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Community and Community
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From: jeanne whitehouse <jwhouse>
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:29:47 -0600
Community in BREAKOUT by Paul Fleishman, Cricket Books, 2003.
. It's a beautiful fall day in Albuquerque. This morning authors Eleanor Schick, Betsy James and I were to meet Paul Fleischman who is in New Mexico for Santa Fe's Center for the Book celebration. To prepare, I finished reading his new book, BREAKOUT, which Paul sent to me last month. (Paul lived in Albuquerque when he composed the poems for JOYFUL NOISE). Unfortunately, Paul's back "went out" and he needed to cancel our time together. Here, then, are thoughts about the "community" in this new novel and (metaphorically) the (possible) message Paul Fleishman has for teachers interested in creating classroom communities.
About BREAKOUT, the novel: This 124 page gem, like so many of P.F's novels, is a story in two voices. In plain typeface we read about "Del," a high school student, who is in the process of driving away from her latest foster home, having just faked her own death-by-drowning. On to a new life. In her very used car, with bottles of water, peanut butter, cook stove, tent, she heads West on the LA freeway. Unfortunately, miles ahead, the freeway is completely blocked by an accident with an 18 wheeler which will stall traffic for hours and force our insecure yet opinionated hero, not only to survive, but to gain the confidence she needs to "breakout" into her new life.
The second story, (a first person account, interspersed in italics beginning on page four), is the tale our "Del," (now "Elana Franco," 24, stand-up comedian / performance artist), tells her audience about "seeing into the lives of others" while being stuck on the LA freeway.
In the performance piece based on the freeway/ life changing experience, Del/ Elana describes how others behave during the traffic jam and, eventually, how a community of strangers begins to develop. Elana says,
"It's eleven. Then noon. The magnitude of the crash frees people to stroll, to leave their cars behind, to meet many others. I see scattered webs of community grow. Most of them are like a spider's first thread, connecting only two cars. Others are more complex. After a while, I notice that the drivers involved begin to see the life of separate cars and worlds as something strange and unnatural. It's as if the drivers have climbed up to a vista and can now look down on their former lives...." (p. 88)
Later, (p. 90) Elana observes: "Two miles back, a reading teacher who's used to giving hugs and pats tells a lamp store owner the tragicomedy of her smog test and doesn't even notice when she touches his forearm to underline a point. He hears nothing she says for three minutes after. His sense are overloaded with the feel of her fingers, her welcoming him into her family of touch. In nineteen years he's never touched a customer or employee... (This touching is) an instant banishment of solitude, an unspoken promise of mutual support....."
__ And what about developing classroom communities? Perhaps students are like drivers who wouldn't necessarily choose to be together, but must remain for a certain length of time. Perhaps, students, like the stalled drivers in BREAKOUT, must begin to ask each other the equivalent of "what happened?" and "How can we help?" and
"what can we do---individually and together?" Eventually a community will form from the individual threads linking pairs of cars (students). These threads will combine to form a "network" or spiderweb... As the teacher welcomes students into his/her "family of touch, " his/her "community of understanding," the
"drivers" or students will "feel" a need for community. They'll rise above their individual, isolated "cars" which are seen as "strange and unnatural."
In Paul Fleishman's novel, BREAKOUT, the main character changes from a teen-ager with a limited, self?ntered view of herself and of others to a self?tualizing young adult who has found a way to share the story of her transformational time on the LA freeway. May students and teachers find similar strengths while developing classroom communities.
Enjoy. Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson. jwhouse at unm.edu
Author: I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf,
Don't Forget Winona, HarperCollins, 2004
Received on Sat 18 Oct 2003 03:29:47 PM CDT
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2003 14:29:47 -0600
Community in BREAKOUT by Paul Fleishman, Cricket Books, 2003.
. It's a beautiful fall day in Albuquerque. This morning authors Eleanor Schick, Betsy James and I were to meet Paul Fleischman who is in New Mexico for Santa Fe's Center for the Book celebration. To prepare, I finished reading his new book, BREAKOUT, which Paul sent to me last month. (Paul lived in Albuquerque when he composed the poems for JOYFUL NOISE). Unfortunately, Paul's back "went out" and he needed to cancel our time together. Here, then, are thoughts about the "community" in this new novel and (metaphorically) the (possible) message Paul Fleishman has for teachers interested in creating classroom communities.
About BREAKOUT, the novel: This 124 page gem, like so many of P.F's novels, is a story in two voices. In plain typeface we read about "Del," a high school student, who is in the process of driving away from her latest foster home, having just faked her own death-by-drowning. On to a new life. In her very used car, with bottles of water, peanut butter, cook stove, tent, she heads West on the LA freeway. Unfortunately, miles ahead, the freeway is completely blocked by an accident with an 18 wheeler which will stall traffic for hours and force our insecure yet opinionated hero, not only to survive, but to gain the confidence she needs to "breakout" into her new life.
The second story, (a first person account, interspersed in italics beginning on page four), is the tale our "Del," (now "Elana Franco," 24, stand-up comedian / performance artist), tells her audience about "seeing into the lives of others" while being stuck on the LA freeway.
In the performance piece based on the freeway/ life changing experience, Del/ Elana describes how others behave during the traffic jam and, eventually, how a community of strangers begins to develop. Elana says,
"It's eleven. Then noon. The magnitude of the crash frees people to stroll, to leave their cars behind, to meet many others. I see scattered webs of community grow. Most of them are like a spider's first thread, connecting only two cars. Others are more complex. After a while, I notice that the drivers involved begin to see the life of separate cars and worlds as something strange and unnatural. It's as if the drivers have climbed up to a vista and can now look down on their former lives...." (p. 88)
Later, (p. 90) Elana observes: "Two miles back, a reading teacher who's used to giving hugs and pats tells a lamp store owner the tragicomedy of her smog test and doesn't even notice when she touches his forearm to underline a point. He hears nothing she says for three minutes after. His sense are overloaded with the feel of her fingers, her welcoming him into her family of touch. In nineteen years he's never touched a customer or employee... (This touching is) an instant banishment of solitude, an unspoken promise of mutual support....."
__ And what about developing classroom communities? Perhaps students are like drivers who wouldn't necessarily choose to be together, but must remain for a certain length of time. Perhaps, students, like the stalled drivers in BREAKOUT, must begin to ask each other the equivalent of "what happened?" and "How can we help?" and
"what can we do---individually and together?" Eventually a community will form from the individual threads linking pairs of cars (students). These threads will combine to form a "network" or spiderweb... As the teacher welcomes students into his/her "family of touch, " his/her "community of understanding," the
"drivers" or students will "feel" a need for community. They'll rise above their individual, isolated "cars" which are seen as "strange and unnatural."
In Paul Fleishman's novel, BREAKOUT, the main character changes from a teen-ager with a limited, self?ntered view of herself and of others to a self?tualizing young adult who has found a way to share the story of her transformational time on the LA freeway. May students and teachers find similar strengths while developing classroom communities.
Enjoy. Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson. jwhouse at unm.edu
Author: I Have a Sister, My Sister is Deaf,
Don't Forget Winona, HarperCollins, 2004
Received on Sat 18 Oct 2003 03:29:47 PM CDT
