Applying What They've Learned

The novella Seedfolks, by Paul Fleishman, is a series of 13 first-person narratives describing the emergence, development, and maturation of a community garden in a Cleveland ghetto. It's a good book. In the 11th chapter, Maricela, we learn the story of a 16-year old pregnant Latina. She is overcome with anger at her situation, and has directed that anger at her unborn child.

We proceed to unpack that anger, and I ask leading questions about whether it really is the child she is so angry with. A gaggle of girls immediately speak up with the assertion that she's really mad at the guy. "It's his fault," they say. All his? "His fault. He did this." Now wait a minute, I say, he wasn't alone in this situation, ya know what I mean? He wasn't the only one participating.

This stops them cold for a moment and then baby-faced V. calls out, "Mr. [TMAO], I'm visualizing!"

Then his buddy E., raises his hand: "I'm visualizing too!"

And from the back of the room, "I want to make a connection to this!"

"I can't stop visualizing!" V. says, and I'm not sure whether to be proud or horrified at what I've done.