Read. Write. Dream. I came up with that phrase two years ago. It said everything to me. Held what I hold dear in each word. Kicking off the business with the entrepreneurship program around my book Money Hungry only seems fitting.
Didn't know anything about business when I was young. Just that the man who owned the corner store had the best Johnny cookies in the world. Philly is full of corner stores. When I was young, they were owned by white people, then black folks now lots of people from the Dominican and elsewhere. How's a kid supposed to know that they can own that spot, or any spot anywhere, unless we tell them? Show them. And what better way to do that than to tether that idea to students when they are young?
I guess for the next ten days the students and I are tethered as well. They walked in quietly today. Inside I was quiet as well. No sleepy. Was up almost 24 hours. Nerves I suppose. But I am the teacher. Oh gosh. Someone out there is laughing I bet. So they picked up folders. Journals. Cards describing the businesses of an entrepreneur couple visiting in the afternoon. Okay so a few left their books at home. One or two hadn't read them at all. One girl even lost hers. But we got to work. And their minds were ripe and laughter came easily. No flinching when I said how much writing we had to do. Or when I asked for a volunteer to introduce our guests upon arrival.
Funny how people see your characters so differently than you do. Raspberry Hill is so beloved, but boy would she like to know how money hungry they really do see her. I connected that idea back to them. Are they hungry for money? Do they save? What do they value? They are going to seventh and eighth grade. They value sneakers and cell phones. Friends. No one said education. But they are sitting in my class while their peers in the building are off doing summer-like things. They are reading, most are anyhow. They are journaling, writing. Meditating, sometimes with one eye open. So education is valued by them or their parents, especially by the folks running the program.
Read. Write. Dream. Will they dream about making loads of money? Will the guys dream about all the pretty girls in the class that out number them? Will they grow up and see their dreams deferred? Who is to know. But as Oprah says, this I know for sure. Plant the seeds early. Believe they are receiving even when it might not appear to be so. And give them the best that you have.
I still dream. I still believe. That books are more than words on a page. They are living, breathing things that get under the skin of the young. Raspberry and her money hungry ways can teach young people to be hungry themselves to own their businesses. To make their own rules and set their own course.
Even while I am batting my tired eyes here at home thinking, ten days? How do teachers do it? I believe that what we are doing together, these young people and I, will spill over into their lives when they are grown. Business owners? Maybe a few will sprout from here. Readers. Dreamers. Oh I expect a load of those to take flight. Well off to work on tomorrow's lesson. Night.
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