FamilyEducation Blogs

June 24, 2009

Starting Over

I asked the boys to meet me at six o’clock.

I sat in a chair waiting, watching the small hand on the clock.

It’s now half-past six. [more]

February 23, 2009

"We all we got."

They seemed untamed and in need of a ring master.

She was tomboyish and tough, with baggy blue jeans, wheat-colored timberland boots, and a hooded sweater, of course. A high-school dropout, she learned how to hustle coke, working eight-hour days, sitting on a broken bench in the projects, selling crack to the same customers all day long. [more]

February 20, 2009

Dreaming and Imagining the Possibilities

In the coffee shop I listened to two people sitting across from me talking about starting a new youth program.

I remember being on the other side of the table. I remember when people listened to me go on and on about Villages Without Walls. I am not insinuating that Villages Without Walls has become a conglomerate; but I remember when it was nothing more than something that I thought about when I was lying in bed at night. [more]

February 5, 2009

Same boys, different names

As I sat in class today and listened to the professor lecture about building a case statement, I almost cried.

My case statement is this: Last summer, eight of the most incredibly difficult young men to reach showed up every day to sit in a hot room without air conditioning, for ten dollars an hour; except now most are sitting in cells, one with a one-million dollar bail, awaiting trials. Are they thinking, “But Talia said she was going to raise the money.” [more]

February 4, 2009

Where’s Talia when you need her?

The days have been discouraging. The constant, endless reporting of the economy’s collapse; employees being laid off while business executives lie low. Our country is depressed. And that depression is darkening the sky, absorbing the energy. And then it knocked on my door yesterday. “Hello, who is it?” [more]

January 21, 2009

“My heart aches, my heart aches….”

Today I began calling all my boys who remain free. I need to confirm their participation in our Villages Without Walls appreciation dinner on Saturday. Mitch’s phone transferred directly to voice mail, which usually means that his cell is turned off. So I called AJ.

AJ answered, “Yeah?” I went through my customary check-in: how are you doing today, did you go to school, did you stay for every class, etc. I asked AJ if he would be participating on Saturday and he said, “Who else?” He paused, then said, “Mitch is locked up.” [more]

October 6, 2008

Our strays

I was at a corporation the other day, sitting in its beautiful lobby waiting for my host. There were three women; one is sitting at the receptionist desk, two standing over the counter. I listened as they talked.

“My cat is lonely.” It sounded as if the receptionist had two cats and one of them died. She then mentioned a stray that lives behind her home. Another woman said, “I got a stray who was housebroken.” I pulled out my palm pilot because I had to write this down. For example, this: “Marco doesn’t like to be combed.” [more]

October 4, 2008

My boys

I sat in the parking lot of my church waiting for the boys. I told them to come an hour before the dinner was to start, because they are usually late. At 7:14 p.m. my phone rang: “Talia, we’re at Black’s crib, we on our way.” [more]