Lessons from Grandma: A Mother’s Day Tribute

By Alanah Percy

Gordon College News Service

May 8, 2013
(This column appeared May 11, 2013, in the print and online editions of The Salem News.)

While most kids have memories of sleepovers with friends, I remember sleepovers at my grandma’s house until I was16. Our days were full of fresh food, lemonade and stories of her life on the farm in Alabama with 12 brothers and sisters.

One of our favorite projects was gardening. We tore open small bags of seeds that said  ‘cucumber,’ ‘squash,’ ‘watermelon’ and ‘tomato,’ marveled at the various colors and shapes of wire for the garden’s perimeter. Then we’d grab three good shovels, the sprinkler and of course a few old fashion southern sun hats.

“Let’s go fool around with this ol’ garden,” Grandma would say.  I couldn’t wait for the moment when the barren dirt would spring with life and colorful fresh vegetables would emerge. Grandma’s eyes filled at the sight and I always wondered why it meant so much to her.

Years later I realized she was remembering life in the south as a sharecropper, when she and my grandfather were forced to turn over part of their garden’s harvest to a landowner in exchange for land.

During this Mother’s Day season, I am reminded of my grandma’s compassion and tenacity, qualities that have shaped my own personality and strengthened my family. Her mother, my great grandmother, didn’t have much money but did the best she could to encourage her kids to value education and trust God with everything. Growing up in segregated Alabama, Grandma witnessed senseless violence and racism that prevented her from experiencing simple pleasures like purchasing a Coke from the local store. Two of her siblings died from heart attacks in their twenties and one drowned.

Advice from Silicon Valley for Bewildered College Graduates

By Tala Strauss
Gordon College News Service
May 6, 2013
(This column appeared May 21, 2013, in the print and online editions of The Salem News.)

For many college seniors these days, the thought of approaching graduation is burdened by fear of unemployment and lack of direction. This isn’t helped by the fact that almost every day someone asks what we’re doing next. As a graduating senior at a liberal arts college near Boston, my answer has been relatively vague so far. Panic and apathy jostle for the upper hand. But I want to avoid pessimism and denial – because the reality is that college ends, and something, no matter what, comes after it.

So for spring break I escaped New England’s stormy weather and flew across the country to sunny California. But I didn’t dig out my bathing suit and head to the beach. Instead, I packed a skirt and prepared myself for two days of interviews in Silicon Valley. I wasn’t going for job interviews. I was going to interview professionals – to find a clue to the future.

I asked five people for their advice to graduates. It turned out that one piece of advice I received I was already following: don’t ask for jobs, ask to interview people. Informational interviews can help expand a graduate’s network and give them insight into various careers. But people also told me it’s a myth that I ought to know what I’m going to do by the time I graduate. I won’t know what I’m supposed to do until I’m about 35, they said. And it’s also a myth that my major will determine my career path.

What Charity can learn from Journalism

By Stephanie Francis

Gordon College News Service

May 9, 2013
(This column appeared May 18, 2013, in the print and online editions of The Salem News.)

Sociologists are damned with the burden of knowing all the troubles of the world. In his book Culture Making Andy Crouch describes journalists as the poor cousins of sociologists. Both study the mechanisms of culture, and both are damned.

As a sociology major who has aspirations in journalism, I suppose this makes me doubly damned. But I am also learning how culture allows me to understand what needs to be fixed. And my generation is one that wants to right the wrongs of the past; the increasing numbers of non-profit start-ups reflect that.

We want to help those starving babies in Africa that our mothers told us would appreciate the Brussels sprouts left on our plates, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Hunger is bad and should be something we want to disappear. The passion and urgency we have approaching these problems is inspiring, but I’m afraid we’re doing it wrong.

In my journalism class we were required to read The Elements of Journalism by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel. Like many beginning classes, we learned the foundational necessities for journalism. But these ideas can also be useful when thinking about charity. The ideas of verification, truth, and loyalty to the citizens are good virtues to apply to life.  

Lowell Gardens Together

By Stephanie Francis

Gordon College News Service

April 24, 2013
(This article appeared April 25, 2013, in the Boston Globe, Chelmsford Your Town Site.)

Lowell, MA – Suzanne Frechette, 51, volunteered with the Coalition for a Better Acre a year before she was offered a job with them as deputy director.

On behalf of volunteer week, Frechette will join dozens from the community and from the Coalition for a Better Acre for its first “Sowing the Seeds of Community Garden Build Out Day” on Saturday, April 27. The event will take place in four garden sites in Lowell, MA. The organization is teaming up with three others to turn four vacant lots into community gardens.

“Volunteers will have the opportunity to build something beautiful that originally isn’t so beautiful,” said Frechette.

The Coalition for a Better Acre is a non-profit organization that works to better neighborhoods in Lowell through community development. They build housing, provide economic development, and work to improve voter registration.

The non-profit was one of sixteen to be awarded a grant by the Massachusetts Service Alliance (MSA) to complete a project, according to Shana Lothrop, 27, the Massachusetts Volunteer Coordinator, one of MSA’s biggest initiatives is to create service opportunities.

Landmark School Screens Documentary Debunking Myths About Dyslexia

By Tala Strauss

Gordon College News Service

April 18, 2013
(This article appeared April 22, 2013, in the print and online editions of The Gloucester Times.)

Beverly, MA—Janet Thibeau, of West Newbury, MA, believes many people misunderstand disabilities like dyslexia. Thibeau, an educational advocate and parent of two children who attend the Landmark School campus in Beverly, MA, hopes to change that.

“It’s a myth that students who struggle to read aren’t smart,” Thibeau said. “Typically such students have above average cognitive skills. Their brains just work differently.” Research labs at places like Yale and MIT are also studying the dyslexic brain to help figure out which services are effective for students, Thibeau said.

As part of an effort to raise awareness in the community about dyslexia as well as help students and families with language-based learning disabilities navigate their child’s educational path, Thibeau will join others at Landmark School’s special screening of James Redford’s documentary, “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia,” Thursday, April 25, at 7pm, at Landmark’s (second campus) Elementary and Middle School, 167 Bridge Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA.

Walking to Change Abuse in Salem

Judy Currier and her cousin, Kim, in 1998.

By Stephanie Francis

Gordon College News Service

4/4/2013
(This story appeared, April 11, 2013, in the Boston Globe, Your Town, Salem site, and May 1, 2013, in the print and online editions of The Gloucester Times.)

Salem, MA—Judy Currier, 66, still remembers when her 29-year old cousin Kim was beaten to death by her husband. Nine months after that horrific event, Currier and her family members formed a team to attend Healing Abuse Working for Change’s fundraising walk in memory of her cousin.

“We walk as a family,” said Currier. “We do it as a way to stay connected to Kim.”

On May 5, 2013, Healing Abuse Working for Change (HAWC) will host its 21^st fundraising walk and community awareness event. The event starts at the Salem Commons and registration begins at 9 a.m. HAWC was started in 1978, by a group of women who applied for a grant to stop the abuse they witnessed. Thirty-five years later, HAWC provides legal advice, hospital advocacy, an emergency hotline and children’s services among other things for those suffering from abuse.

Paula Gomez Stordy, 42, HAWC’s director of community relations, began working with the organization in 1998 when they collaborated with North Shore Medical Center to create a domestic violence program to train their workers on how to deal with patients who are, or who they suspect to be, domestically abused.

“I saw it as a great opportunity for the hospital to educate the staff,” said Gomez Stordy. 

The partnership has lasted; North Shore Medical Center has even provided sponsorship for past walks.

According to janedoe.org, the Massachusetts coalition against sexual assault and domestic violence, nearly one in two women and one in four men in Massachusetts in 2010 had experienced sexual violence victimization. Between 2003 and December of 2012, the organization identified 231 victims of domestic violence related homicides. 

Local Hazardous Waste Cleanup Gains Momentum

Beverly Committee Chair Charlie Perlo
with an exhibit.
Photo by Alanah Percy

By Alanah Percy

Gordon College News Service

April 3, 2013
(This story appeared April 11, 2013, in the Boston Globe, Your Town, Beverly site, and April 19, 2013, in the print and online editions of the Salem News.)

Beverly, MA—Sharon Kishida’s plastic bag recycling display never fails to draw the attention of visitors. As the regional recycling coordinator for the Essex County House Hazardous Waste Network, Kishida organizes recycling events to promote safe disposals of household hazardous waste. Her traveling exhibit—made from a cardboard display board and assorted bags—may appear simple at first glance but it is a helpful educational tool.

“I lend it to municipalities to educate people on how to correctly recycle unwanted plastic bags,” she said.

Kishida has teamed up with Beverly’s director of health William Burke and others to organize Beverly’s Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Day on April 20 from 8 a.m. -12 p.m. at Beverly High School. This event is opened to residents of Beverly and Salem.

“We are doing a public service,” said Burke. “Without programs like this, municipal workers are left with the bag.”

Burke says the most common hazardous waste items to be dropped off are paint, aerosol cans, household cleaners, gasoline and paint thinner. Following the event, materials will be separated by item and retrieved by Clean Harbors, a municipal waste disposal company. The company then separates materials by their hazard class and brings them to incinerators, landfills and other disposal locations.