Trevor things

Alex Kotlowitz is one of my favorite non-fiction writers. 

He wrote a remarkable book in 1992 titled There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America. 

It's the story of Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, 11 and 9 year old brothers growing up in the Henry Horner housing projects in the inner city of Chicago.

I was so moved by the story, I visited Henry Horner when I was in Chicago to try and meet some of the people in the book.

Kotlowitz calls his work "the journalism of empathy" because he tries to stand in the shoes of his subjects as he is writing about them. 

He writes to help his readers stand in his subjects' shoes.

I hope I do that kind of writing.

I hope I do that kind of teaching.

I hope I do that kind of living.

I try to stand in the shoes of my students as I am teaching them. 

I try to help them stand in each others shoes, too.

So I might call my work "the writing of empathy,” “the teaching of empathy.” 

Last year, I wore a hoodie to school that has ‘Be Kind’ on the front of it.

One day, my quiet student, the quietest student I’ve ever taught, wore a t-shirt with ‘Be Kind’ on the front of it.

She was trying to stand in my shoes! (Or my hoodie, rather!)

(By the way, that morning one of the loudest students I’ve ever taught asked, “Mr. Barton, no offense, but what kind of shoes are those?” 

I answered, “They’re Birkenstock shoes. They’re wide and comfortable and they’re good shoes for me because I’m on my feet all day.” 

He looked at them with raised eyebrows and said, “Mmm hmm. You know they look like clown shoes, don’t you?)

I’m not trying to start any fashion trends at BES.

But my quiet student bought a ‘Be Kind’ shirt because she wanted to be kind like me.

That’s the kind of trend I’m trying to start.

Here’s a part of a story I’m working on that shows a little about what I mean.

There was a deep kindness in Gabby’s brown eyes.

“Hmm,” she noted, “You’re writing with a pen in a notebook. Don’t see that much anymore.”

“I’m old fashioned, I guess. I still like to see the words I write on a page. Helps me see I’m moving from one place to another and getting somewhere.”

“If you don’t mind me askin’, what’re you writin’?”

“I don’t mind you asking at all. I’m working on a story for my newspaper, The South Carolina Defender. I’m a journalist.”

“Oh yeah? What’s your story about?”

“It’s about a family I met in Charleston, a migrant family picking peaches and tomatoes in the fields and on the farms around Berkeley County. 

When I met them, they were living in a gutted out school bus behind the lower 40 acres of a peach farm on Johns Island. 

I wrote a series about them last summer to try to help our readers walk a mile and pick a peach in their shoes.”