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Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Tag Archives: cambridge

Woke/Re-Woke: A Conversation

02 Thursday Jun 2016

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Learnin'

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Tags

as-we-are-living-it, cambridge

I’m on the third floor of City Hall, checking out the topographical map of Old Cambridge (then called Newtowne.) A young, energetic photographer beside me, gazing on the faded gray and little bumps of green, the expanse of woods and winding Charles River, says, “Wow. Can you imagine living back then? So much green!” She sighs wistfully. I slant her a look.

“Mmm,” I respond. “I’m all set. In that Cambridge, I would have been a slave, and you’d probably be an indentured servant.”

Old-Cambridge-map.jpg

My mother, my partner, and I are doing that ridiculous thing where we’re waiting outdoors in a line, in winter, to get tidbits of free chocolate. We’re at Harvard Square’s annual festival because it’s fun, and we apparently enjoy riding that edge of discomfort and delight. As we bob and wiggle to keep warm, a young woman makes her way down the line, handing out flyers. I want to avoid her but politeness makes me meet two bright eyes as she asserts her message: come to our rally to help end human trafficking!!

The irony slaps me and I want to laugh: how do you think I got here?

Matter window sign.jpg

By my early twenties, I had settled on how it was going to be for me, life-long:

  • As a person of primarily African heritage, my perceived value to this country is best exhibited by a mental ‘game’ I made up as a child: Who Matters Less [than me] In the US? (my childhood answers: Native Americans, disabled people, the poor, anyone not-hetero. Sometimes, I’d make combos to see how low I could go – poor/female/Afro-Native? etc. )
  • As a woman in the world, I expect to be paid/trusted/listened to less
  • Growing up ‘straight’ was an un-arguable given (unless a person was willing/able to fight)
  • Being mixed-social class is invisible; there’s barely any language to describe it
  • As a feminist, I fight relentless, confusing de-humanizing perpetrated by both men and women
  • Raised radical, many of my personal views don’t make it into casual conversation
  • There’s much I’ll never share with non-Black friends (polite company don’t talk race)
  • Any claimed ‘wokedness’ changes zilch about how I’m viewed, as much as it influences everything about how I see

BLM-sign-First-Parish-Churc.jpg

Nearly halfway through my life and so, so far from the front lines, why am I writing about this now?

I guess ’cause eight years ago, when Obama was first getting elected to our country’s most public/most maligned office, white strangers with tiny HOPE buttons suddenly started striking up conversations with me on public transit. Because kids-these-days are using crazy terms like intersectionality and finding ways to classify and re-see unseen gender identities (cis & trans & ???). Because in three out of three cities where I regularly spend time, residents have various and continued opportunities to engage in conversations about race and gender.

Norms that I’ve long wished weren’t the norm are getting Grizzly-smacked right out of the water while I watch.

Back-of-map.jpg

As a kid learning about American Civil Rights, I assumed the effort was something with which everyone got involved, for better or ill. The whole country, struggling. Text books failed to get across the nuance of those decades where some joined, some didn’t, some hid, some fought, some died, and some weren’t even cognizant -absorbed in childcare or studying Latin or pulling lobster traps over the side of a boat.

Now, I understand as I watch young people define a new movement. It’s a strange, somewhat disembodying experience, walking past Black Lives Matter signs. Part of me says duh! and another part says wow. I can taste the desire to re-establish the platform of faith and ideals from which we’ve been slipping. In my imagination, today’s efforts reverberate back to the folks behind me – the original Sinclairs and Newbys, whose worth was written: sugar, cotton, blood. In a way, I understand those signs hanging over churches and in stores and dorm windows to be a whisper: We hear you. Thank you.

But did you notice that distinction, how I keep walking past –my multi-partial self who hasn’t yet found it in me to act as activist, to choose? I want a way to choose ALL the sides, without devaluing a single one. I want to devise a cyclone-of-uplift that gathers up Asian folk and Native folk and generationally-poor whites who see #blacklivesmatter and feel tightness in their chests. I want a way to look across my cities and see versions of me with my hair represented at all levels, for it to not be a surprise or special treat. I want an end to supposed firsts, a ladder leading back to variation upon variation. I want to discover a solution to forgetting.

I mean, why should my slave heritage be any less proud than a ship to some island where they changed your name? Both were taught to me in school; far as I’m concerned, both histories are mine.

Abodeon-black-lives-sign.jpg

I’m strolling through Harvard Yard. It’s early spring and the sun is warm, dappled, and accenting the beauty of two brown students as they stand beside a redbrick building, amicably arguing about ‘wokeness’. The young man claims depth and veracity. The young woman teasingly, amicably shakes her head: unconvinced.

Woke. The poet in me loves that term. The MTV Generation punk, the alt-view malcontent, who is learning and making mistakes, who feels equal parts curious and cautious . . . and hopeful.

Smiling to myself as I catch snatches of the students’ debate, I half applaud/half mock them, conjugating: She woke. He a-woke?

We re-woke to the reality.

A Question, Ms. Woodson?

09 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Librarytour, Writing Life

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

book-love, cambridge, cambridge public library, events, kids, writing

Jacqueline Woodson. If you don’t know her, you should. Not just because she’s one of the premier writers for young people (whose career I’ve followed since I was a high school student), who happens to be African American, who happens to be a New Yorker. Not because her memoir-in-verse, Brown Girl Dreaming, won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2014. But because here’s a woman who can answer her some reader-questions.

Jacqueline Woodson on stage

Apologies, Ms. Woodson. This photo is . . . lacking.

The first time I saw Ms. Woodson on a tour for her then newly published picture book Show Way, children lined up to ask questions. I was amused. Impressed. A toddler approached the mic in her mother’s arms.

My second experience was at the Cambridge Public Library as part of Cambridge Reads. Children waited patiently in two lines and spoke with bravery, curiosity, clarity, humor, and the desire to know. Be known.

Book fan reads along with speaker

Here we see a fan reading along in Brown Girl Dreaming. No KIDDING.

Okay, I thought, this is a thing. In all the author talks, book signings and panels I’ve attended in my 30+ years, I’ve never seen such thoughtful and relentless interest from children as at Woodson events. Is it because Jacqueline speaks to them as she would any person, child or adult? Is it because the first child asked a question that didn’t even touch the perennial ‘where do you get your ideas’, and broke some kind of good-question seal?

In my experience, in mixed groups of adults and children it’s usually the adults who dominate. Not here. Adults stand back: the true creatives have arrived.

Reading #1: Monday, March 12, 2007, 6:30 PM

Jacqueline Woodson’s Author Visit at BPL Connolly Branch (JP) 2007
“This celebrated author of children’s and teen books will discuss some of her work, including her new novel Feathers. The event will include a question and answer session and a book sale and signing (courtesy of Jamaicaway Books). Co-sponsored by the Foundation for Children’s Books. For ages 5 and up.”

Questions (items in parenthesis are my notes):

  1. Are there men in (the picture book) Show Way?
  2. What inspired you to write (the middle grade novel) Mazion at Blue Hill?
  3. Do your books affect your emotions [while you’re writing them]? (asked by little boy)
  4. Do you research?
  5. Did you need to go to college?
  6. What did you lie about when you were little? (In her talk, Woodson explained that, as a child, she was a terrific liar. She was fortunate enough to have a teacher tell her that, instead of lying, she should ‘write it down, because then it will be fiction.’)
  7. What’s your favorite genre?
  8. Did you have a favorite author when you were growing up?
  9. What kind of books did you like best? (Answer: poetry)
  10. Did the song “Locomotion” inspire you while you wrote your (middle grade) book Locomotion?
  11. Are your characters actual or made-up people?
  12. Which of your books do you like the most?
  13. Who was your favorite teacher?
  14. Why did you write Locomotion in verse? (Asked twice)
  15. Where do you get the titles?
  16. Did you achieve any of your goals that you had in 5th grade?
  17. What advice would you give to young writers? (Answer: Read. Write 2x a day. Believe that you have a story to tell. Call yourself a writer. Show your writing to people that you trust.)
  18. What make you choose writing? (Answer: Couldn’t have a career in professional basketball.)

Reading #2: Wednesday, November 18, 2015, 7:00 PM

Cambridge Reads, November 18, 2015, Fitzgerald Theater, 7:00 PM
“Brown Girl Dreaming—a memoir of the Woodson’s childhood written in verse—is the recipient of the 2014 National Book Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor Award, the NAACP Image Award, and the Sibert Honor Award.

Jacqueline Woodson is the author of over two dozen award-winning books for young adults and children, including The Other Side, Each Kindness, Coming on Home Soon, Locomotion, Miracle’s Boys, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Hush. She is a four-time winner of the Newbery Honor Award, a three-time finalist for the National Book Award, and was recently named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation.

Cambridge READS, the Cambridge Public Library’s citywide book club, promotes the love of reading and facilitates community conversations about books. It includes book discussions at the Main Library and its six branches, and culminates in an appearance by the featured author.”

Questions (items in parenthesis are my notes):

  1. Do you have any messages of empowerment? (This was the FIRST question!)
  2. Are you still religious? Do you still practice [Islam]?
  3. What inspired you to start writing?
  4. How did you feel when you first saw your brother Roman?
  5. What was your favorite subject in school?
  6. At what age did you fall in love with writing?
  7. Did writing come naturally [to you]?
  8. What was the biggest change that empowered you as a person?
  9. What was wrong with the word ‘funk’?
  10. What was your reaction to meeting your dad for the first time
  11. Does Roman have a different dad?
  12. [What] did it feel like going over the memories after all those years?
  13. Why did you call your book Brown Girl Dreaming?
  14. Was it uncomfortable when your parents got back together when you were older?
  15. How did you feel when you were done writing your book?
  16. Is there one place you hold dearer in the places you’ve lived? (‘Dearer.’ I struggled to contain my internal squee)
  17. Can you tell me the name of Roman’s father (Jacqueline: Sorry. No!)
  18. Everything that was happening around you, did it stress you out?
  19. Did your mom know the walls were painted with lead paint?
  20. Did you like being Jehovah’s Witness when you were young?
  21. Your first [draft] in pencil, or did you type it? (Jacqueline: pencil)
  22. Were you dyslexic in reading as a kid?
  23. What poem is your favorite in the book?
  24. Are you a New England Patriots [football] fan? (Jacqueline: “I plead the fifth.”)
  25. What inspired you to write [the novel] Locomotion?
  26. Are you still connected to your friends from way back when?
  27. Which [of your] book[s] was the most fun to write?
  28. When was your first book published?
  29. Why are you so poet? (verbatim: so poet)
  30. Will you be writing a new book soon?
  31. When your mother died, did you take a break from writing?
  32. If you could pick another career, what would it be? (see: basketball)
  33. Are you still close to your siblings and your uncle?
  34. When do you know when you’re done with a book?
  35. How did you get started writing Brown Girl Dreaming?
  36. What’s your favorite book?
  37. Do you start by writing your ideas in your head?
  38. You know when you were a kid, you couldn’t eat pork. Do you eat it now?
  39. How did you survive without cupcakes?
  40. You wrote a lowercase ‘I’ [on page ?]? Why? (Jacqueline: That’s an error!)
  41. [Which] do you like more, Feathers or Brown Girl Dreaming?
  42. Did you book about butterflies ever get published?
  43. What is your favorite book of the ones you’ve written?
  44. Does your brother Hope still sing?
  45. What was your least favorite poem in Brown Girl Dreaming? (Jacqueline: Those didn’t make it into the book)
  46. What’s your favorite genre to write?
  47. When your brother went to the hospital, did you regret how you felt about him earlier?
  48. Do you ever come up with ideas and then forget them? How do you deal with having more ideas than you can keep up with?

Jacqueline concluded here, but there were more kids who attempted to join the line. They could have gone all night.

So. I look at these two lists of questions and my first thought is: whoa, Cambridge. My second thought: these children (thankfully) have not yet perfected the unfortunate art of long-declarative-statement-masquerading-as-question. Third: I didn’t mean to spend the evening typing out questions (with my thumbs, on an iPod) but I couldn’t help myself. They were too good.

And you, faithful WHL reader, get to share the bounty.

Children wait in line to ask quetions

The line v2

Look to photo’s center. See all those kids? Now double that number.

 

Snapshots From My November Commute

25 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life

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bike-commuting, cambridge, jamaica-plain, trees

Late November is one of my favorite times to bike commute.

Long shadows across Olmstead Path

There’s something about starting out crisp; covered from head to toe in wool and sporty synthetics. Just one layer to start, before December and January demand more.

Bike & rider silhouette

Standing in the acorns

My favorite little urban woods between Jamaica Plain and Cambridge are similarly dressed for cool, but not yet snow or ice. Muddy River park

Reflection on underside of stone bridge Bright yellow tree in Brookline

And fellow commuters, they’re still out there. Not yet chased to public transit.

Cyclist on Hubway bike

Rocking that Hubway like a pro

What Is It: Street Sign Guy

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in What Is It

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art-attack, bike-commuting, cambridge

Not so long ago, I noticed this drawing on the back side of the Rindge & Latin High School in Cambridge.

IMG_0200

I thought: hmmm. Then, one day, I biked past at around dusk and discovered this:

IMG_0304

Ah ha! A perfectly placed street sign turned this bit of silliness into a full-on character, with personality. (Maybe that’s why no one has yet painted over it?) Other than graffiti or street-art, I don’t know what one calls this type of offering, but I’m a fan. Every time I pass, makes me smile.

Long live the Street Sign Guy.

Street Gratitude

06 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life

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bike-commuting, cambridge, gratitude

One of the many benefits of bike commuting is finding those little gems a person encounters only by slowing down. Here’s one I discover while waiting at a traffic light.

Gratitude

JP vs Somerville Dance Off 2013

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Community

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Tags

cambridge, dancing, events

I’m not traditionally competitive . . . I don’t think. However, I will take off across the parking lot with a cart load of groceries to beat you to the car before you’ve registered a race. (Some might label this act with the unfortunate term “cheat.” Thank you, I prefer “strategize.”)

Legs on the dance floor

Perhaps it’s no surprise then, that a dance contest is more my speed.
Dancers in green and blue

The Jamaica Plain vs Somerville Dance Off is organized annually as a fundraiser in support of the inspiring and impressive Girls Rock Boston, a summer program that empowers girls ages eight to seventeen to ROCK, while also growing as musicians, women, and individuals (video-link from Austin Girls Rock ’cause these ladies just blew me away, but you get the picture.)

Jef Czekaj  djs

This event is a bonafide competition with actual winners (2013-JP) and losers (2013-Somerville), but I’m not there to score one for my neighborhood, or even for myself. I go to win it for THE WORLD!!!

Girls Rock banner

Women pose with pom-poms for the camera

Kidding! (But no, not really.)

Sweet Ride Cambridge 2013

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life, Community

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bike-love, cambridge, community, events, food-n-cookin, spring

Officially, I gave up my candy habit some time around 2005. Shocking then, right, that I somehow found myself sucking down conversation hearts while listening to a talk on Cambridge’s sugary legacy -that of flat, candy wafers that spark in the dark, figgy cookies, and mints that come in papa, mama, and junior? (Actually, not that shocking . . . )

Mayor Davis helps to kick things off at the start of the Sweet Ride

Cambridge Mayor Henrietta Davis helps to kick things off at the Sweet Ride (photo courtesy Cambridge Bicycle Committee)

Between the riding, listening, and somewhat guilt-free gobbling of complimentary goodies provided by our hosts, I may not have found opportunity to snap photos even if I had bought along my reliable (and admittedly clunky) Canon. Glad I’m not the only person sweet on fond remembrance.

Ride-specific Sweetheart

Cambridge Bikes is a Sweetheart (courtesy of Cambridge Bicycle Committee)

The photos featured here are borrowed courtesy of the fine planners/bike enthusiasts at Cambridge Bicycle Committee.

In addition to being so kind as to let me partake of their photos, I enjoyed that this well-organized tour of Cambridge was split into “sweet” and “savory” with brief, interesting lectures at several resting points.

Two young men on trick bikes

Sweet or savory, bikes in all flavors (photo courtesy of Cambridge Bicycle Committee)

Two men with three bowties

These gents could be on the bow tie ride (photo courtesy of Cambridge Bicycle Committee)

Librarytour: Little Free Library in Cambridge

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Community, Librarytour

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

book-love, cambridge, community, winter

A friend introduced me to Little Free Libraries, small book-lending boxes that exist worldwide for reading-enthusiasts, champions of community, and the just-plain-curious. No less than a year later, such a library appeared five minutes from my house. So, in addition to the amazing Boston Public and Minuteman Library systems, I’ve a hyper-local option that draws my eye each time I wander past.

Inside the library-box

Who’s spoiled? (Hint: me.)

I heard about Cambridge Street Little Free Library on a community listserv before I saw it in person. Winter tends to tame my wandering and ground my bike, so it’s wasn’t until the weather warmed and I returned to my wheels full-time that I located Little Free Library #3884.

Back of the little free library

Even smaller than the microwave-oven sized box in JP, the Cambridge Street library is vividly painted and planted in a giant flowerpot.

Planted in a giant flower pot

Little free library marker

While I snapped a few photos, another pedestrian noticed and decided to loiter by the box after I departed. I mean, how can you resist?

2013 Farm Share Fair

25 Monday Mar 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Green Life

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cambridge, city-farm, food-n-cookin

Although I’ve already signed up for my household’s CSA (community supported agriculture) share this year, I couldn’t resist dropping by the fourth annual Farm Share Fair. I’d been hearing about this event, originated by theMove*, a nonprofit that organizes volunteer workdays on farms for young citydwellers in and around Boston.

Sign: who's at the farm share fair?

When my companion and I first walked in, we were impressed by the number of farms and vendors present. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll among the tables.

Checking out the goods at Follow the Honey

Checking out the goods at Follow the Honey

Visiting our friends at Life Force Juice

Visiting our friends at Life Force Juice

Fresh wheatgrass juice

Fresh wheatgrass juice

Shortly, the crowds arrived. It was inspiring to see so many people invested in and excited to support local farms and get their hands on the delicious, healthful, and beautiful veggies, fruit, eggs, meat, grains, and everything else.

Old friends consider the room

Baby with parents

Future veggie enthusiast

Red Fire farmer

After squeezing my way down a packed aisle to sign up for an egg share with John Crow Farm, my friend and I look leave of the fair to free up space for all the other enthusiasts. Lucky for us, the evening held one last treat . . .

Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese food truck

How’s your handcut truffle fry? Mine’s delicious! @Roxy’s Gourmet Grilled Cheese food truck

*EDIT: I just learned that the event was presented by Mindy Harris Communications, in connection with theMove. Thanks for the correction, Mindy!

What Is It: Door Knob Bulletin Board

13 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in What Is It

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Tags

cambridge, jamaica-plain

As seen on the Sedgwick St. in Jamaica Plain:

Doorknob

Bulletin on Sedgwick St

Bulletin board with an attached . . . doorknob?

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