First We Take Manhattan!

Abstract

At least one child from every country on earth lives in New York City. That's the claim of Danny Goldfield, whose Photography Project was playing on giant screens around the Manhattan Hilton, site of the TESOL convention. "I've been working every day for four years," says Goldfield. "I wanted to do something after the violent backlash to 9/11." So far, Goldfield has completed photographs of children from 151 of 194 countries. "I want to create opportunities for all these families to meet and become friends," Goldfield says. His local exhibits become parties where families gather and chat while they make their own art. Learning to speak English is learning the language of peace. Goldfield's evocative Photography Project can be seen on www.nychildren.org. "What's in a name?" ask Gail Weinstein and Nancy Cloud of San Francisco State University in the "ESL Through Storytelling" session. They go on to say: "Telling stories about your name, your heritage, your rituals, all help to strengthen identity and place when adjusting to a new culture. If 51 per cent of new arrivals in secondary school fail to graduate from high school in America, then the policy of No Child Left Behind has failed." After taking the subway to Harlem early Sunday morning, my friend and I attended church to listen to gospel music. We sing, we move, we clap and we wave. We "put on the gospel armour" and are invited for coffee afterward. Before leaving, we stop at the India Café and hear the Red Harlem Readers perform a new play about Susan B. Anthony. We are soon singing along to "I'll be there, when we go down to vote. I'll be there." We are invited to share our own writing.