Vacant Lots

There are several vacant lots waiting for commercial development in my neighbourhood in  UltimateSuburbia.  I never see anyone in them - except the guy in the black SUV who threw bags of garbage in one and when I followed him he did a U-turn and sped away.  

Way back in the day (!) the vacant lot down the street from where I lived is where I learned about spit bugs and praying mantises, and where I closely examined a dead mouse. I remember its long, very yellow front teeth.  I learned how it's some insects' jobs to eat these dead creatures so that they become part of the earth again. I remember having to deal with a bossy kid and that other people's little brothers were somehow not as annoying to me as my own.  We made maps of where the best wild strawberry patches were. We made milk-weed wishes.  We collected and compared rocks.  We hunted butterflies and moths.  We became familiar with several types of thistles. We learned that some birds build their nests on the ground. All that went on in some nearby lots that didn't even have any trees. 

A child-free, vacant lot.  So much potential.

Where are the kids hunting for bugs and snakes now?  Playing hide and seek?  Making forts?  I think I know where they are actually, they are inside learning about snakes of the far-off rain forests on their computers.  They are virtually building structures for the Sims and their ilk. They are inside their homes, safe from crazy, wandering pedophiles, (but maybe not the online ones or family members). They are not looking at garter snakes, nor figuring out how to make a structure out of boards and grass and how to have cool picnics in there. Nor are the children wondering about why they have pre-wrapped sausages and not pre-wrapped bacon (as the Bare Naked Ladies did in their tree-fort of If I Had a Million Dollars).  They are more likely being driven to their organized sports, private tutors, or music lessons, safe and risk-free.

     I've been back from Jamaica for 13 days. I wonder how everyone there is. I wonder how the rest of the group I travelled with are doing.  11 amazing early learning and care professionals, some of whom had never met each other before, all joined me in this incarnation of Students Crossing Borders.  We lived and worked in Kingston for 9 days.  It was a bittersweet trip.  Everyone was remembering our recently deceased, Lynn Caruso.  The children of Riverton gathered around me to ask questions about her illness, her death, her funeral, her family. The wanted to know if I cried.  They wanted to know if it was true that Lynn didn't want anyone to wear black.  (It was.)  They wanted to know if it was true that her body was "burn"; cremated.  They wanted to know how her husband and children were.  They knew Mr. Junior Rowe, a community leader from Riverton went to the funeral.  When I described how he gave a powerful eulogy they smiled.  When I teared up when talking about it all, one young boy, Anferny, put his had on my arm, "It's okay, Miss."  Another boy said, "I no cry when I hear.  But my heart, it move."  He showed me how is heart was no longer on the left side of his chest, but had moved over. 
   

                                With my friend Carl.  He's 11 now. I first met him when he was 7.

                                                    Richard reading to his little brother.

Marsha and friend helping spread gravel on the rain-soaked yard in Cooreville Gardens, in preparation for the ECE Children's Expo and grand opening of the 

Zone Eight Early Childhood Education Resource Centre.

  As we gave workshops, shovelled gravel, bought mangoes, road the bus, visited schools, everywhere, there were reminders of Lynn's energy, warmth, and love.  People remembered her smile, how she'd ask about family, and how she spoke so much of her own grandchildren.  She did so much through her collaboration with the people in Kingston and Spanish Town:  helped build an ECE development centre, put in water pipes, improve a school yard, put on youth conferences, facilitate ECE conferences and trainings, built a parent drop-in centre, a reading room and computer centre, brought so many people down to connect with the people and, and,and, but it was just her warm smile that everyone talked about.  

Lynn receiving a formal thank you from the ECE community (Junior Rowe)  in 

Kingston, May 2011

As Junior Rowe said, "Rest well my friend."  And know that your work and love are continuing.