Middle of Everywhere - Mary Bray Pipher [83]
Mrs. Kaye announced that today she would read "I am from" poems, an identity exercise. Many teens love poetry, which allows them to express their feelings and to bracket the past with words that heal. She explained that the assignment was to write poems that included something about place, religion, and food. My "I am from" poem began this book.
Mrs. Kaye read poems from former students. Senada had written, "I am from parents that always had pain inside them and from the big beautiful oceans that I flew above." Sara had written, "I am from Shiraz, the city of flowers, the city of poems. I am from teachers that beat children with thick sticks." Boa had written, "I am from a house made of leaves, and when it rained, water dropped into my bed." Pablo had written, "I am from people who work really hard to get minimum wage. I am from a family who is always missing the ones in Mexico."
Vu had written, "I live in a world of peace, freedom, loneliness." Koa had written, "My heart is breaking / I'm going for a long walk / to forget the past." Manuel had written, "I dream I have a ton of gold / So I can help my family/And I help other people so no one would be homeless." Ivan had written, "The war begins when two / or more politicians decide / to get more land/power and money./But they do not care/about the people / the people suffer and do not want war."
Khairi had written, "I am from the country of sadness and dying people /because of too many wars /1 am the one who got lost in this world / and I do not know what my real nation is." Zohra had written, "I am from Afghanistan / in the heart of Asia / with high mountains that hold emeralds and rubies. /1 am from a country that has rushing rivers/that wash the blood of people / who lost their bodies." Lana had written, "I am from a country/where the sun stopped shining, where the butterflies stopped flying and where mothers' hearts started crying." Tavan had written, "I am from where the waterfalls drop like a bird in the sky/From a place where the land is green and beautiful all summer long and in the fall the leaves fall like diamonds from the sky." Mrs. Kaye read these beautiful poems, then she said, "Now write your own poems for tomorrow."
Chapter 7
YOUNG ADULTS-"IS THERE a MARRIAGE BROKER in LINCOLN?"
JASMINKA
"I would like to. remember nothing."
Jasminka's teacher wanted us to meet. She had great respect for Jasminka, who was in school and also worked to help her mother support her younger siblings. I interviewed Jasminka in the cafeteria at our community college where she was studying business administration.
Jasminka was twenty, a tall and strong-looking young woman with straight dark brown hair. She wore a striped sweater, tight jeans, and earrings shaped like camels. I mispronounced her name and Jasminka looked at me angrily. When I apologized and corrected myself, she smiled and opened up to me. Over grilled-cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, she told me her story.
Jasminka was a Muslim Albanian born in Kosovo in 1981. She was the second of seven children. At the time of her birth, demonstrators marched daily in Pristina and people were being shot and put into prison. Her grandfather was in his tenth year of prison for protesting on behalf of the Albanian population. The year of her birth, her father developed heart problems. However, shortly after she was born, things quieted down for a while. Jasminka's family had "sort of a normal of a life."
Then in 1989, Pristina was once again in crisis. Schools were gassed by the Serbs, and soon all Albanian children were being educated in basements by volunteers. Jasminka said that, under these conditions, it was hard to learn. The teachers were compassionate, but they had no books, desks, or even paper.
People were killed in the streets, arrested at their jobs, and taken away forever. Her oldest brother, who was in the Kosovar Liberation Army, slipped out of the country. In 1995 Jasminka's father died of his heart problems. When Jasminka told me this, she lost her matter-of-fact