Literacy Volunteers of Massachusetts in Quincy

Thomas Crane Public Library

May 19, 2016

Voices of Literacy, Volume 25

2016

Making a Difference in Two Lives

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Sincere thanks to these local businesses and foundations for their donations this year.

We appreciate your support of our program

and our cause!

The Marjorie Harris Reynolds Foundation

Christ Church, Quincy

We’d also like to thank the many individual donors for their generosity this year.

We couldn’t do what we do without you!

Material in this journal cannot be reproduced without the permission of the authors.

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Memoir

Hi, my name is Skip. I was born in Macon, Georgia. I came to

Boston in 1954 with my two brothers and my mother. I’ve spent almost

all of my life in Boston.

When I was a little boy, I was curious about the street life. My

curiosity got me into trouble and I went to reform school. I met a long

time friend in reform school. We are still good friends today. I still see

him from time-to-time. He tries to get me to go to church. He thinks

by going to church it will change my life around.

When I was 17-years old, I went to prison. Prison was hard

because of all the rules and regulations. All the people I lived with were

jerks. When I got out of prison, I was happy. I decided to turn my life

around. I joined a program called SPAN. They helped me find a school

to attend and housing. I feel good about going to school because I am

learning to read and write.

My mother is proud of me because I am going to school, and I am

learning to read. I feel that I have turned my life around.

~ Quinnon Hall

“I feel that I have turned my life around.”

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Family Reunion

My sister and I are planning a birthday party for my father. It will

be a family reunion. My father will be visiting from Fogo, Cape Verde

for one month. Fogo is the same town where I grew up. The

grandchildren will be happy to see him.

My son is also coming home. He is in California. He has been in

the Marines since 2011. We wish he could stay but he will only be here

for two weeks.

The party we are planning is for family and friends. In this area

we have about 200 family members. I have 11 brothers and sisters.

There will be about 400 people at the party. We want to rent a big hall.

We will wish my Dad a Happy 86th Birthday. I will take two weeks off of

work to enjoy my family.

~ Elvira Alves

♥ family reunion ♥ together again ♥

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A Story of Tragedy

On June 17, 2016 a young white man named Dylan Roof went into

a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church

in Charleston, South Carolina. He sat through the Bible study meeting

and then shot and killed nine of the church members who were all

African-American. He purposely did not shoot one woman because he

wanted her to be a witness and tell people what happened.

I was horrified to hear that something like this happened in God’s

house. It was heart breaking to me. I feel that this young man had been

disturbed all his life. He told his friend, Joseph Meek, a week ahead that

he was going to shoot and kill people in a mostly black church. His

friend did not report this. Dylan Roof had something on his mind that

was terrifying and unbelievable.

You know and I know that in history there were things like this

that went on. There were burning of crosses, lynching, and homes with

adults and children inside that were set on fire. You would have

thought that was all behind us.

It staggers me because I can’t believe that something like this is

going on around me. It is scary and wicked when a young man goes

into a prayer meeting with a gun knowing what awful thing he was

going to do. All I can say is “now ain’t that the devil.”

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I think we need more counseling, not only for children but for also

for adults. We put money into a lot of other places so let’s put money

to help young people. We also have to get these guns under control

and out of the hands of children and dangerous people.

And let’s talk to children and young people about preventing hate

and racism. I am the kind of mother who likes to talk to my children and

kids about dignity and help them understand what it means to be a

good adult. It will take a lot of caring people to prevent this type of

tragedy from happening again.

~ Sharon Terrell

“Let’s talk to children…

about preventing hate and racism.”

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My Time at the Library

First time I came to the Library I was excited, but a little worried

because I didn’t know anybody here. When I first came in I met Mary

and some of the other students and everybody seemed very friendly.

After meeting the other students the class began. I, along with the

other students, was excited to learn something new. Mary is a nice

person and she does an awesome job. Then I met my tutor Lauren and

it was really nice to meet her. She does an awesome job too and we

have a lot of fun. To have the both of them working with me has made

my vocabulary better. Now I speak a lot more English and I feel more

comfortable around people because I understand more.

~ Patrique Silva

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My favorite time is nighttime. At night, most people are at home.

The family can cook together and eat together. They can also go to the

bar to have a drink or to dance. Some people may want to watch a

movie, while other people like to take a walk. Some people also stay

home and watch television.

For me, I like to sit down at the window and look outside. I can

see some house lights off and other house lights on. Nighttime is very

quiet. I like to lie down on the bed to relax and have beautiful dreams

when I sleep.

~ Judy

My Favorite Time

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LEAH

This is my second year learning English. Last year we had a break

because I had a new baby. Her name is Leah. She was born on October

24, 2015.

Now, Leah is 6 months old. Leah’s going on her first trip. We are

going to Africa to see our family. We are very excited to meet

everyone. And everyone is excited and cannot wait to meet Leah.

We are a little nervous about the first airplane flight. Hopefully,

Leah is a good traveler.

~ A.K.

This is a picture of Leah at the library.

She is such a good girl; she joins me for my class.

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My Story This is a story about how the Literacy program helped me.

I found school very hard, so I never learned how to read. At sixteen I left

school and the very next day I got a job.

There was a factory near my home I walked there and asked for a job. The factory made outside lamps out of sheet metal. I worked very hard there, welding and sandblasting. It was too cold in winter and too hot in summer. After five years, I asked for a 50 cent an hour raise. The boss said, “What, are you out of your mind!” It was time to leave.

My mother told me that it was time for me to get into the City of Boston, where I will have a job for the rest of my life. Nine months later I was put on the civil service list. About a month later I was called for a physical. I got a job as a kitchen worker at the Mattapan Chronic Disease Hospital. Six months later, I was called into the office and told that I was now permanently on civil service. Then they asked me to be a cook.

I didn't know what to do because I didn't want them to know that I could not read. If they found out, I might lose the job. After talking to my wife, she said, “Give it a try.”

All the cooks there had learned in the service. They had me put on a cook's uniform. The head chef told me to, “Watch and listen and you will be a very good cook.” I did what I was told and started storing all this knowledge in my brain. The first day we made a cheese sauce.

They gave me a list of spices to get and they also said them as they wrote them down. Since I could not read the words I had to remember them. I knew what some of the spices looked like. For the others I compared the list to the label. After a few times, I remembered all the spices. I watched the other cooks very closely and remembered everything they did. After making something a couple of times, I could make it by myself.

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After a short time, I realized I was becoming a very good cook. Very quickly they promoted me to senior cook. I was happy with the promotion and also happy that no one knew that I could not read. Since I fell in love with cooking, I continued to learn more and more. After about five years I got another promotion, this time to principal cook.

This new job was different. I had to cook but also supervise other cooks. I was a principal cook for about five years. During that time I learned a lot about food and cooking. Now I had found my occupation and I really loved it. In about three years I was moved to head cook. In this job I managed the principal cooks and had more responsibility. Even though the job was very enjoyable I was still afraid that someone would find out that I could not read.

Most days I would bring in the newspaper and hand it out to the other employees for them to read. They thought that I had already read it.

It took a while but I was promoted to assistant chef. This job had more responsibilities; I had to manage the head cooks. My job was also to plan for the next day and let the cooks know what they had to do. During the five years that I had this job I leaned more and more about food and cooking. All this information had to be stored in my brain because I could not write it down.

When the head chef retired, he said to me, “You are the only one who can do this job.” I told the manager that I was willing to take the job. He took me over to the chef's office and handed me the key. I went into the office, saw the chair and desk and doubted that I could do the job.

I thought to myself, “How am I going to do this job?” The manager gave me a list of food to order. I took the list home to study it. Then I was able to order the food. I always carried a pencil and paper and looked like I was writing things down. No one caught on.

During this time I had a second job cleaning the Chase Building at night. It is now called The William J. McCarthy Building. It is not named after me, but I think it should be. I held the head chef's job for three years, and then gave it up. Then after three years I retired. I had my thirty years in.

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At my retirement party, when it was my turn to speak, I told them the following: “I have to tell you all something. This man that you are looking at, and worked with for thirty years, cannot read or write his own name.”

When I told everyone that I could not read, you could hear a pin drop. Everybody's face showed surprise, they were shocked because they did not know.

Shortly before I retired, a lady that I worked with suspected that I could not read. She kept quiet, but told me about the Quincy Library program.

I went there and met Elaine, she got me started. At first it was very hard. I almost gave up. Elaine said to me, “A little at a time, William,” she kept me going. I slowly improved and Mary Diggle became my tutor. Later Mary Cunniff was my tutor. I have been at this for fourteen years but made lots of progress. I want to thank all my tutors for their patience and hard work over these fourteen years.

It changed my life. Now I can socialize better with people. Also, I can read books and the newspaper. This has made me more alert and much happier.

Thanks to everyone who has helped in this wonderful program.

~ Billy McCarthy

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What I Like to Do on Easter

I think it is very important for families to get together. We get

together Easter, Christmas, and Thanksgiving for all of us to catch up.

People are busy throughout the year and the time we have together on

holidays is valuable. Holidays give us all time to catch up and sit back

and catch our breaths. It’s not just about the meal, it’s about having

the time set aside to be together.

My family likes to paint eggs on Easter. Another tradition we have

is we like to make bunny cakes. The family likes to watch the Charlie

Brown Easter special. We like to relax and open our baskets and see

what the Easter Bunny brought us. Easter is a lot of fun for my family

and me.

~ Lisa MacCallum

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Dear Mary and Mike,

I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to be the

student that I am today! I would also like to thank you for finding me

the perfect tutor. He is so patient with me and I treasure that. He

teaches me things step-by-step and I am grateful. We make a great

team and I am blessed.

I feel like I have learned a lot. I have learned how to describe

words. Before I couldn’t write anything in English, now I can read and

write some words in English.

This week I read a few pages in the Abigail Adams book. I feel very

proud. Before I always read to myself, I never read out loud to anyone

else. I will learn to write more and maybe read a whole chapter. I want

to learn more about American football and soccer.

I am proud of myself. Before I couldn’t even write “God” in

English, now I can. Thank you so much for this opportunity!

~ Merces C.

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LIFE

Life is like magic, hard to believe. It is like an opera in the night.

Daily life is acting; scene-by-scene, day-by-day. Nothing is real; nothing is permanent in this world.

What’s the meaning of life? Where is my pride? Where is my fame? What is the difference between being alive and dead? Who owns this body now? Who will own it then? Will I still keep visions of what I saw in this life? Will I still recall all the tastes I tried? Will I still hear all the music I listened to? What did I gain from life? What is the essence of life? I am happy. I am sad. I am pleased. I am surprised. Finally I cease to be and I am in a small tomb. Where are the feelings now? Only the body which is useless in this world is left. It is kept away from society (as nobody wants a dead body). I think of the body left behind and wonder what’s ahead.

~ Shirley Chen

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M Y B E S T F R I E N D

There was a luncheon every Saturday at St John Episcopal Church

that I had been going to for a long time. I met Sue B. there 17 years ago. I welcomed her to come in and have lunch. Sue sat across from me. We talked and had lunch together.

Sue had grandchildren and I had a grandchild. They both went to the same school. When they needed help at the church kitchen, Sue and I volunteered to help. Sue and I were members of The Laughing Red Hats. Sue taught me different crochet stitches. We went to lunch on Wednesdays to different places. If I did not know how to get somewhere, I called Sue to help me get there. Sue would come and take me there. On the way I would write the directions. Sue had a great sense of humor; we laughed a lot.

Sue was getting pains on her side. I told her to go to see a doctor. The doctor put her in the hospital. Her daughter called & told me that Sue had cancer. I went up to see her. She said to me, “I am dying of cancer.” I said, “No you’re not dying of cancer.” I said, “You have a lot of grandchildren.” Sue said, “Eleanor, I am dying of cancer.” So I cried and I prayed over her. Sue died on February 1st, 2016.

Sue and I wanted to go to Hawaii. The plan was over. Our friend Wendy lived in Hawaii. Wendy brought back Hawaiian sand to put over Sue’s grave. We will do this at her memorial service in June. I will miss her a lot. She was my best friend.

~ Eleanor

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My Opinion About the Program

I would like to thank the person that created this program. You

don’t know how much the program means to us, for all the immigrants,

because we didn’t have the chance to go to school when we were

young, especially me. When I came to the United States, I didn’t know

how to read or write.

Thank you for the program. Thank you to Mrs. Mary and Mrs.

Caitlin. God bless all of you. I would like to thank all the volunteers and

everyone that help the program. School is the most important thing in

life.

~ Guerdy Jean-Baptiste

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Meeting My Tutor on the First Day

Today was a very beautiful day. If you continue to be my teacher

in 6 months, I want you to see all the things I have learned.

I believe it may take a year or two, but I want you to help me to

get my high school diploma. I want to keep going. It has nothing to do

with age. I’m not going to let anyone stop me from doing a little work.

I will walk and just keep going and keep myself in shape. I don’t feel

old.

This experience is beautiful. The lessons are beautiful. The things

I go over 5 or 6 times – you make it plainer to me. I can see and

understand it better. You don’t stop until I understand.

You teach so nice and calm and smooth – not like what I go

through in other schools. You give me motivation.

Thank you.

~ Richard

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Keep the Dream Alive

My name is Paulo Ramos. I am from the Cape Verde Island. I

came to the USA on September 19, 1989. Life was not easy. I had to

work three jobs to pay the bills. I dream about a good life for myself

and my family. It is important to think well about yourself. It helps to

keep the dream alive.

Friendship

Friendship is very important to me. As a kid in Cape Verde, I used

to play soccer with my friends. We played for fun, but would fight to

win! A few hours later, we would joyfully party and celebrate. That was

a long time ago.

I feel happy when I see my old friends when I visit Cape Verde.

My last visit was seven years ago. Now I contact them on Facebook and

keep in touch. It’s great!

Respect

My culture is about respecting people. When I see people

disrespect someone that makes me feel very badly. I like people to

respect one another and treat each other the same. This makes

everyone feel better about themselves. I don’t like people to

discriminate against others.

~ Paulo Ramos

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The Literacy Program is Helping Me Reach My Goals

Learning how to read is making my life easier. I don’t have to hide

anymore. When everyone knew how to read and I didn’t, it made me

feel bad. Now I can read a text and reply. I can write to my brother and

sister in India. I can read a text from the mother of the baby I watch and

I can reply to her questions. Now when I get a text I don’t have to wait

to reply because I had to ask someone else to read it to me. I used to

worry that people were wondering why I didn’t reply right away.

I am thankful for this program helping me to reach my goals and

lots more. I want to thank my tutor, Annmarie, for helping me make my

goals come true.

~ Kavita

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My Education has been a Struggle

Getting an education has been a long struggle for me starting

from childhood. I was very angry with my mother for the longest time

because all she did was yell at me and called me stupid my whole life.

No wonder why I have such a low self esteem about myself. All she had

to do was just help me to get my High School Diploma.

You would think my teachers would have noticed that I was

having difficulties with my school work. I also wonder why the school

department didn’t step in and see what was going on with me and why

I was having a lot of trouble learning anything. I know that years ago

they never looked into these kinds of problems with children who had

ADHD, dyslexia and other learning disabilities – just to name a few.

And why didn’t my family doctor do anything either. I guess it didn’t

matter at all. How could they look at me all the time and do nothing to

help me. I guess I was just invisible to everyone. They didn’t help me

to find the education I should have had.

Mary who runs the Adult Literacy Program at the Thomas Crane

Library helps adults find tutors to help them with reading, writing, math

and other subjects. Mary suggested to me that I should try the Adult

Diploma program as an option for studying for my high school diploma

so I decided to go. It started in September of 2015. I attended classes

twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 to 3:00 pm. I had

a good teacher and my classmates were very nice and many spoke

different languages. This program follows the Common Core and it was

really hard because we had to write a lot of essays about art, dancing,

music and plays. The only problem is that I started getting really

stressed out and having anxiety attacks. I decided to leave this

program because it was just too much on me. At least I got through the

first semester.

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Throughout this whole process I have been working with a tutor

and his name is Roger. When we began, we met once a week and we

worked on math and then we decided to meet twice a week and then it

progressed to three times a week. My tutor helps me tremendously. It

seems like we have been together for a century. He gives his time to

work with me three times a week so I can achieve my goal of getting my

high school diploma. I am so grateful that I met him. He is very patient

and caring and dedicated. I cannot say enough about him. I finally

found someone who cares about me and my education.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Mary for her support and

all the help she gives me all the time. I know that I can drive her crazy

sometimes but that is what friends do. I also want to thank Molly who

helps me out a lot. Most important I want to thank Roger from the

bottom of my heart for helping me through the program in Boston.

Your continuous support has helped me to believe in myself.

~ Judy Barry

“I finally found someone who

cares about me and my

education.”

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Night at the Zoo

My family stayed overnight at the Franklin Park Zoo. It was a Boy Scout outing. On the way we could not find the opening. We looked for the zebra opening and finally found it. We had to wait until everybody showed up. A woman opened the gate and escorted us in. We went behind the scenes. We saw where the animals sleep. The public does not see this part of the zoo.

We saw the snake house. There was a python. It was all different colors and very big. She let us pat it. My son liked this but my wife did not.

After that we played the animal game. The zoo lady put pictures of different animals on the kids’ backs. Then they asked each other questions to help them identify their animal. They would ask, “Do I swim?”, “Do I fly?”, “Do I live in a tree?” When they finished, they put the pictures on a tree that was on the wall. The skunk was on the ground, the monkey was in the tree and the bird was at the top of the tree.

Next we went to the kitchen area to see what the animals eat. She asked us what we thought they ate. There were charts on the wall to help us. The charts had one animal on each one and the list of their foods. Anteaters eat ants. They are huge animals. It looked like it weighed 300 pounds and it had huge claws. Some birds eat rodents, bugs and grubs. We saw flamingoes and many other animals.

We then had our snack and slept on cots. We could hear animal sounds all night long. My family would like to return to the zoo many more times.

~ Billy Vecchione

A Perfect Day

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A perfect day to me is being around my family, especially my kids.

I have 6 children and they mean the world to me. Every day I work

hard to make sure my kids will have a better life than I had growing up.

My oldest daughter is 24 and will be graduating in December with

her Master’s Degree. I am very proud of her and I tell her that almost

every day. My kids are the most important people in my life. Whenever

I get to spend the day with them, I am always happy and nothing else

matters. I love the relationship I have with my kids. We are all very

close and they are comfortable with talking to me about anything.

~ Dale

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The Jackie Robinson Story

Jackie Robinson was one of the most influential players in the

history of baseball. He was born on January 31, 1919 to Jerry and Mallie Robinson. His parents divorced when Jackie was young and he was raised by his mother. He was the fourth of five children.

In 1920, his mother decided to leave Georgia and moved to Pasadena, California where Jackie was raised. Jackie enrolled in Pasadena Junior College in 1937. In 1939, Jackie entered the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) where he lettered in four sports. Jackie won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) broad jump title in 1940.

Jackie Robinson played professional football for the Honolulu

Bears, a semi-professional team in 1941. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1943. His military career ended in 1944 when he suffered an ankle injury. Jackie received an honorable discharge. Jackie was instrumental in starting the Negro League which had some very good players and many went on to play in major league baseball in 1944.

Jackie Robinson began his baseball career in 1945 with the Kansas

City Monarchs, a Negro team, and he was then recruited by Branch Rickey to play for the minor league Montreal Royals. In 1946, Jackie Robinson married Rachel Islum, a nursing student he had met at UCLA.

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In 1947, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers wanted to change segregation in baseball and asked Jackie to join his team and he did very well as a Dodger. He suffered considerable racial abuse, his life was threatened, but he became a super athlete. Jackie was a strong but humble man. Jackie was often called names and was treated badly but none of that stopped him from becoming one of the best players on the Dodgers

team and in baseball. Jackie Robinson made the cover of Time Magazine that same year.

Jackie Robinson’s hard work of struggling and determination paid

off in 1947 when he was named the Rookie of the Year. In 1949, he was named the league MVP. Soon after, many fans and players started accepting him as a player but not as an equal. Many fans and players started changing their minds about African American players. In 1956, Jackie Robinson was traded to the New York Giants but he decided to retire from baseball.

In the 50’s and 60’s Jackie became a vocal supporter of Martin

Luther King and the National Association of Colored People. He marched with Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders. Jackie Robinson had his mother and wife by his side when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Sadly, Jackie Robinson died of a heart attack at age of 53 on October 24, 1972 in Stamford, Connecticut.

Major League Baseball retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in 1977.

Every April 15th since 2004, has been declared “Jackie Robinson Day” during which all players, coaches, managers and umpires wear the number 42 on their jerseys.

~ Kathleen Johnson

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Eunice’s Story

Eunice came to this country by herself. She is the first child her

mother had. Then she started work to help her mother and the six kids

in her family. Then one day she told herself, “Eunice, it is never too late

to go to school where you learn to speak English.”

Feeling Thankful

I want to say thank you to Mary for her program @ the library,

and to Chris, my tutor for all their help to get my citizenship. This is very

important for me. I worked very hard for this. I worked two jobs and

came to class. I wanted to become a citizen because this country has

given me a lot of opportunities. Because of the opportunities I have

here, I can do many things. As a citizen I can vote, and I can travel

anywhere freely. I never had these opportunities in Brazil. I also have to

say thank you to my husband Juan. He also helped me. He is very proud

of my new citizenship.

~ Nilva Torrez

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My Feelings

I feel happy when I am with my friends. When we are together,

we talk about school, go shopping and sometimes we talk about the

movies. This makes me happy and I find it enjoyable.

I feel angry when I cannot sleep. I have body pain because I have

health problems. In 2007 when I worked at a restaurant, I fell so now I

have muscle pain. This makes me angry. Sometimes I feel good, but

when the weather changes, I sometimes feel pain and this makes me

angry.

I feel tired when I have to cook. Sometimes I don’t know what to

cook. I also have to listen to my sons complain about my cooking. I

always hope to be better at cooking, but I don’t know how to improve.

I want to be a good mother so I can take care of my family. I need

to know how my sons are doing in school, so that is why I come to

school to improve my English.

I am glad I came to ESL class and tutoring because school makes

me happy and helps me to understand better. Now I understand when

people are speaking to me. When I visit the doctor, things are easier

than before. I am no longer afraid to speak. Before I thought I was a

stupid person, but now I feel that I have improved.

~ Judy

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English is Difficult

I think English is very difficult and sometimes I am afraid to speak

to adults. Now I can speak to my granddaughter in English and she

speaks to me and we understand each other.

I like the stories we read in tutoring and they help me read

better. Most of all I can write sentences now and I couldn't do that

before.

~ Maria Cardoso

Great job

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Duffle Bag

On a Sunday morning I expected to work an easy day but it was

the opposite! I work for a security company and I work the front desk.

My daily job is to make badges for visitors and to call their host to come

down and escort them into the building.

I parked my car in the garage like a normal day. I walked to my

building through a path between Buildings 6, 7, and 2, on my way to my

building, Building 1. It was a dark day and I could barely see in front of

myself. I did my daily security checks around my building. I sat at the

front desk waiting for employees or visitors to enter. An hour later an

employee notified me about a red duffle bag on the path behind

Building 2 and it looked strange to him. I quickly notified my command

center about the red duffle bag and its location. I told them it was

located behind Building 2, right on the path, the same path I walked to

get to my building. My supervisor told me that he was already notified

and was on his way and the police department was already on their

way.

From where my building is located I saw the police and the bomb

squad arrive. An employee told me that the guy from the bomb squad

said it was the worst thing he has ever seen – it wasn’t a bomb in the

duffle bag but a human torso! He actually wished it had been a bomb

instead of what he actually saw!

The area was cordoned off and an investigation began. My

manager and the police investigators came to my building. They

questioned me about what I knew of the situation. I told them I didn’t

see the duffle bag when I walked through the path because it was so

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dark. They questioned others, and viewed the security cameras from

before the discovery of the bag to see if they could find the person that

placed the duffle bag. They caught the guy on the video camera at

about 3:00 in the morning, placing the duffle bag on the path.

They also found out that the suspect was living right next door to my

building. They caught the guy and found the rest of the crime scene in

his apartment. My security team was acknowledged for the good job

for that day.

It is not surprising to say it wasn’t the easy day I was expecting!

~ Jean Mondestin

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My Journey of Life

Living in Liberia wasn’t easy. It was very difficult because when

my grandmom died I had to do everything by myself at the age of 14. I

had to sell water and bread for a living after school and it wasn’t easy.

That continued for almost two years.

But one day, I met a lady in her car, while selling my cold water

and bread, and she stopped me and started asking me some questions.

During our conversation, she realized I was somehow related to her

friend. As the conversation continued she realized that I was her

friend’s daughter. The lady contacted my mom and told her my story,

and my mom came to Liberia to get me and bring me to America.

When I came to America, it was a different style of living. It was

scary in the sense that I had to know almost everything. But my mom

introduced me to a lovely lady by the name of Mary who works at the

library and she helped me with my reading. But then school opened

and Mary introduced me to a beautiful and lovely lady by the name of

Miss Carol. Miss Carol became my tutor. She helped me with my

reading. She’s almost like a mother to me. So I thank God for everything

she has done for me.

~ Anita Dean

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A Weekend Away

Sometimes it is nice to stop everyday life routines and get away.

My life is very busy. I find myself always working, rushing from job to

job, therefore putting in very long hours so I can support my family of

six. Recently, we all jumped in the car and drove to Bar Harbor, Maine.

It was so good to get away and relax with my family. We loved it! It

felt wonderful to get up in the morning and take time to enjoy the day

without schedules, appointments or obligations.

On the way home, we stopped

at Portland Head Light, a Lighthouse in

Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It was

breathtaking! We plan to get away

more often, the day was wonderful.

Thank you Teachers

Thank you to my teachers, Carolyn and Meredyth, for all the help they give me. I appreciate the time they take to tutor me and am grateful for the way they are so eager to adjust their schedules for me, too. I truly appreciate the volunteers giving time for me and other students and the Literacy Program, because without them, we would never learn to read. Reading has opened so many doors of opportunity for people who are not able to read or write. I am very grateful. Thank you, again.

~ Michael Keane

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My English Class ~ by Ellen Lin ~

My English class is at Quincy Main Library. I feel so lucky that I found this place. Three years ago, I saw the ads at the North Quincy Library’s front door. I tried to make a call. There was a person named Mary who answered the phone. She asked me to make an appointment to take a test. My first tutor was a lady named Marylou. She was a native-born American. She was nice and patient. She brought a lot of magazines for me to read and if I had any questions, I could ask her. Eventually, she found a job and she had to take care of her granddaughter. One day, Mary called me. She told me she found another tutor for me who was Chinese. She asked me if it was okay with me. I said “yes”, because it still allowed me to learn English. When I first met my second teacher, I was very excited. She was very nice and her pronunciation was very good. She prepared a lot of materials for our class. Now our class is on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Patricia teaches us on Thursday. She is very kind too.

Our class will end on May 31st and we will continue our classes in September because I love my English class.

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Sincere thanks to all of our students who contributed to this year’s journal. (and to their tutors who may have lent a hand!)

Your stories, your courage and your determination are an inspiration to us all.