school is always a special occasion), and the second was that they recruit their peers to bring enough food so that the fabulous women in our cafeteria could have a well deserved break. 

This year our students, lead by the 8th grade, truly outdid themselves. They planned, executed, and printed menus. They set up family style tables, and some even stayed up late cooking and baking for their classmates. 

Although, The Storefront is over 85 percent black, the variety of food represented the diversity of cultures in our community.  Students shared dishes such as vegetarian empanadas, yellow rice, hoppin' john, curry chicken, pasta salad, fresh fruit, and of course, cornbread. 

This year, Dress Up Day provided students the opportunity to bond with their teachers in a unique way. One teacher told me about waking up on the couch at midnight and running to the store to purchase ingredients for the macaroni and cheese he promised to provide for the banquet. Another teacher, who is known to be a stern disciplinarian, delighted the students with his pineapple pudding. (See the recipe below).

Today was a great day; watching our students develop the confidence that comes from envisioning a project and carrying it through to fruition was priceless. But now I am ready for vacation . . .

To learn more about The Children's Storefront please visit:  http://www.thechildrensstorefront.org/

Pineapple Pudding (The Official Dessert of the Math Department)

2 Cans Crushed Pineapple

12 Slices White Bread  (crust removed and cubed)

1 ¾ Cup Sugar

2 Sticks Melted Butter

8     Eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix butter and sugar.

3. Add eggs one at a time.

4. Add pineapple and juice.

5. Mix in bread.

6. Put cinnamon on top.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until knife comes out dry.

Brown Sugar Babies

After reading Isabel Wilkerson's "The Warmth of Other Suns," I will never look at lemons or a glass of orange juice in the same way. Learning about the men who worked in Florida's citrus groves opened my mind to the pain associated with the sweetness we enjoy. Kara Walker's latest work has had a similar impact on me. 

Before heading to Brooklyn with the 7th graders and their illustrious art teacher Mattias Leutrum, I read everything I could find online. I looked at pictures and videos. I listened to interviews on NPR. I thought that I had Kara Walker's exhibit at The Domino Sugar Factory figured out.

"A Subtlety" was a meditation on the price paid for the sweet tooth that developed in America and Europe. It referenced the blackness required to refine sugar and turn it white-like the drop of black required to make Optic White paint in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. It represented a critique of stereotypes of black women. 

I was confident about what I thought I knew, but I wasn't prepared for what I would feel when I entered the cavernous former refinery. Immediately, I was struck by the beauty of the various shades of brown: the walls, the floor, the rafters, and the sugar babies born of resin and sugar. I was drawn to the children carrying baskets of sweetness made of the broken pieces of other sugar babies.  Perhaps my attraction to these sculptures was due to the fact that they appeared to be around Chloe's age. 

As visitors poured into the space the babies were surrounded by people taking pictures. It felt like I was watching tourists taking pictures of native children in third world countries (ironically the sculptures were modeled on souvenirs sold in the Carribean).  I felt angry and exposed. What were they thinking? Why were they here? Had they done their research? Did I have the right to judge?

Kara Walker happened to be at the exhibit the day we visited. She was surrounded by a tight circle of well-wishers, hipsters, and students. I got the sense that the answers to questions were not as important as being in the vicinity of the artist. It was as if Walker herself was part of the show. I felt the same sense of possessiveness as I did for the sugar babies. 

I am proud that the 7th graders were bold enough to try to initiate a conversation with Walker. They asked great questions: why not use brown sugar to create the lady sphinx? How do you feel when you walk in and see your own work?  Why expose her breasts and buttocks? How do you prevent rats from getting in here? 

As I approached the lady sphinx I was struck by her beauty, her strength, and her softness.  The gentle curve of her back and the way that her feet curve underneath her body.  This was not necessarily a critique of stereotypes but an affirmation of the multiple roles that black women play in spite of economic exploitation: nurturer, lover, leader.  This woman is not a victim; she is a keeper of mysteries. 

Visit this exhibit before the sculpture and The Domino Sugar Factory is demolished in order to make room for the future (probably condos and commercial space). "A Subtlety" runs until July 6th.

Thank you Cheryl for making this amazing experience possible!