Celebrating Freedom on Juneteenth
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THE CHANGE Adult Education for Social Justice: News, AGENT Issues, and Ideas CELEBRATIONS Celebrating Freedom: 1 Silent Celebration: 3 Because of Linda: 4 Graduation & Blessings: 5 Celebrating Teen Mom: 6 Adolescent Sexual Health: 7 Celebrating Sobriety: 8 You Are Not Alone: 9 I Celebrate Myself: 10 First Kiss: 11 Celebrating Navajo: 12 My Son’s Journey: 14 Celebrating 5 Pounds: 15 The Party Guest: 16 Father’s Day: 18 Thank You for Food: 19 My Second Chance: 20 Losing, Finding...: 21 A Family Tradition: 22 The Day We Arrived...: 23 For Sisters & Brothers: 24 My Moroccan Wedding: 25 Mexican Thanksgiving: 26 Christmas Changed: 27 Overspending...: 28 Spending Money...: 29 Working during Holidays: 30 Where do Labor Laws...: 31 No Tricks or Treats: 33 Celebrating Freedom on Juneteenth Taking Good with Bad: 34 Inez Sadler Celebrating Eid: 36 Fragile Structure...: 37 My Diwali: 38 On June 19 (“Juneteenth”), 1865, Union general Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Sacred Water: 40 Texas, and issued General Order Number 3, which read in part, “The people of Texas A Day to Reflect: 41 are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United Family, Food & Fireworks: 42 States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and It Felt like a Stampede: 44 rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore They Forgot We are Seeds: 46 existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.” San Geronimo Day: 48 Festa Junina: 50 continued on back cover Walking Backward: 52 We Are the Ones: 54 Issue 41 changeagent.nelrc.org September 2015 The Change Agent is the bi- annual publication of The New England Literacy Resource Center. Each issue of the paper helps teachers incorporate social justice content into their curricu- lum. The paper is designed for intermediate-level ESOL, ABE, GED, and adult diploma classes. Each issue focuses on a different topic that is relevant to learners’ lives. In New England, online access to The Change Agent is available free of charge through NELRC’s affiliated state literacy resource centers. Email changeagent@ worlded.org to learn how to ac- A Note from the Editor: The Change Agent Turns 20 cess the site. To celebrate our anniversary, we turn our attention to—what else—cel- Submissions: Our next issue ebrations! In this issue, students write about everything from private ritu- is on race. See the “Call for Articles” on p. 55. We welcome als to family- and community-based holidays, parties, graduations, com- submissions from teachers and memorations, feasts, and fêtes. How else do we celebrate? students as well as activists and thinkers from outside the Beautiful Cover Art field. For submission guidelines visit <changeagent.nelrc.org> or We are so proud to feature on our front cover the gorgeous “Juneteenth contact us at 617-482-9485 or on Oak Bluffs” and “Jubilee” on the back cover, both by Sonia Lynn [email protected]. Sadler. Both pieces are a feast for the eyes and are wonderful to include in Subscriptions Individual, bulk, and electronic your teaching. What stories do they tell? What vocabulary do they gener- subscriptions to The Change ate? What questions do they raise? Thank you, Inez Sadler, for permission Agent are available. See the to use these paintings and for your family’s story. back cover and/or our website for details. Free Lesson Packets! Editor: Cynthia Peters We have dug deep into the last 40 issues of The Change Agent and cre- Proofreading and editing help atively mixed and matched pieces in order to bring you new and excit- from: Sydney Breteler, Andy Nash, Leah Peterson, Julie Ray, ing lesson plans that are aligned with the College and Career Readiness Sally Waldron, and Cynthia Zafft. standards and that are engaging and relevant to adult learners. They are The Change Agent is published free and available for anyone to download here: <changeagent.nelrc.org/ by the New England Literacy Re- in-the-classroom/lesson-packets>. source Center/World Education 44 Farnsworth Street Boston, MA 02210 Multi-Level Writing (617) 482-9485 You will find a wide range of articles (from grade level equivalent 2 to changeagent.nelrc.org 12), along with activities that help students build their basic skills and add No information in this magazine to their knowledge base. See <changeagent.nelrc.org/in-the-classroom/ is intended to reflect an endorse- reading-levels> for a Table of Contents that you can sort by level. ment for, or opposition to, any candidate or political party. Audio Versions of Articles and Other Online Resources Let your students listen to Change Agent articles! They will improve their reading fluency and grammar, and their comfort with increasingly com- plex text. (To access these materials, you need an online subscription!) Join Us! For 20 years, we have celebrated literacy by making this rich resource avail- able for cheap. Just $20 per teacher per year gets you online access to all our back issues, audio, and many additional classroom resources. Learn more about subscription options at: <changeagent.nelrc.org/subscribe>. —Cynthia Peters, [email protected] Celebrations A Silent Celebration Dave Slivinsky The rewards of learning to read and write are a big deal for me. I am 56 years old and I have dyslexia. I did not think I would ever be able to read a book on my own and now I can. I would like to tell all of you how far I have come in a program called Read to Succeed, how safe I feel to tackle the big- gest problem in my life. Now I love to read and write. Reading has changed my life forever. I spend hours at home reading novels and listening to books on tape. The process of writing has been an extensive heal- ing factor in my life. I find that writing about my feelings and emotions “Space Man” by Dave Slivinsky makes it easier for me to I told myself that I Read to Succeed has given me the chance to start talking about them. share my thoughts and my stressors through my would go as far as The sad part of this paintings. One of them was selected for the 2015 is I am still too embar- I could and then I Read to Succeed brochure, truly a great way to rassed to tell anyone would just quit, but celebrate my success in a program that has given about being in a school me a new look at life. I guess it is my journey. The I have met so many like this because no one truth can hurt at times. Sharing my story gives me people who didn’t outside this program a good way to start the long road of healing from will understand what it give up on me. dyslexia. It has been a healthy opportunity for took for me to be here. me to celebrate my success in In the beginning, I told Read to Succeed. myself that I would go as far as I could and then I would just quit, but I have met so many people Dave Slivinsky is a student at YMCA who didn’t give up on me. I have found a drive Read to Succeed in Hartford, CT. Previ- that just keeps on coming, so not to disappoint ously, he attended two years of art anyone or to let myself down I have been pushing school and is an accomplished painter and photographer. Currently, Dave is myself as hard as I can. exhibiting several of his paintings at the Now that I am learning to read, maybe I will YMCA in downtown Hartford and hopes start to feel good about myself. It should sound to exhibit in local galleries. like an easy thing to do, but it is not that way for me. A lifetime of being dyslexic has been hard on What are two ways that learning to read my self-esteem, and it gets in the way every day. Sometimes I feel like I am drowning or I would and write has changed the author’s life? like to cry, but most of the time I see my way What is one way it might change his life? around it. I have read that those feelings could Why do you think sharing his story pro- stay with me my whole life. It seems to be true at vides a way “to start the long road of heal- times. I seem to have a lot of fight in me. Now you ing from dyslexia”? know how I feel inside. It’s not too nice, is it? The Change Agent — September 2015 3 Celebrations Because of Linda… A Volunteer Tutor Becomes Family Janet Brown PRE-READING: What makes someone family? Linda continued to Eleven years ago my sister had a fire in her apart- tutor me and ment. My sister had taken us in because my mom encouraged was in the hospital with cancer. The fire destroyed me to go back our apartment. We had to move to a shelter for to school. Four Janet (left) and Linda two years. My sister got her new apartment first years ago, I and moved out of the shelter, but I couldn’t move finally returned to school, and I still attend classes with her. I moved to another shelter in Manhattan, today. Linda and I continue to meet, but now as and I started attending a program. It was there friends. She stopped tutoring because of her health that I met my good friend Linda.