Beans and Bread: Beyond the Soup, The Jesuit Serving It

Father Kolvenbach the head Jesuit, of all Jesuit Universities remarked the following regarding the responsibility of the faculty of Jesuit Universities is to, “…tirelessly [to] seek the truth and to form each student into a whole person of solidarity who will take responsibility for the real world.” Seems like a major responsibility on the faculty’s part not to mention the students. “…Take responsibility for the real world,” seems far beyond the ability to accomplish. When reading the remark, I asked myself: is there anyway I could come close to taking responsibility for the real world? What does Fr. Kolvenbach really mean by this? Further into the speech by Kolvenbach, I am able to see clearer what he means by “taking responsibility for the real world.” Kolvenbach quotes the GC32, “We can no longer pretend that the inequalities and injustices of our world must be borne as part of the inevitable order of things. It is now quite apparent that they are the result of what man himself, man in his selfishness, has done…” Kolvenbach is saying here that it is the small things such as regarding the injustices and refusing to give into the selfish nature we are inclined to.

Kolvenbach’s words made me feel as if I have accomplished nothing in my attempts to take “responsibility for the real world.” But then I thought about his further remark stating the quote of the GC32 that implied it was man himself, in his selfishness that created the inequalities and injustices in the world. Still a major task to accomplish, but everyone has to start somewhere. Reading this has reminded me of my day at Beans & Bread. Beans & Bread is more than a soup kitchen; rather it goes by the name “meal program.” Arriving at Beans & Bread I assumed the place to be much larger, with rows of metallic tables and matching benches, with a line opposite of huge vats of some stew that was given out sloppily on trays. I was far from my assumption. Beans & Bread is set up with little tables seating seven or less, each table covered with a brightly patterned tablecloth, a flower in the middle of the table. Only thirty-two people can be seated a time, another thirty to thirty five wait patiently on pew-like benches.

“You are to look the person in the eye when asking them if they would like more, never ask them if they are done, treat them as if you are serving them at a high-paying restaurant.” These are the words of Miss Flo, the supervising person of Beans & Bread. Her reasoning for her involvement with Beans & Bread stems from the death of her son, almost twenty years ago. Her daily inspiration, her strength comes from the people that walk through the doors at Beans & Bread, almost three hundred a day. The people who are served at Beans & Bread have all different kinds of stories. Not all are addicts, homeless, lazy, or failures. They are the unfortunate, the unlucky, the hopeful, the strong, and the courageous. They give Miss Flo the strength she needs to make it through her day, and she gives them a smile and extra helping of tuna-noodle-casserole. She treats them as family, joining in prayer with them before each meal, giving thanks, many that she shares with them, such as the simple gift of waking up to a new day.

Miss Flo is the epitome of the kind of person Fr. Kolvenbach calls us to be, responsible for the real world, unselfish, and responding to the injustices and inequalities of the world. Miss Flo characterizes the purpose and point of the Jesuit faith, she does not just forget about the unfortunate in the world, she takes care of them, treats them like people, like family. She does more than serve the needy; she attempts to eliminate the world of injustices. Just serving the people who arrived at Beans & Bread would be helping the needy, but treating them as family, as the way one would want to be treated, is the way the Jesuit people are just in riding the world of inequality.

Event Analysis: Tutoring at St. Mary's School

The service-learning event in which I participated this week helped me to reach out to others less fortunate in a way I had never before. I really felt like I was helping, learning, and inspiring others to learn simultaneously as a result of the one-on-one contact I had with the individuals. As a component of Loyola’s partnership with St. Mary’s School, Loyola students, like myself, volunteer as tutors and “homework helpers” on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays each week. Initially, I joined this activity simply as a way to get involved on campus and participate in community service, but after my first experience tutoring the children I realized that this opportunity is so much more. Interacting with the kids at St. Mary’s school is a truly rewarding experience, and one of the greatest opportunities in which I have ever participated. Although I was at St. Mary’s for a mere two hours my interaction with the children, the school, and the area helped me learn and understand a great deal about myself, my experiences in life and at Loyola, as well as the experiences of others, particularly those less fortunate. I felt that this experience was particularly inspiring because it so perfectly portrays one of Loyola’s greatest and most unique qualities, the dynamic of a small, Catholic, predominately Caucasian school in large, diverse, predominately African American city. I feel the need to admit that, when I first arrived I was slightly intimidated by the two thirteen year-old students (Diamond and Jerome), with whom I was paired, perhaps because they looked at me like I was some type of foreign specimen, or maybe because I wasn’t quite sure how to approach interaction with them. Should I try to be a friend? A teacher? A mentor? These were the types of questions flying through my head. After working with the kids for a couple of hours I realized that it was my responsibility and moral obligation to myself and the community to be all three.
Furthermore, I feel that participating in this type of volunteer serving learning is really putting the definition of Jesuit education and the motto “Men and Women For Others” into context for me. I graduated from a public high school, and although I was brought up in a Catholic household, we were the type of family that went to church about 5 times per year; Christmas, Easter, Ash Wednesday, the occasional Sunday when my dad would try to get all six of us together to do something as a family, and once a year for confession. For this reason, attending a Jesuit college was not one of my top priorities, but my experiences at Loyola thus far have proven the importance of Jesuit ideas and educating “the whole person”. My experience at St. Mary’s shed light on different lifestyles that exist in the world today, and how important this lesson in diversity is, in pursuing Jesuit higher education.
In addition, many of the literary themes we have examined in class overlap with the insight I gained and lessons I learned from my experience at St. Mary’s. When we discussed the roles of barriers in class, we concluded that they can be physical, mental, or emotional. I had to cross many of my own boundaries to interact with the kids, and they also crossed boundaries in opening up and being receptive to me. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Birthmark” also illustrates an important theme to which I can relate as a result of my experience at St. Mary’s. Essentially, The man in the story is struggling to see the beauty in a birthmark on his wife’s face, because he believes her “otherwise perfection” (pg.346) is being overshadowed by the birthmark on her face. I feel that the theme of seeing the beauty behind something unique or defining such as a “beauty mark” is also applicable to the city of Baltimore. Often, people are so caught up with the idea of rebuilding and revitalizing the city that they oversee it’s beauty, diversity, and uniqueness.
A similar theme is expressed in Jane Jacob’s “The Life And Death Of Great American Cities”, in which the author explores the characteristics and intricacies that define cities and give them personality. It is this very concept, of embracing differences and diversity that is essential to our growth as individuals and as a society. Even helping the kids with simple tasks such as math homework or practicing vocabulary, for as few as two hours, helped them because it gave them a safe place. A place where they could ask for help, learn, or just talk without being judged by classmates or many of the family-related issues they face at home. Positive and encouraging messages such as those emphasized in the Year Of The City initiative should guide or actions and words. Just like we taught the kids to let their guards down for a little bit, and give others the opportunity to help them, we should not look down upon the city of Baltimore, but embrace it. By the same token, the volunteers like myself were faced with the challenge of opening up to the children, who need guidance and support more than anything else in their lives. We had the challenge of providing an environment where the students felt an appropriate comfort level in which they would reach out for help and guidance.
Charlotte Perkins Gilman explores a similar theme in her “The Yellow Wallpaper”, because it is not uncommon for people to believe that they are helping themselves by keeping themselves away and protected from perceived “dangers”. In the piece, the narrator suffers from depression and is thus quarantined in her home by her husband for her own safety. Perhaps by shutting her away her husband is taking away her opportunity to grow, and get help. Moreover, maybe it is the fact that people are inherently close-minded and in a sense “shutting themselves away” when they cast others off of patronize people and places for their differences. It was in effectively crossing these boundaries and seeing my time spent at St. Mary’s School as a learning experience from myself also, that made this experience particularly meaningful and positive.

Then vs. Now: How Different Are They?

On Monday evening, I attended the lecture: “The City, and Cities, in Greek and Roman Cultures,” given by Doctor Mary Boatwright of the Classics Department at Duke University. This talk was based upon Greek, Hellenistic, and Roman cities (in that order). Dr. Boatwright described the different definitions the civilizations had for cities, in addition to their various characteristics over the years, and the Greek and Romans’ concepts of the “city.”
She started the lecture by defining a polis as both a “physical reality and citizens that inhbit it…[and] buildings and space [as the[ ‘urban nucleus’.” The Greeks were more focused on the “community” aspect of their cities, instead of the “physical” part. Athens, for example, had over 250,000 citizens – yet everyone knew each other and benefited from the Empire. Although they did care greatly about the physical layouts of their cities, they were able to recognize the “transient” nature of the physicality, and therefore to realize the importance of community.
As the Greeks began to colonize in the 8th Century B.C., they continued to emphasize community, their people from displacing, and loyalty to the homeland. They developed democracy and large political units. Their communities were so tightly knit, that in order to be considered an “Athenian,” one must have both and Athenian Mother and Father.
The Hellenistic Kings, on the other hand, were focused on constructing many building in the cities they controlled. They placed much importance on the physical components. Their main goal was to enhance the city as merely a physical attraction.
Finally, Rome also focused on the “physical” definition of cities. They were interested in having the best material ammentitie possible. Camillus’ speech was proff of that – discussing the hills, rivers, bridges and monuments. They cared about the place, more than the actual community – which greatly contrasts with the Greek definition – which was the polar opposite. As the Roman Empire expanded throughout the world, the newly conquered “Romans” allied with Rome and the motherland, and were considered Romans (also unlike the Athenians). Throughout the years, their focus remained on the physicality; this is obviously seen through items such as the monuments, coins, lamps etc. They continued with this methodology beyond their own city, and into their two thousand provinces throughout the world.
Finally, Dr. Boatwright incorporated a modern day example – New Orleans. She brought up the city’s devastation and demoralization, and raised the question of whether or not the city should be restored to the original; if so, would it have the same charm? If not, what would that say about America?
This lecture went very well with the theme of The Year of the City. Today, I feel that both definitions of the city are seen, but even more than ever – the importance of the Community aspect is clear. We, as a society must acknowledge this. Over the past few years, with disasters such as Hurricanes and the Terrorist Attacks, we have seen the transience of the physicality. Although beautiful buildings and monuments are definitely important and nice to see, they are not really the essence of the cities. As Jane Jacobs said, and Dr. Boatwright quoted in her lecture, it is “not the urban building…[but it is] all of its inhabitants, and all of them matter.” It is mind-boggling to think about how the definitions that the Ancient civilizations had for the city thousands of years ago still apply to us today. Watching their actions definitely could help us to handle our problems and hopefully learn from their mistakes. Conveniently, all of this fits in with our class theme, and many of our readings – especially the passage from Jane Jacobs.
In conclusion, this lecture reinforced how vital strong communities (especially within overwhelmingly large cities) are, and how our relationships with those around us and how we treat them is extremely important.

This past Saturday I attended Mission: Mobtown, a little trip that is run by Loyola. Each month the Mission: Mobtown group brings about 25 students into a different section of Baltimore hoping that each student will be able to learn more about it. This past Saturday we traveled to Federal Hill.
Students are broken up into small groups and given a question to answer. The question should be answered by walking around and asking locals what they believe to be the answer. Our question was “How have waves influenced Federal Hill?” Immediately my group and I were very confused. Waves? What type of waves are they talking about? We decided to just start walking to see what we could find.
The first place that struck our eyes was a church that was founded in the 1800s by the first settlers of Federal Hill. The settlers sailed over on a “floating church” and when they landed they made a stationary church in Federal Hill. My group mates and I decided the Church most likely had significance with waves because of the physical waves of the ocean and bay. We still wondered if there was more of an underlying meaning of the word “waves.”
We went to several other places throughout our hour and a half time slot. We went into Porter’s Pub where we learned even more of the significance of waves regarding the water. Federal Hill was very reliant of the water when people first settled there and even to this day there is a lot of communication with the water.
It wasn’t until we got further into the actual little town of Federal Hill did we find out the other meaning of “waves.” We found out this information from residents who have been living here almost all their lives. Owners of the tobacco store and pharmacy as well as venders in the market all had the same story about how Federal Hill has changed throughout the years.
When Federal Hill was first settled to about thirty years ago it was solely a family town. Many had the typical family situation, with the father going to work and the mother staying home to cook dinner and look after the children. It was not very expensive to live in Federal Hill, many middle and lower class families could afford to reside there.
However, over the years the trend of residents has greatly changed. Instead of families, Federal Hill has mostly “yuppies” or “dinks” (double income, no kids.) There are many newly wed couples without kids because they enjoy the nightlife that Federal Hill has to offer. But when it is time to start a family they move out because they would like a town with bigger backyards and more children friendly. The prices of the homes have increased greatly as well, with most in the high six figures.
This change or “wave” in residents has many of the older generations greatly distressed. The lack of stay at home mothers and non-working adults has changed quite dramatically and the vendors of the markets lost much of their business. The amount of couples staying home and cooking a meal has greatly decreased, so the need for fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, etc. is no longer. This causes the venders’ business to greatly decline, one man told us the number of stands for each type of food has greatly changed, instead of 6 fruit stands there are two, and they don’t even need to have that many.
By going on Mission: Mobtown I was able to educate myself within the community, and learn about a place I did not know anything about. The Jesuit way of life involves educating the whole person, in every aspect. I participated in this way of life by going on Mission: Mobtown and educating my whole person. My soul and mind were educated by talking to each of the residents of Federal Hill, and learning about the town; how it is now and how it was before the great “wave” of change occurred. It was a great experience that I hope to have again so I can further my education of Baltimore.

Volunteering for St. Elizabeth's

I recently started volunteering at St. Elizabeth’s school in Baltimore. St. Elizabeth’s is a school for teenagers and young adults with special needs. I have signed up to volunteer my time once a week for two hours to assist in different classes. My first experience there was quit interesting. I had a rough start, but finish the day successfully. I was extremely nervous and had no idea what to expect.
My experience started off a little rocky because I was in a car accident on the way to the school. I side swiped with another car right in front of St. Elizabeth's. I was extremely upset and was not sure if I wanted to volunteer that day. It turned out the woman I was in the crash with was one of the teachers I was volunteering for. I was very nervous because it was not a good first impression. Finally when everything settled down I decided to go in and start to help. I am so happy I did because I had such a great experience.
The first class I went to was reading. The students were reading little passages about sports and I was told to help the students sound out words. I helped by sounding out each word. I also helped by going over the sound each letter of the alphabet made. It was a little frustrating that most of them could not get it right away, but once I tried to be a little more patient with them, I saw positive results!
The next class I helped out with was writing. On Friday’s the children play all different types of games. This week the game we played was Wheel of Fortune. It was extremely challenging because all of the kids had various disability. Some looked as if nothing was wrong, where as others were in wheel chairs or had physical deformities. The teacher asked me if I could help the children distinguish vowels from consents. I found it extremely difficult to get their attention. After patient and continuous efforts though, I felt as if I was making a difference. I made good friends with a little boy named Bryan and it turned out he won the game. I was having so much fun when all of the sudden the bell rang for the next period.
After writing I went to a social studies class. Some students were coloring different countries flags, while others were trying to locate different states on our map. For this class I was assigned to help one individual. Chase is sixteen years old and he is autistic. He gets very frustrated when he does not understand things and his teacher explained that is very important to spend one on one time with him. He was having trouble locating different states on a map. He keep telling me that he could not do it and was never going to be able to find the states. I helped him remember the locations by little tricks I was taught when I was little. He started to catch on after awhile and was definitely improving! It made me feel so good that I was making a difference.
Father Kolvenbach speech illustrated many points that I hope to convey through my volunteering experience. I definitely agree with his statement that Solidarity is learned through “contact” rather than “concept” (Kolvenbach, 3). I found this especially true with my experiences with St. Elizabeth’s students. I did not realize what it was like to help special needs children until I actually did it!
This job was extremely challenging, but was worth all the work. It took patient and I loved every minute of it. While I was there to help educate the students I found that they taught me a great deal about life. I learned that sometimes patient is the key to learning. I also saw that I can truly make a difference in the lives of those who may be less fortunate than me. When I went back to Loyola I had all kinds of feelings running through my body. It felt good to make a difference and I knew this was the volunteer opportunity for me!

Within the Loyola College and Jesuit tradition, students are taught to surpass expectations of regular college life by immersing themselves into every aspect of Baltimore City. As a part of certain educational and personal goals, students are called upon by the Jesuit belief, as reinforced in Fr. Peter Ham Kolvenbach’s piece “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in Jesuit Higher Education,” to become active members of the community and well-educated human beings. Saint Ignatius stood by the belief that love should be expressed “not only in words but also in deeds” and in doing my part, I volunteer at the Infant Care Unit at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.
Becoming an adult in society, I realize that it is the beginning of my time to work to shape the world around me. Along with the education I receive at Loyola I am also beginning to feel an “educated awareness of society and culture,” (34) as well as, an insight into the “gritty reality of this world” (34). My time in Baltimore has been my first, true city-living experience. I now understand and am able to see the presence of many injustices within the city and society. Using the skills that I have, I know that I must do my part to make right, the wrongs.
For many years, it has been my goal to help others who struggle with their physical and mental health—ultimately I would like to become a pediatrician. As I am learning about my responsibilities to the city and to the world, I have decided to begin this journey the Mt Washington Pediatric Hospital. During the past four months as a volunteer, I have had the opportunity to help those who have not been fortunate enough to have the kind of physical health with which I have been blessed. Specifically, I work with the infants; some are living with the help of ventilators, some are the victims of neglectful parenting and drug problems, and others are recovering from extensive surgeries. No matter their situation, each child receives equal care and support. As a volunteer, I bring toys to the children, play with them, help them to accomplish their prescribed sensory goals, and sometimes it is nice to just hold them.
With every air whisper of the ventilator machines and beep of the heart rate monitors, the staff and volunteers breathe a sigh of relief, as it touches our hearts to see that the children are doing well. As Fr. Kolvenbach suggests, “when the heart is touched by direct experience, the mind may be challenged to change. Personal involvement with innocent suffering, with the injustice others suffer, is the catalyst for solidarity which then gives rise to intellectual inquiry and moral reflection” (34). Recently, I had the chance to hold a crying, shaking baby. I suspected through my previous knowledge that this child was born of a woman who had been using certain substances that had caused harm to her unborn child. Having the small, innocent child in my arms truly made me realize my fortunes as well as the things that needed to be fixed in the community.
My experiences at the hospital have deepened my understanding of the Jesuit tradition and my connection to the city. Working within a hospital environment, I have been able to see a place that has no boundaries or boarders. Sickness is not something that only affects the poor or the minorities, instead it can affect anyone. With the lessons that I have learned at the hospital and Loyola in mind, I can go on to other projects with the same goal—turning my beliefs into actions.

Event Analysis

More Than A Dinner: A Way of Life
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic group that uses education as a cornerstone of their mission. I have had the pleasure of attending Jesuit institutions for the past five years and I have known many amazing friends who were Jesuits and aided and shared in my endeavors as a young adult. The Dinner with the Jesuits was an excellent opportunity for me to meet the Jesuits of Loyola College and further my understanding of the Jesuit teachings that are discussed in Peter-Ham Kolvenbach, S.J.’s The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education.
My high school days were filled with Jesuits of all different kinds, and I had developed relationships with many great people that were in the Jesuit residence at St. Ignatius in Cleveland, Ohio; however, I was still timid to meet the Jesuits of Loyola. They were more than welcoming. The Jesuits are well known for educating young men and women into intellectually competent and caring people. Talking to the Jesuits of Loyola College, it is more than apparent that the Jesuits embody their mission and are great role models for the students and faculty of Loyola. However, at the same time as they embody the Jesuit mission, they are in no way intimidating to the less than religious student in search of a free meal. The dinner was one of completely casual conversation.
Once I began to speak with the Jesuits, young and old, I was able to easily relate to them in many ways. We talked about the bells, the chimes, modern-day music, and the weather. Some of the Jesuits were acquainted with my high school teachers and administrators and it made me feel very comfortable that they knew people from my previous home. I hope that the Jesuits at Loyola College are people that I can soon associate with my new home here in Baltimore.
The aspects of service and faith in the Society of Jesus that are emphasized in Kolvenbach’s writings were topics that were touched upon during my conversations, but topics that I reflect on more and more as I write this paper. During the dinner, we watched a video of Jesuits out in the world, many of which I have met or know, but this made me think of my own faith and my own values. I have not been doing the service and practicing the faith that I did during my high school years. I miss the feeling that I had after helping people, and I realize that the Jesuits here are active in service and the students are more than willing to serve. Especially in this Year of the City, I need to reach out and serve with the Jesuit theology in mind. The Jesuits live to serve. They serve the students and the community. St. Ignatius wishes that they be “roving missionaries” to the world, and I only pray that I can strive towards any form of mission work during my time at Loyola College.
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic group that serves people everyday, and charity is a cornerstone of their mission. I feel cheated to be using a simple, free dinner as an event worthy of reflection, but I now realize what I am called to do. The Jesuit way of life is not something I must embody, but acknowledge and consider. A way of life that involves learning, sharing, teaching, and caring. While this jargon is self-motivating, I know that actions speak louder than words. The Year of the City means that I need to go out and make charity and education a cornerstone of my life.

Last Saturday, I had the great fortune to attend Mission: Mobtown in Federal Hill. Taking my afternoon, I traveled to Federal Hill, near the Inner Harbor, and was given a mission. My specific mission was to find out how color is defined within the area. Through talking to residents, taking photos, and having team discussions, my group successfully completed our mission. Along with multiple other teams, each with different missions, the twenty-five of us learned about Federal Hill from the inside out.
Federal Hill’s definition of color is not in its most literal sense of the term, but rather, in the variations found in the neighborhood. Upon questioning many residents, the answer was that it was the people and not actual presence of color that were the most colorful aspect. Residents from all different ways of life congregate in this one area with many differences between them. They are people of different ages, races, and style all living within a few blocks of each other.
At one point in the afternoon, I entered the Cross Street Market; inside I found hundreds of people and an overwhelming number of things to absorb. There were fruit vendors, flower stalls, cases of Italian pastries, mixing essences of food, and a bar at the very end. Through experiencing all of this, I realized that many of the things that I surround myself with were created through the human imagination. All of the luxuries in my life—clothing, electricity, running water—are all inventions of the mind. The mind is a very powerful thing and can lead to great human pleasure or suffering, depending on how one uses it.
Within Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s piece, The Yellow Wallpaper, the negative side of human imagination is avidly portrayed. A young, married woman is severely afflicted by an imbalance in her mind. Living in an unfamiliar, new house, she is forced by her husband to live in her least favorite room. This room, being on the top floor of the house, has bright yellow and orange wallpaper. Once used as a nursery and playroom, there are bars on the windows and ripped wallpaper from the walls. Over the three months that the wife lives in the room, she personifies the paper within her mind. Her imagination leads her to believe that first-off she is very ill, then secondly that there are two layers to the hideous paper: the first layer being the physical paper itself and the second being a woman who is trapped beneath it. This woman frees herself during the day to “creep” around outside in broad daylight, yet spends her nights attempting to shake off the first layer of paper. Throughout the main characters time that she spends in the room, she starts comparing herself to the woman. At the end of the three months, she herself is the woman trapped behind the paper, but, ironically, it’s in her own mind that she is trapped. Her imagination is so lively that it has gotten the best of her. She falls into a serious state of delusion and it seems that she would never recover from it.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, vividly describes the relationship of a man and woman. The man, begin a well-proclaimed scientist, has an obsession with a mark on the face of his wife, a natural beauty. Upon their meeting, the mark was something that Aylmer, the scientist, could over look but, day-by-day, as their relationship deepened; it became the thorn between the couple. Once again, as shown in The Yellow Wallpaper, Aylmer’s imagination drove him to madness. Though his love for his wife should have overlooked her imperfection, he saw it as something that he could not love. His imagination led him to nightmares about the red spot reaching all the way down into her heart and being. He finally reached the point that he could not longer take the sight of the mark, so, in turn; he created a potion to rid his wife of its hideousness. The wife did as she was told and affectively lost the mark, but with it went her life. Had Aylmer been able to look beyond what was on the surface, he would have grown old with his wife, but instead, lost both her and the cause for his insanity.
The human imagination is a very powerful element that can lead to many various events in one’s life. In the case of the presence of Federal Hill, the imagination lead to the creation of a great neighborhood; a neighborhood that varies in culture and people. Conversely, the human imagination can lead an individual person to insanity. Within a lot of prose, the imagination is personified into an aspect that causes great pain and suffering; it’s something that makes life and art much more interesting.

A Great Portrayal of a Harsh Reality

On Saturday, January 27th, I attended the play Wit that was put on at McManus Theatre by the Spotlight Players of Loyola College. This play took the audience along on a journey following Dr. Vivian Bearing’s battle with stage four ovarian cancer.
The play began with the main character, Dr. Bearing, coming out in a hospital gown, which she wore throughout the whole play. She told of how she deeply loved and obsessed over her work, the study of abstract poetry and most notably and foremost the study of the poet John Donne who lived from 1572-1631.
John Donne’s work has been the main focus of her life thus far. Fittingly, she teaches the most difficult and challenging class at Harvard University; abstract poetry. Throughout her struggle with ovarian cancer she relates to what has now become a very significant and relative poem by John Donne called Death Be Not Proud. One line in the poem was repeated many times, driving home its significance: “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.”
Dr. Vivian Bearing comes off as a very hard-skinned women that does not appear to have many close friends and was never married. This was made evident in the play when she was first diagnosed with her cancer; only one person ever visited her, and that was right before her death.
The doctors working on Dr. Bearing’s case suggested a radical and experimental new treatment option for her. Other doctors had tried to undertake the new treatment but the patient always gave in to lesser treatment; this treatment is very prolonged and painful. However, Dr. Bearing decides that she will go through with the treatment and that she will not give up on any account. The treatment involves heavy cases of chemotherapy that will cause the Dr. to not only lose her hair and lose weight, but will cause her to be constantly fatigued and she will not be as sharp as she used to be during the treatment.
This play was extremely difficult for me to watch; I lost two close friends in high school to cancer. One of these friends died shortly after we moved up to ninth grade of a cancerous brain tumor and the other died a few weeks after I came to Loyola. In both instances, they had to undertake extremely painful and deteriorating chemotherapy that left them mere shadows of their former selves. Reliving the pain of watching someone slowly deteriorate into nothingness was difficult, yet the play was extremely accurate with it’s perception of how a person changes.
In the end of the play, Dr. Bearing’s cancer does not go away but instead it spreads to other parts of her body; she will die very soon after this. Knowing that she has no hope, she signs a “DNR” so that she will not have to go through more pain than she already has.
Watching the story of this Dr. who was so caught up in her work that it seemed she really never got a chance to live her life to the fullest reminded me of the situation my friends were in, however Dr. Bearing at least had fifty or so years to live. Watching her die alone, with no husband or children or even family besides her was a true tragedy. I believe the story of the play is to not get so caught up in work that you ignore what is truly important in life; you never know how much time you truly have left.

Rome Wasn't Built in a Day

This past Monday, Mary T. Boatwright, a professor at Duke University, gave a speech here at Loyola entitled, “The City, and Cities, in Greek and Roman Cultures”. This was the first of many lectures in this semester’s Humanities Symposium. Professor Boatwright’s talk addressed great cities of the past and compared them to the remarkable cities in the present day.

Athens, Rome, and Sparta were the powerful cities of the past that were also the focal points of the lecture. A central ideal that was shared by the three cities was that without people, a city does not thrive- it in fact dies. The idea of one unit and one community was a key Roman and Greek value. Both Greek and Roman cities had common structural and moral foundation. There was a nucleated built center of the city where people would meet for politics and also for social interactions. Buildings that were constructed embodied Greek or Roman power. These buildings defined the cities back then and still today. There was a sense of Roman or Greek pride that was felt within the city and also in colonies established by their respected empire.

However, even though these cities had a strong foundation of community and structure, there was corruption and other downfalls. Some city leaders possessed too much power. These actions sometimes tore the city community apart. People were occasionally displaced from their homes due to tyrannical rule. Also, the structure, which included massive amphitheaters, coliseums, and political buildings, caused boundaries within the tightly knit community. These ancient cities served as blueprints for cities in the future and there was always the possibility for negatives along with the positives.

This lecture of Greek and Roman cities, as well as culture, can be linked to many of the readings we have discussed thus far. Also, the pros and cons of these cities in the past can also be linked to many cities in the 21st century.

Jane Jacobs’, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is the focal point for the Humanities Symposium. When attending the first lecture, I could relate many of the flaws that Jacobs’ saw in great American cities to Athens, Rome, and Sparta. I could also relate the downfalls that these ancient cities faced to both Philadelphia, a city that I have known since I was born, and also to Baltimore, a city that I growing a greater understanding for.

American cities today do not function as a well knit community. Today, people are caught up with professional careers, sports, and family life that there are not as many meeting in the town square for a chat about politics. There are barriers, which can separate a city according to Jacobs. These barriers can include buildings, harbors, bridges, and campuses. In every city, there are homeless people, people who have been displaced from their homes. The negatives of the past can always come back to haunt the present.

Yet, where there are flaws, there are positives. People living in an American city today have their acquaintances and meet strangers everyday. It might not be tight knit community, but people in a city do have a sense of belonging. The Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, and the Space Needle; these are just a few of many building that help define a city (especially New York and Seattle). A city hall and other major political buildings are found in the center of a city. Nothing brings more city pride than when a sports team has made the playoffs. September 11th was probably the greatest display of pride during our generation. Not only was there the pride of 8 million inhabitants of New York City, but that even cause national pride and unity as well. Whether you are living back in 1st century or currently live in the 21st century, parallels between that past and present are innumerable.

As an established civilization, we can take a lot from the past. People should step outside of their comfort zone and experience the world around them. Barriers should not hinder knowledge. One should take pride in where they live and get to know why their city has continued to flourish for so long. Without the past, there would be no future. We can learn so much from Athens, Sparta, Rome, Philadelphia and Baltimore, all we have to do is just open our eyes and experience something new.

Leadership and Jesuits

I never really considered myself a leader. I knew that if I need to be in charge of a group of people I could manage but when I think of the word leader I am the furthest example from my mind. So when Chris Lowney told us all to ask each other who we considered a leader and why, I immediately thought of teachers because teachers help people advance in life while helping them to transform into better people just like a leader. After a few minutes he stopped the discussion and asked if anybody mentioned themselves. I thought that’s an absurd question who would mention themselves unless they were really arrogant. He continued by saying everybody expects somebody else to be a leader and that is the main reason why there is a small number of leaders in the world. He concluded his introductory by stating anybody can be a great leader if they know how to become a good leader.

The former Jesuit priest and author of Heroic Leadership said the most important rule of being a leader is to love the people who you are leading. Lowney then mentioned there are four steps to being a great leader and these steps. The first step is know yourself, the second ingenuity and willingness to adapt, the third heroism and finally love. These steps are hard for most adults to master and many have failed but I know that if I try to follow and live my life through these steps I will be able to become a great leader.

Another great point that Lowney made was people who are agile and have faced failure are the best leaders. They know how to bounce back, adapt and conform to a quick change without panicking. In the excerpt from Peter- Ham Kolvenbach’s book he shows that students at Jesuit universities are very multi- dimensional and agile because of the core. Lowney talks about community and group settings as the back bone of a successful leader. Even though part of being a good leader deals with self awareness the people who support and work with you are just as important to the leader. I agreed with Lowney when he mentioned that good teams deal with people who realize it’s not all about me. Putting aside self opinions, bias and beliefs and putting the people first is the reason why some groups/ leaders are more successful than others. I think the Jesuits do a great example of this type of leadership. Jesuits are known for not pushing their religion and beliefs onto people but rather caring about the well being of others.

I was not expecting this lecture to have such a big impact on me. Since attending this lecture I have been inspired to be a leader and work for the well being of others like the Jesuits. At the beginning I didn’t understand the significance of Year of the City but now I understand that the Year of the City has a deep root with the Jesuit beliefs. The Year of the City allows students to follow in the steps of the Jesuits and help the community of Baltimore. This lecture showed me that leadership is not only important in my future but also right now at Loyola; by becoming a leader at Loyola and following the Jesuits example I will be able to learn, reach out and help others as I grow and move on to bigger and better things outside of Loyola.

Mark Jarman Reading

I attended the Mark Jarman reading for my first year of the city event. He is a very accomplished poet with several published books and numerous awards. His newest collection, "To the Green Man," is the collection that he read from. Mark Jarman places religious faith in the center of most of his poems. This collection is a special one, because it was written before, during, and after the events of 9-11. We can actually see the changing of tones and types of poems in the book from this event.
Mark Jarman read eleven poems from his newest collection at this reading. The main focus was on religion and the theme of parents with their children, and wanteing to hold on to the paradise which is being expelled.
Jarman picked out one poem in particular, because it dealt with city life, to relate to our own year of the city. This poem, entitled Dialect, was inspired from a radio talk show. When Mark was trying to find out where the accents were from he realized it was from a city very close to his in California. This poem was a response to this as well as the '92 riots. He lived in a very small middle-class town with anglos, hispanics, asians, and a black family. There was also a missle base in his town from where they looked out on a hill to watch the riots in the inland cities. He also talks about the value growth of property in this poem.
When i was listening to the poem it made me realize how similar cities are regardless of where they are located. All have mixed races and their own accents. They also all have events which occurred in or around them which really sparks the interest of the inhabitants.
When such events like the riot described in this poem, or 9-11 which changed the ideas and tones of his poems, occur it makes people stop for a second and think. Usually when horrible things like this happen everybody wants to help and come together for the sake of their city. This is great and all, but it does not last forever. We need to find a way to want to get the best out of our city all the time; inluding helping the homeless and rebuilding broken down areas.
This event relates to the poem by William Wordsworth in one way because they are all poems. The poem, I wandered Lonely as a Cloud, by Wordsworth relates to Jarman's pre-9-11 works, because it is about things in nature and has a nice feeling to it. They both relate the things around them and how they affect their world. For instance Jarman with his daughters and the author and the flowers and nature in general.
The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a short story about a sick woman who basically goes crazy trying to figure out the pattern in the wallpaper. In his reading Jarman referred to his daughters and how he wants to protect them quite frequently. This is just like John in the story in reaction to his wife. Not only is he a physician, he is her husband. All he wants to do is make her feel better and make sure she gets all the rest possible to help her heal. The problem with the wife was that she would act better and feel better when he was around, but when he was not she really was not well at all. She basically put herself into emotional illness by studying this wallpaper day and night. I think it was to mask her physical illness and give her something that was all hers to do. John may have pushed to hard for her well-being, just like Mark Jarman says there is a point in your life where you have to forgive your loved ones and let them go. Jarman makes that point in his poem The Wind.
The last work we had to read was the story, The Birthmark, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This is a story about a scientist, Aylmer and his obsession to perfect is almost perfect wife, Georgiana, by removing a hand shaped birthmark on her cheek. He actually becomes so needing to remove it that he makes a formula which in turn kills her as the last bit of the birthmark fades. This story makes me think of the poem Outside by Jarman. This poem is about the garden of Eden, but this time around God says there are no forbidden fruits, so they can do whatever they want. This first thing they try to do is escape, because they hear there is a wall and feel too cramped. Then they eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge to help them understand that there is no wall. Then they eat a fruit from the tree of forgetfullness and forget eveything. This makes me think of Hawthorne's story, because the scientest is trying so hard to play the hands of God in getting rid of this birthmark on his beloved's face. When he is too knowledgeable about how to do this he ends up killing here with what he created.
The main focus of these stories and events is to realize that there limitations to relationships between people. When a relationship between two people is too focused on protection and perfection it actually leads to demise. Just like with a city, the people have to make sure there is enough effort put into the well-being of the city, but when people focus too much on perfecting it it almost becomes an impossible thing to achieve. People have to learn to start small and then progress from there.

Our Daily Bread

Community service, in my opinion is an experience that everyone should at some point in their lives partake in. The lessons a person can take from these types of experiences are those that cannot be taught in a classroom. Every time I have volunteered somewhere, I left with a new sense of appreciation for life and increased my desire to help people, animals, or nature in any way possible. In order to fully take advantage of the ideals of a Jesuit education, I volunteered at Our Daily Bread. The lessons gained from community service are priceless and some of the most meaningful information and feelings you will ever learn.
Our Daily Bread was an amazing experience. It is different from many other soup kitchens in that the people do not stand in a line and serve themselves as they would in a buffet type setting. Rather, they sat down at tables, every few tables making up a section. The volunteers were assigned to sections and everyone had different jobs. There were helpers to hand out the bread, take orders (whether they wanted the vegetarian or other meal), hand out the meal, clean up when they were done, and to reset the area for a new person to come. Everyone that interacted with the people that came were asked to address them by calling them “ma’am” or “sir”.
At Our Daily Bread, I learned many lessons, some of which were hard to accept. I used to be ignorant in the fact that I thought the people who went to soup kitchens were all homeless and many of them had some sort of addiction. I know now, however, that those assumptions were wrong and extremely critical of me. Initially, it surprised me to hear that most of the people that went there had somewhere to live. But then, I thought about it and realized that at the end of the month, when rent is due, it makes sense that people could be a little short on money.
The people that affected me the most seeing there were families and those with mental illnesses. To see a young child or a baby there was particularly upsetting to me. I felt guilty having the luxuries that I do, when these infants did not even have a guaranteed meal everyday. It is horrible to see first hand someone so young possibly having their only real meal of the day at a soup kitchen. It was interesting to me to hear from the people that worked in the family section that many parents would not let their child take a free book. That, to me, shows that these people keep their dignity and do not want to have to live off of charity all the time. It must be incredibly hard for the parents to not be able to provide their own kids with a meal. In addition to the families that came, to see people with mental illnesses there effected me incredibly. Knowing that many people with diseases that not much can be done about living on the streets is extremely sad and it is disturbing to witness this downfall in our society. Before hearing this from the lady in charge at Our Daily Bread, it was hard to acknowledge and truly comprehend that not everyone with emotional troubles has a support system like the one many others are provided by their family. Working there with these people just made the experience that much more meaningful and worthwhile to me.
Volunteering at Our Daily Bread was a life enhancing event for me. The way it was set up to make you really interact with the people was amazing and I feel like it really made the atmosphere much more pleasant for both the workers and the customers. It must have been nice for the customers to be waited on and respected. I am sure by the way the acted towards us that they really appreciated everything they got. I also thought it was great how all of the volunteers had to call the people who came in “sir” and “miss”. Our Daily Bread is an amazing place for both the people who come in to eat, as well as the people who go there to help. The overall mood of the place is one that is appreciated by everyone who walks through those doors.

Recognizing and Embracing Reality

Last week I attended the Jesuit FAC attack where children from local Nativity Schools came to just have fun and play games in the FAC. Although this was not Loyola students going out into the city, it was still an interesting way to interact with the children of the city. I think this demonstrated an important ideal that not only should people being going out into the city to help the poor, to help the less fortunate, but also we should reach out and welcome them into our community. I think this is very important to keep this balance because I think that having the relationship both ways is the only way that the relationship will last and be effective. While observing these kids I was observing part of the city in a foreign and strange environment. I think that by bringing these children in it only helped to strengthen the link between Loyola and the city of Baltimore, I think the kids really felt welcome and were having fun experiencing our view of the city while we viewed them. I thought that the kids would be more in awe of the situation and place. I used to tour inner-city kids from Hartford around our school and their reaction was always awe and amazement. But it seemed that these kids were just really happy to be there than amazed that they were there. I think this shows that the bond between Baltimore and Loyola is strengthening because these kids are not scared to enter our community. It really showed me their adventurous nature and bravery, because there are still college students and adults that are afraid to go into the city, but these children embraced our community and they really showed me what it meant to reach out and expand beyond your own horizons.
This experience related really well to Rev. Kolvenbach'’s speech about The Service of Faith and Promotion of Justice in Jesuit Higher Education as well as the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charlotte Perkins Gilman. That is, that one needs to and must have the ability to accept reality. Rev. Kolvenbach states that students must "...“let the gritty reality of this world into their lives, so they can learn to feel it, think about it critically, respond to its suffering and engage it constructively" (pg. 34), emphasizing the fact that students can’t just sit back and watch reality they need to experience reality and get involved even if it isn'’t the perfect world that they had imagined. This idea of reality and the acceptance of reality are also present in Nathaniel Hawthorne'’s "The Birthmark"” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman'’s "“The Yellow Wallpaper"”. In both of these stories the husbands lose touch with reality and refuse to see their wives as who they are. In Hawthorne'’s story, the husband's goal is to make his wife more beautiful than she already is, and in Gilman'’s the husband is trying relentlessly to cure his wife of depression. Both of these men think that there is an instant cure, and instant fix to the reality of their wives lives.
This idea of an instant fix is an important aspect to look at when we look at fixing the City of Baltimore, or integrating the Loyola community into the city. It is important to recognize the reality that this will not happen quickly and will not happen as fast as anyone would like it to. It needs to be done in small steps, such as bringing children from neighborhood schools to Loyola just to play some games with students. These small steps are what are going to bring the city into Loyola and also put Loyola into the city.

The Significance of Boundaries

The Whale Rider, the assortment of poems, and Jane Jacobs’ story, though very different works, do share the theme of containing different types of borders and boundaries.
To start off, the Whale Rider was not only an emotional story, but it was also very realistic. It portrayed the discrimination which women faced in one society, and how there were certain boundaries that could not be crossed by the tribe members, particularly the women. It was also interesting to see the great emphasis placed on tradition by the Maori people, and Koro (the tribe leader), in particular.
Jane Jacobs’ story – “The Death and Life Great American Cities” is more about physical boundaries. More specifically – the physical boundaries within cities (New York) – such as railroad tracks, parks, schools / universities, museums and waterfronts. She discusses how the borders gradually create vacuums within the city which spread further and further into it, sucking the vitality out of the city. These perimeters become so desolated and useless, that something must be done to prevent the destruction of the city. The solution which the author presents is to convert these borders into “seams.”
Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall’ is also about physical boundaries – the fence built between two neighbors. He says that “good fences make good neighbors.” To me, this is saying that although it may seem as though walls and fences divide people (neighbors), they’re existence ultimately results in better friendships
Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem “The Game” contains yet another spin on boundaries and limits. The young, disabled girl is prevented from leading a “normal” life. Her disease prevents her from going to school and participating in other childlike activities. She got beyond said boundaries by playing games such as family, which she could physically handle.
Finally, Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” describes the skills possessed by successful basketball players, and their suave actions throughout the games. The game of basketball, and its participants also are restricted by its boundaries, which they cannot cross, and also physical boundaries - which prevent them from crossing their own limits.
Although different types of reading, with different main points and ideas, these works were all interesting, and did tie in the theme of having boundaries and the effects of them – physical or mental.

Bounderies and Borders, Good or Bad?

Limiting, dividing, and separating, borders and boundaries are known for keeping people apart. Not many think of borders or boundaries in a positive light, only under the circumstance they are removed. If boundaries only exist under negative situations, then why are they present everywhere in the world? Why do people put up so many boundaries both tangible and invisible? There are many possible answers to this question, one that is discussed in not only Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, but also Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, & Hook,” Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “The Game,” and Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In all four literary works the possible answer for why people put up boundaries or borders in life is that they are trying to keep something out, hence filtering what is allowed or who is allowed into their lives. But while doing so, as the authors point out, people also filter out things or people which they need in their lives, but are too busy constructing these borders to realize that in the process they are actually doing more harm than good.
“Good fences make good neighbors,” a line repeated by the neighbor in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, makes one wonder if the statement is true. Does good fences make good neighbors? And if so why? While in this situation a fence or boundary between two neighbors is primarily used for privacy, could there not be more behind it? Frost remarks shortly after, “Before I built a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out, and to whom I was like to give offense.” Here Frost blatantly points out that sometimes a wall, border, or in this case a fence can retain good, such as privacy, but also “create offense.” Maybe without the fence as Frost implies, he could better understand his neighbor and get to know who inhabits the house next door, which may be better than having complete privacy. For what is more important to Frost is not the actual fence, but the reasoning for its existence, what is the neighbor trying to keep him out, or what is he trying to keep in?
While Frost gives an example of a border in the tangible sense, for Yusef Komunyakkaa borders can also be invisible. Similar to tangible borders, invisible borders can also be used as a tool to filter what people allow into their lives, sometimes neglecting important things that they may need. In the poem “Slam, Dunk & Hook,” Komunyakaa describes the skill, desire, and dedication of the character Sonny Boy, in the game of basketball. With great agility Sonny Boy dominates the game of basketball, but for him basketball is more than a game, it’s a way to escape. Komunyakka remarks, “When Sonny Boy’s mama died he played nonstop all day, so hard our backboard splintered.” For Sonny Boy his life is filled of borders. He only allows basketball to be in his life, thus only focusing on it, hoping it would allow him to escape from the reality of his loss. But while setting up this borders, he may also be doing more harm, for how is he to grieve the loss of his mother if he will not even confront it?
Sometimes borders or boundaries are created without them being intentional. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem “The Game,” a child named Cruz lives a life full of boundaries that were created because she was born a humpbacked girl. But she herself also creates invisible boundaries, escaping to her own world where she lives without her disability. Cofer explains how she enjoyed playing house where “..she laughed delighted at my inventions, lost in the game, until it started getting too late to play pretend.” Cruz set up a border between reality and “pretend” escaping to the pretend where her disability did not exist.
Boundaries or borders in the sense of “stretched-out use of territory” in cities are created unintentionally, but also tend to create more harm than filtering out what people do not want. In Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jacobs describes borders as “destructive” in cities, being as they create separation and division, causing a limit on diversity. Jacobs also adds on the topic of division, “This is serious, because literal and continuous mingling of people, present because of different purposes, is the only devise that keeps streets safe. It is the only device that cultivates secondary diversity.” Not only do boundaries limit diversity and mingling of city dwellers, but is also causes a safety issue as well.
For many boundaries and borders at first may seem like a good idea, allowing people to choose what they want and what they do not want present in their lives. But people get too caught up in defending and constructing their boundaries that they remain unaware of what they are keeping out of their lives.

Borders and human relationships

In Robert Frost’s Mending Wall, the speaker talks about the idea of the walls and barriers people put up in their life, even if it isn’t necessary. The first eleven lines he uses to describe the wall and walls that existed throughout history. The speaker mentions how the wall separates him from his neighbor but at the same time brings them together because they both have to mend it every year. The neighbor claims that they need the wall to separate what falls from his tree and the speaker’s tree. However, the speaker says that it’s impossible to mistake what falls from the trees because one tree has apples and the other has pines. I think the wall is there because of habit and tradition. In the beginning he mentions how the wall has been destroyed and rebuilt many times to maintain barriers.
Yusef Komunyakaa’s Slam, Dunk, & Hook is about a basketball team and the individuals that comprise it. From the sentence structure and the reference to Mercury in the first line the reader can tell the tone is very fast pace. The speaker does a good job of painting a picture of the players and their feeling towards basketball using the first person plural narrative. They are symbolized to unstoppable evil characters, such as sea monsters and bad angels. The last line sums up the whole point of the poem and that is to show how the characters feel about themselves and the game. They are arrogant about their skills and talents. At times they refer to themselves as supernatural and think they are beautiful and dangerous.
Judith Ortiz Cofer’s The Game, the title refers to the game that the deformed girl and the narrator play together in the backyard. The significance of the game is she gets to play outside which is rare because her mother doesn’t let her play outside because she is deformed. The naming of the baby is very significant as well; she named the baby Cruz after Christ’s Cross. By doing that the mother is comparing herself to Jesus, she thinks that by having to care for a deformed baby she will endure the same pain and agony as Christ with his Cross. The game took away the deformation and thought of embarrassment because they were able to pretend. The speaker and Cruz where able to enter into a world that things like deformity didn’t matter. They could get lost in their perfect imaginary world until it got too late and they had to come back to reality.
All these poems relate to each other because they all have to do with human relationships. When a person is young, a person can relate to anybody by escaping into a fictional world where everything fits perfect because they can pretend and ignore the truths of reality. Then there are the ideas of having an action join a group of individuals together to form a unit. But there is always the need to divide and separate and have boundaries. But according to Jane Jacobs borders are a good thing that humans need to have a successful economy and society.

The Boldness of Boundaries

A boundary is a dividing line. A line that is man-made or occurring in nature. There are boundaries dividing cities, humans, and what is right and wrong. In analyzing four pieces of literature, one can really see four different and defining boundaries.

While reading Robert Frost’s, “Mending Wall”, one is introduced to two neighbors and a fence acting as a boundary. However, the neighbors both feel that the boundary is unnecessary, yet the fence is re-built annually. There is no family feuding or dissention taking place in the poem. Frost repeats, “Good fences make good neighbors” twice in his piece (Frost 27, 45). Boundaries, such as fences, are set up to separate and thus distance people or objects. Ironically, an old fence has strengthened a neighborly bond throughout the years.

In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem, “The Game”, the audience learns of a physical boundary. Cruz, the female protagonist, has the unfortunate physical disfigurement of a humpback. She is not accepted by her family and her malady is, “…the symbol of a family’s shame” (Cofer 7). However, this physical impediment does not stop her from making a friend who is a male. Cruz and the narrator play imaginary child games such as “family.” This imagination allows Cruz to escape reality and enter the world where she accepted, praised and loved. However, all good dreams end and, “…it started getting too late to play pretend” (Cofer 41). Cruz had to unfortunately return back to her life, her callous family, and her physical boundary that hinders her acceptance, praise and most importantly love from others.

Yusef Komunyakaa gives a passionate picture of basketball in, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook.” Technical boundaries are not only found on a basketball court. There are physical boundaries when competing in a physical sport such as basketball. However, when you are participating in a sport that you love, there are “no boundaries” to the mind, body or spirit. Sometimes your mental boundary is tested when a personal tragedy occurs. “When Sonny Boy’s mama died He played nonstop all day, so hard Our blackboard splintered” (Komunyakaa 24). Yet, the boundaries are endless when you are soaring through the air and slamming an orange basketball through a hoop for an easy two points.

“The Death and Life of Great American Cities”, gives the reader a true idea of physical boundaries that separate humans in cities. These can be varying from waterfronts, railroad tracks, even college campuses. This can make a Loyola College student, such as myself, realize how much of a detriment a boundary like a university can be. Our campus is on the outskirts of an American city, and in an impoverished area. “…they also have much in common with each other—so far as their tendency to exist amid moribund or declining surroundings is concerned” (Jacobs 259). Jane Jacobs goes on to describe different boundaries and their negative effects on a city. Also, Jacobs offers ways to unite opposing sides that a boundary divides.

The hindrance of boundaries is significant. Whether it is a campus, sideline, physical deformity, or fence boundaries are ways to limit knowledge and education to people of a different background or culture. Tearing down our petty boundaries will help us excel not only individually, but as a whole society.

Boundaries that divide us

The word boundary evokes a variety of images and connotations. To some people, a boundary might be a way to keep people out; whereas to others it might create restrictions or limitations. Robert Frost, Yusef Komuyakaa, Judith Ortiz Cofer and Jane Jacobs all have written wonderful poems and stories about different types of boundaries and boarders one may create throughout their life span.
Each author tells their own unique story with the similar concept of boundaries and boarders to connect them. In Robert Frost poem “The Mending Wall,” he speaks of a stone wall that separates the speaker from his neighbor. The speaker of the poem says there is no reason for the wall to be kept up anymore because there is “no cow” to keep out, but the neighbor wants to keep the wall up. In the Judith Ortiz Cofer poem “The Game,” she speaks of a little hump backed girl who is not respected by her mother and brings shame to her family. Her mother does not allow her to go to school and makes her help out at home. The Yusef poem, “Slam, Dunk, and Hook,” speaks about the narrator’s love for basketball and the way it makes him feel good inside and brings him away from pain. Finally, Jacobs speaks of boundaries that are set up in our everyday cities. He talks of how most cities are divided into good or bad boundaries.
In all these poems, it is important to understand that boundaries can create a positive or negative atmosphere for someone. We also must realize it is good to experience new things. Sometimes we are too quick to put up walls and if we wait, we may realize what is out there. In Frost’s poem, if the speaker would have waited and meet the neighbor first, maybe the wall would not have been built. In “The Game,” if the little girls mother would have given her daughter a chance she might of saw all the wonderful things she could offer the world. Also maybe if the speaker of the basketball poem did not put all his love in one thing he could have opened up other boundaries in life. Finally it is important to put equal effort into breaking down boundaries. Just think, if we focused on the bad parts of the city as much as the good, would there be a bad boundary?

Boundaries & Barriers

In the simplest of terms, a boundary is merely a limit delineating one entity from another. Boundaries can be natural, man-made or even imaginary. Boundaries can be physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. However, the one characteristic all boundaries share is that they divide, and create barriers. Such barriers can serve as elements of protection, structure, order, and individuality. The extent to which a particular barrier serves its purpose or creates a struggle is a common thematic focus among authors chiefly because all humans have boundaries and set boundaries. It is only when a character challenges, examines, or breaks these barriers that the reader recognizes and examines the significance of boundaries in his own life and society in general.
The authors of each of the pieces, “Mending Wall”, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook”, “The Game”, and “Death and Life of Great American Cities” uniquely examine the various kind of barriers that literally and figuratively surround us in everyday life. In drawing parallels between the various works we recognize how the authors are successful in effectively illustrating how boundaries can simultaneously fragment and unify individuals, thoughts, and physical entities.
Robert Frost’s “The Mending Wall” is a unique piece because it quintessentially presents the way in which a poem or literary piece can portray the dual nature of boundaries. In this poem, Frost notes that before constructing a wall he would question, “What I was walling in or walling out”? While his neighbor repeatedly contends that “good fences make good neighbors”, Frost contemplates “why they make good neighbors”. In dividing themselves by building fences, the individuals have lost the “something” that once unified them. Perhaps the “something” Frost references that “doesn’t love a wall” is pure human emotion. Often times people create barriers to protect themselves from getting hurt. However, it is ultimately emotion, that like everything else seeks freedom.
It is an element of this very struggle that Kahu faces in Ihimaera’s “The Whale Rider”, as she crosses the boundary between family tradition and personal discovery. Kahu knows that she is destined to be the whale rider and uses all of her strength to prove this to her ignorant grandfather, who believes only a male can fulfill this task of family tradition. When Kahu accomplishes this goal at the conclusion of the novel, she proves that it is possible to breakdown barriers, and in this case stereotypes as well. When Kahu proves to her grandfather and tribe that she is the whale rider, she also proves that women share the same capabilities of men, a barrier of our society in general.
Komunyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk, and Hook” also develops a focus on boundaries but with a fresher, more unusual perspective. In this poem, Komunyakaa explores an environment in which there are very little boundaries, a basketball court. Of course there are physical boundaries including sidelines, the key, and the half-court line, but there are no boundaries preventing an individual or team from a fast break or slam-dunk. There are no boundaries limiting how high you can jump or how far you can pass the ball to break a different barrier and win the game.
This type of unconventional or more abstract boundary contrasts the physical boundaries explored by Jacobs in her piece, “Death and Life of Great American Cities”. In this excerpt, Jacobs identifies the various physical boundaries that divide cities including bodies of water, train tracks, college campuses, neighborhood lines, highways, business districts, and even sidewalks. Jacobs determines that the most important factor is determining what barriers take away and what they give back to the community. While she points out that it is the different neighborhoods in cities that give them personality, Jacob also indicates that “trouble arises when districts are bisected by borders…for this is a way to tear a city to tatters”.
The duality of boundaries makes them a unique way in which humans divide physical and nonphysical things for purposes ranging from protection to structure to individuality. While humans are inherently motivated to build mental and emotional barriers of protection, breaking down barriers is a method of displaying strength and overcoming obstacles. Each of these works illustrates a different type of boundary and how groundbreaking crossing a barrier can be in proving strength, equality and individuality.

boundaries and segregation

It is clear when reading these literary works the common theme of borders and segregation is the main focus. Whether they be physical, like a fence lining the property between neighbors or train tracks dividing towns, or mental, similar to the segregation of a person with a disability or the mindset of a basketball player, divisions are something everyone deals with in some way. As you read the poems and the selection from Death and Life of Great American Cities, it makes you question why so many boundaries really exist.
In Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, he refers to two neighbors and the fence between their properties. He questions his neighbor why he says “Good fences make good neighbors”. It is not as though his apple trees will go across into his yard of pines. The writer seems troubled by the use of fences and the idea of only seeing his neighbor during “spring mending-time”. Frost uses many different examples and is able to make the wall between them seem ridiculous and unneeded. Jane Jacob’s selection from Death and Life of Great American Cities allows her to express her concern for the borders created by railroad tracks, water barriers, etc. She says how the city boundaries, whether they are physical or natural, are causing more trouble and problems than as if they were nonexistent. They cause a problem for the areas directly surrounding the border. These troubles then continue to spread and grow over a larger area, eventually confining a neighborhood tightly. The idea of physical separation from neighbors, as shown in these selections, is unnecessary and can cause more problems than actually avoid them.
Contrasting the first writing pieces, two of the poems we read were focused more on mental separation. In “Slam, Dunk, & Hook”, the writer expresses the feelings of when he is on the court, playing the game he loves. He feels separated from the rest of the world and can only think about the game. In times of distress, they turn to basketball to help them get through it and keep time moving. “When Sonny Boy’s mama died, He played nonstop all day”. The idea of separation from everyone else in this poem is comparable to the ideas presented in “The Game” by Judith Ortiz Cofer. In this poem, the main focus is the segregation and discrimination a young girl faces due to her physical disability. Mentally she was just a normal girl trying to make friends and play. However, physically, she was different from everyone else. The discrimination she faced by the people surrounding her was no more than their unjustified mentality that she was not good enough. Thinking like this is just an additional way of proving how separation of people can be a major downfall in society.

Borders

Barriers are a part of everyday life. They can serve to keep things in or out, or to hold people back. Consequently, people have devised ways to deal with or overcome limitations and barriers. Doors are put in walls, gates are put in fences, roads are built around large parks, and imagination is used to overcome the limits of reality. The effects of barriers and the actions taken to overcome them are important parts of a person’s life. They can show a great deal about one’s character. In “The Mending Wall”, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook”, “The Game”, and Death and Life of Great American Cities, readers can see the different ways that barriers and limitations can be dealt with, whether through conquering those barriers by opening them up, overcoming them through the use of imagination, or simply accepting and strengthening them.
“Mending Wall”, by Robert Frost, provides the most narrow-minded way of dealing with a barrier- to strengthen it, year after year, even when it is unneeded and even when it begins to come down on its own. Some men will hold on to barriers because it is what they are comfortable with; they “will not go behind (their) father’s saying… (that) ‘Good fences make good neighbors’” (Frost, 43-45). Thus, sometimes men are blind to changes and remain unwilling to tear down unneeded barriers because they remain prejudiced in their thinking and are scared to see what lies on the other side of a fence.
In Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs explains that large single uses in cities, such as parks, railroads, and civic centers, create borders that keep the area relatively closed to traffic and serve to create stagnation around them. Jacobs offers a solution to this stagnation. Cities should create “spots of intense and magnetic border activity” (Jacobs, 266) in order to create a crossover of traffic and liveliness between “single uses” and the surrounding city. Thus, Jacobs proposes that borders should not be seen as absolute, but rather, they should overlap with the surroundings. The borders and the surrounding areas should be molded together so that people still visit the park, for example, but they can also walk just outside the park into a café (Jacobs, 266). In her essay, Jacobs provides one way to overcome barriers.
Another way to overcome barriers is to make believe that they do not exist. This can be seen in “The Game”, by Judith Ortiz Cofer, and “Slam, Dunk, & Hook”, by Yusef Komunyakaa. “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” describes boys playing basketball- a game that allows the player to lose himself in it, to only think about what he is doing on the court. The narrator describes the perfect jump shot, a moment in time when everything feels right, when he says “we could almost/Last forever, poised in midair/Like storybook sea monsters” (Komunyakaa, 8-10). At that moment, all life is forgotten, and existence is like a “storybook”. The narrator describes a boy whose mother has died. What does he do to deal with this tragedy, this pain? He plays basketball- all day. “Our bodies spun on swivels of bone & faith” (Komunyakaa, 36-37). Basketball gives them respite from the obstructions of reality, it gives them hope and faith. “The Game” describes a similar situation. Cruz is a small, humpbacked girl who is regarded as a “symbol of the family’s shame” (Cofer, 6). Cruz uses her imagination to escape her limitation. She would be “lost in the game,/until it started getting too late/to play pretend” (Cofer, 40-43); then it would be time to go back home to reality, to her disdainful and unappreciative family, until it was time, again, to escape from her affliction, her barrier.
A barrier holds someone back or limits their movement forward. One can see, in both literature and in life, that there are many ways to deal with the myriad barriers thrown into people’s lives.

The Selfish Separations of Society

Jonathan Khouri
Many people of today live in a world of worry. So many people are aggressive and suspicious, living a life of meticulous management of materials. Trust in a stranger is naïve and troubling, and people are always worried about taking care of themselves and their possessions. Do “good fences make good neighbors?” or is the thought of a cold and antisocial society ever more apparent with the notice of everyday life. It is certainly apparent within the reading and analyzing of today’s poems, all of which are boundary-related, echoing the growing tendency for people of the world to be their own “border police”.
Frost aptly describes this idea of borders through a story of neighbors, a story of “community”. Neighbors should develop relationships to help and protect each other; however, in today’s society, they only care about staying out of each other’s ways. The apple orchard and the pine trees appear as East and West Germany (though the severity of the latter of this analogy is incredible) in this selfish separation in society. Everyone is thinking about themselves and their materials.
“The little humpbacked girl…into a symbol of a family’s shame.” An opening line to Cofer’s poem that is harsh, cruel, and real. People do not want to be bothered with disability; this impedes the quest everyone has to live a perfect, materialistic life. People seen as different are often seen as wrong or in need of isolation. These fears, stereotypes, and hedonistic ideals are the actual symbols of shame.
Komunyakaa presses on with the ideals of what people in today’s society strive for in life, but with a more positive spin to it. In Slam, Dunk, & Hook, “we were metaphysical when girls cheered on the sidelines”, is just one example of the fast-paced, aggressive life that people strive for. People want to be loved by others, and it is the excitement and competition of the game that merits the praise the players receive.
Jane Jacobs realizes the problem. “This is serious, because literal and continuous mingling of people, present because of different purposes, is the only device that keeps streets safe.” Confrontation and companionship are a necessity of life, and the dwindling existence of ideals like these is a cause for concern. Some people of the world still value camaraderie, but how long will it last? I hope we can mend this wall or problems before the death of more relationships and communities. This is not a game.

Borders

Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall”, Komonyakaa’s “Slam, Dunk & Hook”, Cofer’s “The Game”, and Jane Jacob’s “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” all either directly or indirectly refer to some sort of physical or metaphysical boundary. In all but one of these works is the boundary a negative aspect.
Mending Wall is a complex poem that is literally about two neighbors and their yearly routine of rebuilding a fence between their two properties. Each year the fence made of boulders deteriorates and crumbles, and each year they build it back up. One year, the speaker starts to question why they undertake their ritual, for they have no cows and have no real need for a boulder fence. His neighbor quickly responds “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Looking deeper into the meaning of the poem, one could interpret the meaning in many ways, but in most cases it would have to be related to segregation. The building of walls to keep others out is an ancient practice, and the author makes reference to this in his use of “elves,” “spells,” and “old-stone savage.”
The big question is why the neighbors would consistently rebuild a doomed and unnecessary wall. Relating this story to segregation of races would make sense in that segregation has been around almost forever, it seems irrational and unnecessary, and sooner or later segregation is usually bound to fall to integration.
The Game was also a poem about boundaries, except in this circumstance there was not a physical boundary but a social boundary. This social boundary existed between a humpbacked girl who lived a life of seclusion. Instead of going to school and playing with the other kids, she stayed at home, played with her brother, and helped her mom with chores; there existed little outside contact.
In this situation the boundary present separated the “normal” kids and the physically deformed girl. This boundary is present in every society, a boundary that creates a certain outcast nametag on those who are physically different than the rest of the society. This separation, like the separation of the first poem, is unnecessary and unjustified.
Jane Jacobs’s “The DEATH and LIFE of GREAT AMERICAN CITIES” is perhaps the most straightforward story of boundaries. In this piece, the author states that borders create a sort of dead end that kills surrounding areas. While some borders are physical and some are simply town lines and city boundaries, they all come with negative side-effects. These borders deaden the areas nearest to them and then slowly creep inward until they so closely circumvent an area that it cannot cause any more destruction. Borders devastate communities. To counteract this devastation the author claims that we must mix communities and replace the rough edges of borders with a smoother transition.
The last work, “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Komonyakaa is very different in it’s use of borders. Unlike the other three works, this work describes basketball as a game that induces people to get so involved and caught up in playing it that they are able to ignore the happenings of the outside world. Players were “tangled up in a falling,” so much so that when one of the player’s mom died all he did was play basketball non-stop. The author tells of basketball as a serene, yet intense game that inspires and creates nirvana. The game is beautiful, but dangerous; dangerous perhaps because it can become such an obsession. Regardless, the use of boundaries in this poem is much different and perhaps much more positive than the other works.

Every day borders and boundaries go up in some way between people. They go up physically in cities and they go up figuratively between people. Jane Jacobs, Yusef Komunyakaa, Judith Ortiz Cofer, and Robert Frost all touch upon at least one of these two aspects of having borders and boundaries in their works.
Jacobs' work, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," focuses on the physical aspect of a border. She talks a great deal about the effects of borders in cities on the people living in it. She realizes that creating borders can cause a real problem, especially in safety. Jacobs first focuses on the different kinds of borders in cities. There are the geographical borders, like water and parks. Then there are the man-made borders like college campuses and railroads. All of these things creates space between people, which in turn creates different dynamics on the different sides of the borders. This creates a problem because the less-populated and "not as nice" areas do not get walked through as much because they are considered scary. Jacobs says, "literal and continuous mingling of people is the only device that keeps streets safe." So when an area is considered bad because it's in the wrong side of town then businesses do not succeed over there and real estate is not valued, because it's an unsafe area that will close before dark. The main point of Jacobs' work is to open the readers' eyes to these problems with borders and try and fix them so people will walk through any area which will keep the place safe.
Robert Frost's poem, Mending Wall, is a mixture between the physical and figurative border. In this poem there is a wall between one person and his neighbor, and the person is trying to figure out whether his neighbor is keeping him out or something in. We get the idea when the neighbor says, "Good fences make good neighbors." The neighbor's feeling is that he needs a border up to make sure his personal boundaries are not crossed. In this sense it is protection and safety for himself and his side of the wall.
Cofer's, The Game, and Komunyakaa's, Slam, Dunk, & Hook, both focus on the personal boundaries people put up. Cofer's poem is about a humpbacked girl and her mother. The mother wanted to keep her daughter home to protect her from ridicule and embarrassment. The family would act like nothing was wrong, but the girl knew. It was only in her land of pretend that she was completely protected in her own boundaries; away from her own mother's ashamedness of her. Komunyakaa's poem is about how basketball can create it's own border around itself. When the boy's mother died he kept himself inside this border to feel safe with something he knew he could control.
Between these four works the sense of borders and boundaries is used in several ways. People make one for themselves to feel protected or people live in certain parts of cities to feel protective. What Jacobs is trying to explain is we need to knock these borders down to get the most safety. We have to entrust ourselves to others without the use of a wall to keep us safe.

Human beings as a whole put up many sorts of borders: borders in the sense of physical structures, uncrossed imaginary lines, or even pre-judgments that are labeled onto others.
Within the writing of Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities, she avidly analyzes the presence of the uncrossed imaginary lines in cities. These borders are neither physical structures nor are they areas where citizens aren’t allowed, but rather they are areas where people don’t go; areas that are in between neighborhoods, on the outskirts of industrial buildings, or just outside a park. These borders are roads that people don’t walk on after dusk, are found within a few blocks of a bad neighborhood, or even areas near the train tracks. After assessing the many boundaries, it’s clear that they spring from fear. People don’t feel safe in certain neighborhoods or in a park at night. The borders are put up to create a sense of security.
Most of the borders built are done so to separate people. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s The Game, she makes reference to the way society shuns a little girl because she is different. The girl is humpbacked and, therefore, seen as an outsider to society; she isn’t accepted. The author even portrays the young girl’s mere existence as a burden to her family by making reference to the spine that’s “twisted into the symbol of the family’s shame.” The girl lives a melancholy life where her only joy comes from playing “family” with her neighbor. The neighbor, being just a child as well, happily plays pretend in the yard. Unfortunately, the author foreshadows the role of society at the end by stating, “…lost in the game, until it started getting too late to play pretend.” The writer ends with a hint that eventually the thoughts of the masses lead the neighbor to judge the girl, and, therefore, put up a boundary.
Yusef Komunyakaa interprets borders differently within Slam, Dunk, and Hook. Instead of the conventional stance that we build boundaries to keep out others, Komunyakaa makes reference to the boundary that is naturally instilled during competitive sports. Through a very lyrical and mystic description of basketball, the author depicts the way an athlete goes into his own world; a world that is just he and the game. It’s a place that’s filled with a sense of magic and beauty. It’s not a bad boundary or one that separates, but rather one that allows the athlete to concentrate.
Once again, Robert Frost makes mention of literal walls in human nature in Mending Wall. He depicts the living situation between him and his neighbor, and the wall that they have built between them. The purpose of the boundary is not necessarily of a bad nature, but rather one of privacy. It’s a wall that separates property and difference. The boundaries that Frost speaks of are simply physical separations that lead to “good neighbors.”
Society puts up many borders inside of itself. These borders separate everything from private properties, to unsafe areas, to those who are different. Many authors have interpreted these boundaries and included them within prose. Borders have been analyzed and seen as everything from literal to figurative. All in all, the main purpose of borders is to separate, and that’s exactly what they do.

As humans, we have a tendency and an instinctive need to create barriers and build boundaries—separating ourselves from what scares us and what is different, or just providing us with a break from reality. From the beginning of history, we have learned that people have dwelled in the mountains as protection from the unknown, countries built walls to exclude those who are different, and that we build fences to separate that which is ours and that which belongs to our neighbor. Truthfully, the structural and initial purposes of a boundary do serve as a method of protection and maintenance of order within a society, however, as we have seen in the works of several authors and poets, our eagerness to build limits and borders have a tendency to make communication and the expression of the things that make us unique more difficult.

Within the framework of the novel The Whale Rider, written by Witi Ihimaera, he progresses the idea that we may miss the obvious answer to our eternal questions because of the borders that we institute as a society. Specifically, when Koro Apirana assumes that his great-granddaughter Kahu is incapable of being a leader because she is a girl, his assumption places a barrier between himself and someone great. Furthermore, the lens that he maintains throughout the story actually harms his attempts at being a great leader and finding the one who will succeed him. His actions place a certain barrier between men and women and nature and humans in general. As the story continues, he finally sees that Kahu is indeed capable of being the leader that she has proven herself to be and in doing this she has recreated the balance between men and women, nature and humans—reconnecting and unifying everything.

Robert Frost develops a similar focus within his poem, “Mending Wall.” Essentially, the speaker of the poem reveals a story of him and his neighbor who are separated by a wall in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Each year, as he explains, “we meet to walk the line and set the wall between us once again” (13-14). The speaker notices that this wall that they build begins a lack of communication between the neighbors. He starts to question the actual reason for the wall when he says “before I build a wall I’d ask to know what I was walling in or walling out” (32-33). The speaker knows that the purpose of the wall is to maintain each person’s sense of self intact; however, he realizes that they have lost their sense of community. He realizes that re-connecting the community is more important than rebuilding the fence that divides it.

The poem “The Game” by Judith Oritz Cofer evolves this theme of the creation of borders to both hide us from the judgments of our peers and to separate ourselves from those who have a different appearance. The speaker presents both of these reasons for the creation of borders. Initially, the young girl who is born with a handicap was kept home by her mother—protecting her from the vicious and critical views of others. By putting up this border, rather than allowing her to be a “normal” child, she unknowingly makes her child a victim to others. Her friend, the speaker, who reveals a past experience with the child, initially plays with her and is a friend to her as if she had no physical differences. In reality, however, their time spent playing “family” is only a game and that the speakers tradition of breaking the boundary between he and his handicapped friend will work only “until it started getting too late to play pretend” (40).

The piece by Jane Jacobs, “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” also focuses on the effects of our tendency to build borders but on a scale that encompasses the workings and futures of American cities. She notes that the building of “borders in cities usually make destructive neighbors… [they] exert an active influence” (257) on city life. Essentially, the formation of borders, whether by train tracks, high ways, waterfronts, and even college campuses, inhibits the social and economic growth of a city. Life near the border is actually lifeless, however, “street by street by street, as you move away from the border, a little more life is found” (160). Jacob’s solution to this problem is in agreement with the other authors and poets mentioned. She calls for “a seam rather than a barrier, a line of exchange along which two areas are sewn together” (267) and a situation where we do not need to be afraid, but rather one where we can share our insecurities, along with our hopes, through seams threaded by communication and understanding.