A Study Guide for
Young people
recently released
from Rikers
tell their
own stories
A collaboration between Sound Portraits Productions, Friends of the Island
Academy, WNYC Radio, and the New York City Department of Education
TABLE OF C ON TEN T S
Introduction
2
How to Use the Youth Portraits Study Guide
5
Outside In: Process/Medium
7
INSIDE OUT: T HE STORIES
ARIEL
9
Current Connections—Police and the Minority Communities
11
YOVANI
13
Current Connections—Gang Involvement
16
BERNARD
19
Current Connections—Raising a Family
21
ANGIE
25
Current Connections—Neighborhoods and Communities
28
ANDRE
30
Current Connections—Epidemic of Violence
34
GENERAL THEMES
1. The Narrators
38
2. Punishment and Prison
40
3. Struggle
42
4. Growth
45
5. Followers and Leaders
47
6. Taking Responsibility
50
7. Change for a Better Future
52
Bibliography
55
About the Organizations
56
Additional Resources
59
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INTRODUCTION
I
HENEVER
TELL
SOMEONE
that I
teach history in a juvenile jail, they tend to want to know
everything about my students’ alleged crimes and next to
nothing about their lives. But working closely with young
prisoners makes clear that understanding where they came
from is critical to helping them get where they need to go.
Equally critical is that they gain such perspective themselves.
The idea behind the Youth Portraits project, a five-part series that aired
on public radio in January 2002, was to teach young people recently
released from prison how to use audio to tell stories about their lives.
Over an eight-month period, five young men and women—four of whom
who had been incarcerated at Rikers Island, America’s largest jail—learned
to conduct interviews, cut their own tape, select and lay in music, and use
a computer to craft the elements into finished pieces. In addition to being
broadcast on WNYC, the short audio documentaries were made available
for download at www.youthportraits.org. They were also released on CD,
narrated by the actress Rosie Perez, for use in classrooms.
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Youth Portraits was created to help people in the outside world understand
that on the inside are young people with deep emotions about their relationships, challenges, and successes. When I met Ariel Corporan, one of the
narrators and now an employee of Friends of the Island Academy (paid to
do outreach at Rikers Island), it was immediately apparent that he and his
colleagues had created works of art that could be used to inspire a cross-section of young people. Ariel was excited at the prospect of sharing these stories and felt that a study guide for use in conjunction with the audio would
further that effort.
Ariel and the other Youth Portraits narrators care deeply about helping
young people whose circumstances or upbringings have been similar to
theirs. The project was a labor of love for each of them, and they remain
committed to its use as a tool to help other young people feel less isolated
and alone. To that end, the Youth Portraits Study Guide encourages students to grapple with their developing sense of self through a series of
questions meant to spark conversation and through classroom activities
that expand upon ideas the stories present. More than a mere prescriptive
curriculum with lesson objectives and end-of-chapter tests, the guide
invites students—even those who have not shared many or any of these particular experiences—to relate to the narrators and to learn from their stories. In so doing, it aims to foster the realization that we can find similarities with people whose experiences may appear completely different from
our own.
I am excited to share these materials with you, and hope they engage you
and your students to explore the struggles teenagers are coping with today.
–– REBECCA WEINSTEIN
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HOW TO USE THE Youth Portraits Study Guide
Design and Intent
● This study guide was designed for use with the Youth Portraits audio
stories. It provides discussion, writing, and exploration activities to help
teenagers analyze how the Youth Portraits narrators dealt with incredible
obstacles in their lives. Hearing the stories and participating in suggested activities, teenagers will strengthen their ability to comprehend and
cope with the challenges they face every day.
● The guide was prepared for adults who teach, counsel, or lead groups
of young people. While it may be especially beneficial for teenagers who
face issues presented in the series—i.e., gang involvement, incarceration,
and foster care—the Youth Portraits Study Guide is geared toward varied
skill sets and backgrounds, making it a valuable addition to any language
arts, social studies, or life skills curriculum.
Equipment
● To work with the stories and guide, you will need a CD player and,
depending on your group’s needs, printed transcripts of the stories,
which are available for download at www.youthportraits.org. The site also
features an electronic attachment of the study guide, which you can open
using Adobe Acrobat (free download available).
Structure
● This guide progresses from specific to more general questions on a
range of topics the Youth Portraits series touches on directly and indirectly. The first main section, “Audio Stories,” contains a set of questions that pertain to each narrator’s tale. But in addition to being personal narratives, the stories take place within a broader social context,
and questions corresponding to those larger issues follow each story
under the subheading “Current Connections.” Here participants will
have the opportunity to relate what they are hearing to such contemporary problems as the epidemic of violence among youth and the challenges of modern family life.
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● The second section, “General Themes,” is not restricted for use with
particular stories but highlights universal issues that they raise. Its subjects range from a look at how a radio documentary affects its listeners to
questions on broad topics like punishment, struggle, leadership, and
responsibility.
● Every section of the guide is broken down into three sets of activity
options: “Discuss,” “Write,” and “Explore.” “Discuss” questions provide
a starting point for conversations about the story heard or the issue
raised. These forums can last for as long as you decide but are intended
to let participants practice expressing and listening to various points of
view. Next, students are asked to reflect on, express opinions about, or
share personal experiences through writing. “Write” sections often
include related text excerpts from outside sources, followed by comprehension questions (“About the Text”) and/or questions that require participants to critically analyze what they have read (“Connecting with the
Text”). Under the heading “Explore,” you will find activities, research
assignments, and mini-projects that expand upon particular issues.
Strategies and Techniques
● Since so many questions, writing assignments, and projects are sug-
gested here, you will probably not complete them all. We suggest that
before presenting the Youth Portraits stories and questions to your students, you listen to them first, then look through related sections of the
guide for topics suited to what you are able to do in your classroom and
what your group will benefit from most.
● Teachers employ a wealth of strategies and techniques to direct how
students respond to a question. Choose any or all of these methods to
make the Youth Portraits Study Guide stimulating, engaging, and different each time you use it. For example, you might want to have a whole
class discussion focused on one story, then the following day break students up into subgroups that address separate questions and present their
thoughts to the class. “Explore” activities can be assigned as in-class,
homework, or extra-credit projects.
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Hearing from You
● At www.youthportraits.org you will find a link to an electronic evalu-
ation form. We want to know how this material is or isn’t working for you
and for your students. Please give us your feedback about the stories. Let
us know how you are using the material, what population you are working with, and what kind of response you are getting. We hope you will use
the site to post additional resources you think work nicely with this material, and to share your experiences and suggestions with other teachers
who are discussing the same stories and topics in their classrooms. We
would love to hear from your young people as well. Please encourage
them to visit the web site, to evaluate the material, to pose questions to
the Youth Portraits narrators (to whom e-mails will go directly), and to
post their thoughts. Thank you for your participation.
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Outside In:
PROCESS/MEDIUM
BEFORE LISTENING
Discuss
● You are about to hear short radio documentaries about young people’s
lives before and after they spent time in jail. What are you most curious
about? What don’t you want to hear?
● Define “stereotype.” Images presented on television or in movies and
newspaper articles allow viewers to conjure up a variety of stereotypes
before the subject of the story ever utters a word. How might the medium of radio help to eliminate stereotypes?
WHILE LISTENING
Write
● Create a chart about the role music plays in each Youth Portraits story.
Chart out when music is used, what mood it sets, and how it contributes
to the story as a whole.
● Make a list of words and phrases the narrators use to describe people,
places, and events. How do their words help you form a picture in your
mind?
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AFTER LISTENING
Discuss
● In what ways do these pieces allow you to “see” more of the person than
a story told with pictures might? Review your pre-listening list of what
you expected. What assumptions did you have that were correct? What did
you hear that you were not expecting? What touched you the most?
● Which stereotypes do these stories perpetuate? Which stereotypes do
the stories help to eliminate?
Write
● Choose one of the stories and write a scene of dialogue between the
interviewer and interviewee that you imagined has happened but was
edited out of the story. What do they say to each other?
Explore
● The New York City-based nonprofit production company Sound
Portraits Productions believes in recording the stories of people often
overlooked in mainstream media. Check out other documentaries it has
produced by visiting the web site: www.soundportraits.org.
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Inside Out:
THE STORIES
ARIEL
Discuss
● Ariel’s mother struggled as a single parent raising her son. What are
some advantages of a one-parent family? What are some of the struggles
for the parent? For the children?
● As Ariel was growing up, he began to create a different personality for
himself—one that would earn respect. “I started to rebel,” he says. “At
home I was a nobody; I was alone and I was weak. Outside the house I created a different me. After my freshman year in high school I got locked
up for smacking some kid and for taking his book bag. I didn’t even like
the book bag, I just did it to be a bad ass.” Why did he want to create
another personality for himself?
● “For me to make money and for me to meet people that think I’m
cool—that was hot,” Ariel notes. “I needed that.” Why does he use the
word need?
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● It took a friend’s death—and a brush with his own—for Ariel to look
closely at his life. Everything changed between that first and second shot,
he says. “This tough drug-dealing character I had created for myself died
the minute Knowledge did. I was ready to just be me.” Why does it take
such an extreme incident to inspire change? What kinds of obstacles were
in Ariel’s way? How might he have found support?
● Ariel’s mother feels very strongly about his owning up to what hap-
pened and why. “It would upset me tremendously to hear you talk about
it as if it were somebody else’s fault,” she tells her son. “Yes, they shot at
you from behind, but you were not supposed to be there.” Who do you
hold responsible for the incident? Ariel? The police? Knowledge?
Ariel’s mother? What are the reasons behind your answer?
Write
● Ariel pleaded guilty to a crime he says he didn’t commit. Write an edi-
torial for a newspaper about why Ariel confesses to false charges. Detail
the consequences in Ariel’s life as well as the effects on the larger community.
● Has there ever been a time when you didn’t take responsibility for some-
thing you did or, conversely, took the blame for something you didn’t do?
What inspired you to make that decision? What were the consequences of
your decision? Write a letter explaining the facts of the incident—and your
feelings about them—to a person who was affected by your actions.
Explore
The first definition of recognize in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate
Dictionary is “to acknowledge formally.” Variations of that definition
include “to admit as being of a particular status” and “to admit as being
one entitled to be heard.” Look through newspapers or magazines and
cut out at least two examples—articles or pictures—of each definition.
Create a poster with your clippings.
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Current Connections
THE POLICE & MINORITY COMMUNITIES
Discuss
● In recent years, the police have had strained relations with communi-
ties of color. What can be done to help these relations? How might the
two sides work together to heal old wounds? What has to happen within a
community to heal the wounds? What does the community have to do?
What do the police have to do? What are some obstacles that might get in
the way of a positive relationship between the two?
● In New York City, two recent cases of police brutality against minori-
ties—the 1997 torture of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima and the
“accidental” shooting death of Amadou Diallo, a West African immigrant, in 1999—brought the issue of prejudicial law enforcement to the
forefront. These stories made every major headline. Ariel’s did not. How
do you account for that?
Write
● Due to declining relations with minority communities, the New York
Police Department began a massive campaign in the late 1990s for the
recruitment of minority police officers. Write an opinion essay addressing whether or not you feel this is a practical solution.
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You were put here to protect us
But who protects us from you?
Or should I say, who are you protecting?
The rich, the poor, who?
It seems that when you walk the ghetto
You walk wit’ your own point of view
You judge a man by the car he drives
Or if his hat matched his shoe
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Well, back in the days of Sherlock Holmes
A man was judged by a clue
Now he’s judged by if he’s Spanish
Black, Italian or Jew
(KRS-1, “Who Protects Us from You,”
Ghetto Music: Blue Prints of Hip-Hop, 1989)
Connecting with the Text
● What does the author suggest here about racial profiling? How might
a police officer respond to this accusation? How much are the police to
be blamed for poor community relations? Who else bears responsibility?
Explore
● Racial profiling refers to the practice of singling out suspects based on
race or ethnic background. Research racial profiling and its effects at the
web site entitled “Arrest the Racism” at www.aclu.org/profiling. Is racial
profiling a natural tendency or a reflection of the society in which we live?
● How do the police determine whether an action is justified?
Check out an article about this issue at
www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/19990222monday.html.
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YOVANI
Discuss
● Yovani, a one-time gang-member, mentions that her brothers,
Eduardo, has followed in her footsteps. Why do you think Eduardo looks
up to his sister? What can he learn from his sister’s experiences?
● Yovani explains that she turned herself in to the police so she could
“look after” her best friends. What might be some other reasons for
Yovani’s surrender?
● “When I came home I was really lonely,” she says. “People was dead,
locked up. I didn’t have no more friends. Everyone that I knew was dead
or in jail. And I guess if I wouldn’t have been in there I would have been
dead too.” How might this realization have affected Yovani and the
choices she had to make after her release?
● In her last statement, Yovani says about her grandmother, “Now I’m
doing everything she wanted me to do before she died. She wanted me to
go to school; now I’m in school. She wanted me to get a job; now I got a
job. And I think that maybe she would even have wanted me to make this
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story.” Why would her grandmother want Yovani to tell in this story?
What would her grandmother want us to know?
● Throughout the piece, Yovani’s tone changes. Initially, she speaks cav-
alierly about getting locked up, but by the end of her story she sounds
more serious and sad. How do you account for the difference in her tone
and attitude? Which do you think reflects the real Yovani?
● Yovani says that her fellow gang-members Maria and Daniella didn’t
mean to cut the girl, but only did so when she resisted the robbery. Does
knowing this make you feel differently about what they did? Should
“intent” be taken into consideration when punishment is meted out?
● “I don’t want to go back to doing the same stuff I was doing just to be
known, or whatever,” Maria tells Yovani while being interviewed after her
release. What does “to be known” mean? Why is this important? How
does wanting to be known affect a person’s actions? In what ways are you
known? How do you want to be known?
● Yovani mentions that her mother was “hard” on her, yet her mother
bailed her out of jail immediately. How do your parents respond when
you get into trouble? What do they want you to learn?
Write
● Why is learning a lesson through your own experience referred to as
learning “the hard way”? Which has more impact in your life: when
someone tells you about a mistake they have made and what they learned
from it, or when you experience the mistake and learn from it yourself?
Write a personal narrative about a lesson in life that you have learned “the
hard way,” and explain how you came to understand it.
● What is remorse? When listening to Yovani’s piece, do you feel that she
and her friends are remorseful? Why? Judges often determine punishment based on the degree of remorse shown in the courtroom. Why
would judges use remorse as criteria in sentencing? Is that fair? Write an
essay explaining your opinion.
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● “When Maria and Daniella were locked up, Maria had a baby that was
one year old,” Yovani tells us. “When she got out he was three.” Create a
Venn diagram that compares the lessons Maria learned by not seeing her
son grow up to Yovani’s experience of losing her grandmother.
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“It disturbs me greatly to see that you want something
that will ruin your life. It is not a part-time job being
a criminal, it is a way of life. There is not school on the
side or a job on the side. It is full-time work, being a
criminal.”—ANONYMOUS
(www.gangstyle.com, a web site developed by ex-gang members)
Connecting with the Text
● The writer excerpted above uses the word ruin. In what ways does
engaging in criminal behavior ruin someone’s life? What aspects of
Yovani’s life were damaged by her behavior?
● Why is being a criminal “full-time work”?
Explore
● Select a particular newspaper and look through it every day for a week.
Choose two articles that portray someone’s reputation positively and two
that are negative depictions. Demonstrate how the articles promote these
reputations with specific examples of language and information used in
the pictures.
● Maria and Daniella intended only to rob someone, yet ended up cut-
ting a girl’s face. From the perspective of a prosecutor or defense attorney,
state your closing arguments to the jury arguing your side of the case.
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Current Connections
GANG INVOLVEMENT
Discuss
● In her piece, Yovani explains that getting into a gang is only the begin-
ning. “You don’t just turn Blood and everybody is like, ‘OK,’ and that’s
it. You have to get accepted everywhere you go. The neighborhood has to
accept you. So you always provin’ yourself, showing that you can take care
of yourself—that you can stand on your own two feet, that you can hold it
down, or whatever.” What are the short-term consequences for a person
who must show that they can “hold it down”? Long term? What are the
consequences for the communities where these gangs exist?
● The gangster lifestyle, as lived by rappers and music producers, has
been glorified in the media. To what extent is the music industry to blame
for the level of violence in today’s society? Do the media and its personalities—television, movies, celebrities—share responsibility for the glorification of gangster lifestyle?
● John Singleton, the director of the 1991 film Boyz in the Hood, states:
“One out of every twenty-one black American males will be murdered.
Most will die at the hands of another black male.” How much of this
problem do you feel is gang related? What/who is responsible for the
rest? What can individuals and communities do about this statistic? What
should the government do?
● Some people work in the field of gang prevention, while others work
with gang intervention. How might their work be different? What would
these jobs have in common?
Write
● Most groups have an initiation process. What is the purpose of an ini-
tiation? List all the organization, group, or team initiation rites you can
think of. What do they have in common? What differences do you
notice?
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● Write a working definition of the word gang. One definition in
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary describes a gang as “a group of
persons working together.” But the word gang generally has a negative
connotation, while team or organization has a positive one. Write a compare/contrast essay describing the similarities and differences between a
team and a gang.
● Some sociologists believe that a “push and pull” phenomenon causes
young people to join gangs. The push comes from what a potential member feels he or she is lacking in life; the pull comes from what a gang
might offer. Create a chart of the “pushes” and “pulls” related to joining
a gang and the “pushes” and “pulls” in your own life today. Is there overlap? How and where?
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It’s like a war, you know what I’m sayin’
People don’t even understand
They don’t even know what they dealin’ with
You wanna get ridda the gangs
It’s gonna take a lot of work –ICE-T
(www.oohla.com, “Colors,” Colors (Original Sound Track), 1988
About the Text
● What does Ice-T mean when he says, “It’s like a war”? Who is doing the
fighting? What are they fighting for, or against? How is gang fighting
similar to war? How is it different?
Connecting with the Text
● What would the government have to do to get serious about getting rid
of gangs? What would communities have to do?
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Explore
● Is there a gang problem in your neighborhood? What programs are
available in your community to help address the problem? Talk to the men
and women involved in gang prevention and intervention services about
the challenges they face and the accomplishments they feel most proud of.
● Research the history of gangs in America. Are they a modern social
problem? When did they originate? How is their purpose today different
from what it was in the past?
● Listen to the song “Jets” from the musical West Side Story, or read the
lyrics to the song at www.westsidestory.com. The concept for the stage
play and song was developed in 1955. What does this song tell us about
why people join gangs? What does it suggest about being in a gang? Which
words and ideas pertain to our modern world, and which were only
applicable in the 1950s?
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BERNARD
Discuss
● Bernard states that he has very specific goals in life: “All I want to do is
just make my family proud and contribute as many things as possible to
society in order to help others that can’t help themselves.” How does his
story contribute to society?
● At one point in his story, we can hear that Bernard is crying. Do you
think he is more or less of a man for sharing his tears with the listener?
Write
● “I never write about my parents,” Bernard says. “They weren’t there for
me. … A lot of my writings are about my son. Tyreik’s real intelligent and
husky, like when I was a kid. But he’s not going to grow up like what I did.”
Write an advice column explaining to parents how they can ensure that
their children don’t make the mistakes they did when they were younger.
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● Create an “identity web” for Bernard. Write his name in the center of
a circle, then draw out spokes labeled with two sets of words—those
Bernard himself might use and those society would select—to describe his
age, gender, physical characteristics, religion, class, neighborhood, education. Include information you know about his past experiences, family, values, hobbies, and goals. Create an identity web that contains the
same sort of information about you.
● Bernard specifically says that having a child forced him to change his
life. In listening to the other stories, you’ve heard how people have
turned things around because of the involvement of someone special in
their lives. Has someone in your life inspired change? Write the story of
how that person affected you with their words or actions.
Explore
● Bernard says that he writes about life “because I want people one hun-
dred years from now to see what it was like at the beginning of the new
millennium, and the kind of hardships certain people went through and
things that we had to deal with.” Do the Youth Portraits stories give an
accurate view of what life is like at the start of the third millennium?
Create a time capsule to be opened in the year 2100 that can contain only
ten items to represent you or your generation.
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Current Connections
RAISING A FAMILY
Discuss
● In addition to talking about his experiences with fatherhood in his radio
piece, Bernard has written about it quite a bit in his rhymes and raps: “My
job is never done / for it has just begun /daycare / meetings / I’m there /
elementary school / setting the rules / provide him with the proper tools
/ that he can use.”Why does Bernard consider fatherhood a job? What
does he mean that his job is never done? What are the “proper tools” a
child needs to grow up into a responsible adult?
● A February 19, 2002, New York Times article announced a govern-
ment-sponsored movement aimed at persuading people on welfare to get
married. How important is marriage to the stability of a family? Should
this idea be promoted by the government? Why or why not?
● Pope John XXIII said, “It is easier for a father to have children than for a
child to have a father.” What did he mean? Do you agree with this statement?
● What is a family? Who makes up a family? What is the difference
between a nuclear family and an extended one? Who do you consider to
be your “family”? Who plays an important role within it?
● In the American legal system today, parents who are not primary care-
givers are only required to contribute monetary payments for the children’s upbringing. Should that be their only mandated responsibility
toward the child? Why or why not?
Write
● State laws dictate how parents should discipline, provide medical care
for, and attend to the physical and emotional needs of their children.
Should the government have the right to tell parents how to raise their
own children? Choose one issue listed in the first sentence of this paragraph and write your opinion in the form of an essay on what rights
should be considered the domain of the parent and what the government
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should prosecute as a crime.
● Write a letter to a local elected official stating your concern about the
issue that most affects families in your community. Tell them why you are
concerned and what impact you have seen or experienced in your community. In the letter, suggest how the government can address the problem.
Explore
● View the movie Boyz in the Hood. “The film has a lot of messages in
it,” says writer/director John Singleton, “but my main message is that
African-American men have to take more responsibility for raising their
children, especially their boys.” List the different ways that the father,
Furious Styles, teaches his son to be a man.
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Approximately 260 million people live in the United States.
Try to guess the daily tally for each category listed in the chart
below. (Answers on following page)
EVERY DAY IN AMERICA…
____ young person(s) under age 25 die(s) from HIV infection.
____ children or youth under age 20 commit suicide.
____ children or youth under 20 are homicide victims.
____ children or youth under 20 die from firearms.
____ children and youth under 20 die from accidents.
____ babies die.
____ babies are born at very low birthweight (less than 3 lbs., 4 oz.).
____ children are arrested for violent crimes.
____ children are arrested for drug abuse.
____ babies are born to mothers who had late-stage or no prenatal care.
____ babies are born at low birthweight (less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.).
____ babies are born without health insurance.
____ babies are born to teen mothers.
____ babies are born into poverty.
____ babies are born to mothers who are not high school graduates.
____ high school students drop out.*
____ babies are born to unmarried mothers.
____ children are arrested.
____ children are reported abused or neglected.
____ public school students are suspended.*
● Review the correct answers with your teacher. What statistic surprised
you most? Which issue do you feel has the biggest impact on your community? Why? What are the consequences for these issues in your community?
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EVERY DAY IN AMERICA …
1
young person under 25 dies from HIV infection.
5
children or youth under 20 commit suicide.
9
children or youth under 20 are homicide victims.
9
children or youth under 20 die from firearms.
34
children and youth under 20 die from accidents.
77
babies die.
157
babies are born at very low birthweight (less than 3 lbs., 4 oz.).
180
children are arrested for violent crimes.
367
children are arrested for drug abuse.
401
babies are born to mothers who had late-stage or no prenatal care.
825
babies are born at low birthweight (less than 5 lbs. 8 oz.).
1,310
babies are born without health insurance.
1,329
babies are born to teen mothers.
2,019
babies are born into poverty.
2,319
babies are born to mothers who are not high school graduates.
2,861
high school students drop out.*
3,585
babies are born to unmarried mothers.
4,248
children are arrested.
7,883
children are reported abused or neglected.
17,297
public school students are suspended.*
* Based on calculations per school day (180 days of seven hours each). © 2002 Children's Defense Fund
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Discuss
● The general legal definition of neglect is when a parent has failed to
provide something for the child. Parents are charged with neglect when
their children are found to lack basic necessities of life like food, clothing, shelter, education, medical care, supervision, and proper guardianship. Children are removed from the home only when it appears they may
be in “imminent danger.” Who else would you interview to get a better
understanding of why the state removed Angie and her brother from her
mother’s care?
● Angie says her mother “does not like to talk about the incident.” In
many of the Youth Portraits stories, the narrators are eager to share their
stories while the parents are more reluctant to talk. Why is it difficult for
parents to talk about these incidents? How can talking about a bad situation help you?
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Write
● A mandated reporter is a person who is required by law to report any
suspicions of child neglect or abuse to the authorities. What professions
do you think should be considered mandated reporters? Should a person who fails to report suspected child abuse be charged with a criminal
offense? Write an opinion essay responding to this question.
● Angie says that Mariah Carey is her role model because she has been
through many of the same things as Angie and is a world famous singer.
Write a letter to your role model explaining why you look up to her or him.
● Journalists often interview many people and approach a story from
different angles in order to uncover the truth. They ask questions that do
not have a simple yes or no answer. When Angie talks about staying at her
father's, she says that things were "pretty bad" there and her father seems
to agree. Write a list of 10-15 questions that a reporter might ask to
uncover more about this story. Be sure to include who you are asking next
to each question.
Explore
● Angie has a dream of becoming a singer. What are your dreams? Create
a board game with the object of the game being to get to your goal in life.
What steps will you have to take to accomplish your goal? What obstacles
might be in your way? What lucky breaks might you encounter? (Use
board games like Life or Candy Land as models.)
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Current Connections
NEIGHBORHOODS AND COMMUNITIES
Discuss
● What is a neighborhood? How connected do you feel to your neighbor-
hood? If you were to move away today, what might you miss? What would
you be glad to leave behind? If you did leave your neighborhood and travel far away, what sights, sounds, and smells would remind you of home?
● In some Eskimo cultures, people who commit transgressions their
society deems condemnable can be banished from their home and community for long periods of time. Deposed leaders are often sent to live in
exile. Why might sending people away from their home be considered
good punishment?
Write
● List all that you would pack if you were leaving your neighborhood,
city, and country forever and had only one small suitcase.
Text
I live in a beautiful place, a city
People claim to be astonished
When you say you live there.
They talk of junkies, muggings, dirt and noise,
Missing the point completely.
I tell them where they live it is hell,
A land of frozen people.
They never think of people.
Home, I am astonished by this environment
That is also a form of nature
Like those paradises of trees and grass
But this is a people’s paradise
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Where we are the creatures mostly
Though Thank God for dogs, cats, sparrows and roaches.
This vertical place is no more an accident
Than the Himalayas are.
The city needs all those tall buildings
To contain the tremendous energy here.
The landscape is in a state of balance.
We do God’s will whether we know it or not:
Where I live the streets end in a river of sunlight.
Nowhere else in the country do people
Show just what they feel—
We don’t put on any act.
Look at the way New Yorkers
Walk down the street. It says,
I don’t care. What nerve,
To dare to live their dreams or nightmares.
(“New York,” by Edward Field, 1977)
About the Text
● How does the author feel about New York City? What words emphasize
his feelings?
● The poet describes of the beauty of his city while also reflecting on neg-
ative images. Why does he stress both? What words and images does he use
to illustrate a city?
Connecting with the Text
● Field points out many things about his neighborhood that outsiders
don’t often see. What kinds of things do you wish other people saw in
your neighborhood? What do they choose to see? What do you wish people knew about your neighborhood?
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Explore
● According to New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services
(ACS), the period between 1997 and 2001 saw a 6.8 percent increase
citywide in the number of reports of child abuse and a 26 percent
decrease in the amount of children in foster care. Using information on
the web site www.nyc.gov/html/acs, create a graph illustrating either the
increase of number of reports of child abuse for 1997 through 2001, or
the decrease in children in foster care over the same time period.
● You are the mayor of New York City. The head of ACS has just released
the above findings to you and presented them in graph format. What five
questions will you ask in order to get a more complete picture of the relationship between physical abuse and foster care in New York City?
● Create a map of your neighborhood. Include relevant points of inter-
est for visitors as well as places that hold personal importance in your life
today. Produce a brochure that could be used to persuade people to visit
or move to where you live. Using pictures and words, demonstrate what
your neighborhood can offer people and what the points of pride are in
your community.
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ANDRÉ
Discuss
● What does André mean when he says, “It got to a point where it wasn’t
about the money anymore; it was about the rush”? Does hearing André
say this change your opinion of him? If so, how?
● Many teenagers cannot envision themselves living beyond a certain age
and engage in risky behaviors as a result. Is this a self-fulfilling prophecy? André didn’t expect to live past the age of twenty-one. How might
André’s view of his future affect his behavior? What can we tell about his
outlook now?
● Define the word adult. Is André becoming an adult, or is he one
already? What evidence from the piece informs your opinion?
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● André says he was classified as a violent prisoner, and for eight months
was put in a padded cell. What questions do you have for André about this
experience?
● Look up the word sincere. Is André sincere when he says that he has
changed? Are there other things we need to know about him to determine if that is true? What would convince you André really has changed?
Write
● Do the ends justify the means? André’s uncle knew that André’s fam-
ily was in need of money, and so he turned him on to criminal activity.
Dawn, André’s sister, knew he was using the money he had been stealing
to put food on the table and clothes on everyone’s back. Does that make
stealing justifiable? Write an opinion essay on the larger question of
whether any outcome can justify negative steps taken to achieve it.
● Write a horoscope for André for the coming year. What will he strug-
gle with? Where will he have success? How might he approach the obstacles he meets along the way?
● André was put into solitary confinement. “I had nobody to love,” he
says. “Everyone I loved was on the other side of the world.” Imagine you
are placed in solitary confinement. Who would you write to? What would
you say? Write a letter as if you were in this situation.
● Listen to André’s story and chart his behaviors for each of the differ-
ent names he has lived by. How does each name reflect how others view
him? How do our names affect how we behave, how we see ourselves, and
how others see us? What names or nicknames have you been called by
people throughout your life? How did you get those nicknames? What do
they say about you? How accurate are they in relation to how you see
yourself?
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Text
Kids with guns often see no limits on their power. They
have never run up against the natural checks that we
faced growing up, when for many of us a broken nose or
a cracked tooth tempered our reactions to the daily push
and shove of street life. Too often today kids with guns
experience the limits of their power only when they are
dying. Having a gun means that you can adopt a new set
of standards of what you will or will not take from others. Where once if someone was bigger than you called
you a name you might have mumbled under your breath
and kept walking, if you have a gun you will probably
stop and confront that person then and there….
Possessing a gun feels like the ultimate form of protection.
(Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, by Geoffrey Canada)
About the Text
● What is the author’s main point in this paragraph? What examples support
his idea? Why is it dangerous for kids to see “no limits on their power”?
Connecting with the Text
● How does this excerpt relate to André’s story? Should handguns be
illegal in America?
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Explore
● If André were to paint a picture of his experiences, what would it look
like? Create André’s painting of his life. Use the color, texture, symbols,
and overall feeling you think will depict his experiences accurately.
● “Being with Ebony changed me,” he says. “I got a job and gave up the
robberies. No more violent stuff. But giving up my old ways was harder
than I thought.” Why is it difficult to change “old ways”? Create a poster
that encourages people to change a bad habit. Your poster should contain a slogan and the recognition of one obstacle a person might face
when trying to change their old ways.
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Current Connections
EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE
Discuss
● What forms of violence do you see in your community?
● Adults tend to say, “In my day, people weren’t so violent.” In what ways
is the violence we see in our communities a new phenomenon? How is it
the same as in the past?
● While the media often plays up the extent of violence among students,
data from the Centers for Disease Control reveal that kids face a lessthan-one-in-a-million chance of being killed in school. Nationally, students report being assaulted in schools today at the same rates as they did
in 1976. Yet newspapers and broadcasts constantly label the “epidemic of
violence in schools” as “an all-too-familiar story” and school shootings
as “another in the recent trend.” Why does the media bring such attention to school violence? Should they be focusing on other types of violence? If so, what should they be reporting about?
● What is the relationship between respect and violence? How do you
know if you are being disrespected? How do you respond? Why is it OK
to disrespect “your own” but not OK if someone else does (for example,
you can say something negative about your mother, but no one else is
allowed to)?
● Look up the word gratuitous. How does that relate to violence? Where
do you see gratuitous uses of violence in the media? What effects does
such usage have on society?
Write
● James Gilligan, a psychologist who works in prisons and authored the
book Violence, writes, “The attempt to achieve or maintain justice, or to
undo or prevent injustice, is the one and only universal cause of violence.” Using examples from current events, write an essay that supports
or challenges Gilligan’s theory.
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● What is the job of a mediator? What might be some of the challenges
of mediation? What might be some of the rewards? Where in our everyday life might a mediator be needed? Write a detailed job description
for a mediator in your school. Consider the skills and qualities a successful applicant would possess. Include the type of experience you are
looking for.
Text
Young people are fascinated by guns. For many today,
and especially for boys in our inner cities, the handgun is
an integral part of their growing up experience. It is as
important for many of them to know the difference
between a Tech 9 and an Uzi as it was for my peers to
know the difference between a Chevrolet and a Buick.
(Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, by Geoffrey Canada)
About the Text
● Why does Canada state that the handgun is an “integral part of grow-
ing up”?
Connecting with the Text
● When did you first become aware of violence? How did that experience
affect you? What is a “cycle of violence”? What needs to happen to stop
the cycle of violence?
Explore
● Research the types of violence that are reported in your school. How
are the complaints dealt with? What types of violence do you think goes
unreported?
● Watch a half-hour of television every day for a week and create a chart
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that contains the number of times you see or hear something violent.
Include in your chart what acts of violence are integral to the plot and
which are gratuitous.
● Pick up today’s newspaper. Look at the headlines and at the photo-
graphs. How many violent images are there? Where are they located?
How many words that depict violence or violent acts are on the front
page? Do you find the same amount on other pages in the newspaper?
Create a visual display that contains both your statistical information and
an analysis of your findings.
● Violence among youth outside of school is at an all-time high.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), the rate of deaths
from firearms among children under the age 15 is almost 12 times higher in the United States than in 25 other industrialized countries combined. American children are 16 times more likely to be murdered with
a gun, 11 times more likely to commit suicide with a gun, and 9 times
more likely to die in a firearm accident than children in these other
countries. Gain more understanding of these statistics by clicking on the
Violence Prevention and Youth Development Division link at the CDF’s
website (www.childrensdefense.org/safe-start.htm).
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GENERAL
THEMES
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1. THE NARRATORS
Discuss
● What did you learn about each narrator from the short pieces? How
does his or her documentary paint a picture of their world? How did they
bring you into their story and help you to see their experiences? How are
they like other kids you know? What differences are you most aware of?
● Look up the word catharsis. How might the making of these stories
have been cathartic for the narrators?
● Who, besides young people, might benefit from listening to these sto-
ries? What might they learn?
Write
● “Change is the end result of all true learning,” says Leo Buscaglia, a
psychologist and best-selling author. Choose one narrator who you feel
really did change and explain in an essay why you chose this person, how
that person changed, and what they learned.
● Each narrator has a person in his or her life whom they love and who
loves and supports them in return. How did such sustenance help them
change their lives around? After listening to all the stories, identify who
that person was for each narrator. Create a chart that lists the narrator,
the person who supported them, and the effect this support had on his or
her life. Include a row for yourself, a person who supports you, and how
their support and love has affected you.
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I am an invisible man. No, I am not a spook like those who
haunted Edgar Allen Poe; nor am I one of your Hollywoodmovie ectoplasms. I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone,
fiber and liquids—and I might even be said to possess a mind. I
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am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see
me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus
sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of
hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they only see
my surroundings, themselves or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything except me.
(Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison)
Connecting with the Text
● In many ways, young people who spend time in jail are invisible to soci-
ety. How might the Youth Portraits narrators be “invisible” like this character? How might hearing these stories take away the “distorting glass”?
Explore
● What do you know about all of these narrators? What more would you
like to know about them? If you could ask them questions about their experiences, about their lives, or about the process of making these documentaries, what would you ask? Check out their web site at www.youthportraits.org and go to the individual story pages to contact them directly.
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2. PUNISHMENT
& PRISON
“When I came home I was really lonely. People was dead,
locked up. I didn’t have no more friends. Everyone that I
knew was dead or in jail. And I guess if I wouldn’t have
been in there I would have been dead too.”
–YOVANI WHYTE
Discuss
● “When you get to jail, your name is not Mark, its 0117634— and no
one wants to hear what you have to say,” notes one former prisoner who
is now a youth leader at Friends of Island Academy, the partnering
organization of the Youth Portraits project. Why would prison officials
strip you of your name? How can erasing your name be beneficial in this
situation? How can it be harmful?
● “The biggest blemish on our society after slavery is our current prison
system,” says Jeff Evans, the author of Undoing Time, a collection of
prison writing. “If they were working as places of rehabilitation, we
should be able to close one each year.” Prisons are being built at an
alarming rate. More government funding is now allocated for building
prisons than for building schools. How might listening to these stories
affect people who advocate building more prisons?
● Yovani suggests that being in jail saved her life. The civil rights leader
Malcolm X said the same: jail turned his life around. In what ways did jail
save each of them?
● The statistics, according to a March 2002 report by the Juvenile Justice
Project of the Correctional Association of New York states that, “Just as
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ple from particular neighborhoods in the city are over-represented in
secure detention centers. Young people from just 15 of the city’s 59
community districts account for 54% of all admissions to juvenile detention. In other words, just a quarter of the city’s neighborhoods supply
over half of the youth entering detention.” The statistics for adults
entering prison are similar. What can the government do in these communities to address this issue? Where should money be taken from in
order to pay for additional services in these communities?
Write
● In Evans’s Undoing Time, a prisoner named Mike McLane writes: “I
question the efficacy of a system of punishment in which the offender,
already having serious character deficits, is put into a giant pressure
cooker with many unbalanced and disturbed people for years at a time
and left to stew in his own juices without ever being required or encouraged to deal with character flaws and methods of thinking that got him
there in the first place.” For prisons and jails to be true places of “correction,” what would they emphasize? Write a proposal for a program
aimed at correcting criminal behavior. Be sure to include at least three
different activities that jails and prisons would emphasize and the reasons
these programs should be included in a correctional facility.
Explore
● Look up restitution and reparation in the Encarta Online Dictionary
(www.encarta.com). What do they mean? Research a current or historical situation in which someone is seeking restitution. What is the background of the situation? What are they asking for? What, if anything, do
they deserve? Present your findings to your class.
● In a small group, research the state of prisons in the United States.
Using the Internet, choose a topic below to write a report.
How has the prison population changed over 20 years?
What is the economic impact of building prisons?
Why does the government continue to build more prisons?
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Check out the following web sites for your research:
www.cjcj.org
www.sentencingproject.org
www.360degrees.org
www.motherjones.com
www.correctionalassociation.org.
Include your questions, findings, and recommendations to the government on what to do with people who break the law.
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3. STRUGGLE
“Its like, yeah, me and my mom, you know, we go through
our hard times and everything. I mean, what children
doesn’t go through that with their own parents, you know?”
— ANGIE SANABRIA
Discuss
● What is meant by the word struggle? How is a struggle different from a
battle? What is the connotation of the word? When is it negative? When
is it positive?
● These stories suggest that growing up in poor urban communities is a
constant struggle. What do people in these communities struggle for and
against?
● An American proverb says, “It’s not being stuck in a hole that defines
the man, it’s what you do after you find yourself there.” What does this
mean? What does it suggest about responding to difficult situations?
● How does each narrator struggle? What do they struggle for and
against? How is each person’s struggle unique to his own situation? What
struggles do you share with the narrators?
Write
● Many people believe that without struggle, there can be no progress.
Write a five-paragraph essay based on personal experiences or using historical events that support or challenge this belief.
● Look up struggle in a thesaurus and list its synonyms. How are the
meanings of these words alike? What are the differences in meaning?
Apply each word to a current issue that pertains to your neighborhood,
city, or the world at large.
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Explore
● When you hear the word struggle, what images come to mind? If you
were to paint a picture of the word using only symbols and colors, what
would it look like?
● Interview a family member or friend who is at least ten years older than
you. Ask them about something they struggled with when they were a
teenager. Find out about what they had to overcome, what obstacles were
hardest to surmount, and what they learned from the experience.
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4. GROWTH
“I know people might think I’m this super-predator or some
monster, and back then I was a monster. But it’s just that I’m
not like that now. It’s not one thing. It’s so many things...
it’s jail; it’s the missing people; you knowing your life is going
nowhere. It’s all of those things, like rolled into one. It’s like
they all hit you at one time and that’s really going to make you
want to change your life around.” — ANDRÉ VAUGHN
Discuss
● The Youth Portraits narrators reflect on a pivotal event that caused
them to “grow up.” However, in many ways, prior to the event, they were
already living like grown-ups. How do you know when someone is acting
grown up? What are the characteristics of being a grown-up?
● Proverbs from around the world—”Smooth seas do not a sailor make”
(African); “Men fall in order to rise” (Arabic)—suggest similar things
about growing up. What do they imply about personal growth?
● What are “growing pains”? How can growing pains be emotional as well
as physical? What does growing up mean to you? How do you know when
you are grown? In what ways are you still growing? In what ways are you
already there?
Write
● Another African proverb states that “it takes a village to raise a child.”
What does this mean? What resources would be helpful for parents of
teenagers in our modern world? Write a letter to an elected official asking for money for your idea. Explain why this support is necessary and
what you hope the results will be.
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If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
(excerpt from the poem “If,” by Rudyard Kipling, c. 1914)
About the Text
● What is a “foe”?
● Why does the author capitalize the word “Man”?
Connecting with the Text
● What does the poet suggest about adulthood? Is this easy to achieve?
What is the difference between being “the man” and being a Man? Which
carries more responsibilities? To whom?
Explore
● Choose one story to listen to again and create a timeline of pivotal
events in the narrator’s life. At which moment do you think the narrator
knew she or he had to grow up? In what ways was that a critical moment?
● Interview parents, older siblings, or friends who have watched you
grow. What moments do they consider critical in your life, ones that
caused you to grow up? Do you agree with their selections?
● Create a timeline entitled “My Personal Growth.” Include important
lessons you have learned in school and in life that have formed the person you are today.
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5. FOLLOWERS
& LEADERS
“[Knowledge] was older than me, and I looked up to
him. He had these eyes … he could see right through
you. He just came out of doing a five-year stretch, so
he was real gangstafied, and he acted that way.”
— A RIEL CORPORAN
Discuss
● What are the qualities and/or characteristics of a good leader? Which
of those qualities are particularly valuable during times of crisis or
change? What are the rights and responsibilities of leaders toward the
people they lead?
● A leading political philosopher of the Italian Renaissance, Niccolo
Macchiavelli, once asked, “Is it better [for a leader] to be feared or
loved?” Which do you feel is more effective in terms of leadership? Why?
● There is a thin line between leaders and followers, and most leaders
follow someone. How is each narrator a leader? In what ways do they follow others?
Write
● Positions of power are granted to those who have the ability to lead and
to follow. If police officers are responsible for leading a society to safety,
what rules should they follow in order to do their jobs well?
● Make a list of fifteen to twenty people and/or organizations the
President should talk to about the problems and dangers that need to be
addressed in America.
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● “I am not a role model; I’m just a basketball player,” Charles Barkley
proclaimed in a 1993 Nike advertisement. Write a letter to the NBA AllStar responding to this statement. Before writing your letter think about
the following questions: Why would Barkley not want to be a role model?
Can he escape being one? What are the responsibilities of role models for
the fans that look up to them?
Text
Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home
Where water is not thirsty
And bread loaf is not stone
Can make it out here alone.
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone
Now if you listen closely
I’ll tell you what I know
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan
’Cause nobody,
But nobody
Can make it out here alone.
I came up with one thing
And I don’t believe I’m wrong
That nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone
Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone.
There are some millionaires
With money they can’t use
Their wives run round like banshees
Their children sing the blues
They’ve got expensive doctors
To cure their hearts of stone
no nobody
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Alone, all alone
Nobody, but nobody
Can make it out here alone
(“Alone,” by Maya
Angelou, 1975)
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About the Text
● This poem is an answer to something. What is the question?
“The race of man is suffering,” the author writes. What are we suffering
from? What words or phrases from the poem are evidence of your analysis?
Connecting with the Text
● What does Angelou’s poem suggest about survival? Who do you sur-
round yourself with in order to get through life? Whose ideals do you
follow? How do you lead others?
Explore
● “If we stand tall, it is because we stand on the backs of those who came
before us,” a Yoruba proverb says. What does this proverb mean? In your
life, who are the “people who came before”? How do you “stand on” their
backs? Make a poster honoring a person whose “back you stand on.”
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6. TAKING
RESPONSIBILITY
“That’s the whole reason for me being a father to
my child; to make sure he don’t go through the
same things I went through. Wouldn’t make no
sense for me to be there if he going to go through
the same things I went through. That don’t make
no sense. That don’t add up.” –BERNARD SKELTON
Discuss
● What does it mean to take responsibility? Why is it easier to blame
someone else rather than look at your own fault in a situation?
● What is the difference between murder and manslaughter? Which
punishment should be harsher? Why does the law distinguish between the
two? Is that fair?
● Define denial. How is denial different from blame? What do they have
in common? When is denial of responsibility appropriate? When is it
harmful?
● “A fault denied is twice committed.” (African proverb) What does this
mean? Do you agree or disagree?
● In listening to the stories, who seems to take responsibility for their
actions? Who does not? How does this affect your opinion of their character?
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● Some people believe that in order to be given a second chance, you
must fully accept responsibility for the mistakes you made. Do you agree
or disagree? Why? Would you give someone a second chance who does
not believe that what they did was wrong, but has paid their debt off
through time or with money?
Write
● What responsibilities do grown-ups have that teenagers do not? What
are the responsibilities of teenagers? Write a job description for a teenager. Include the skills and qualities a teenager needs to be successful with
family, friends, at school, and at work. Write a similar job description for
an adult.
● Public officials often find ways to circumvent their own responsibility
by saying things like “I can’t remember.” Write an essay that discusses how
the public views a politician who says such a thing after a big scandal
breaks.
Explore
● The Encarta Online Dictionary lists seven distinct definitions of
responsibility. How many can you think of? Visit the reference section at
www.encarta.com to look up the seven different definitions in that dictionary.
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7. CHANGE FOR A
BETTER FUTURE
“I'm not looking to rob nobody anymore, or cut
them. I'm in college now. Maybe someday Eduardo
will follow me there too.” —YOVANI WHYTE
Discuss
● “Education is your passport to the future,” Malcolm X said, “for
tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” What does this
mean? How do the Youth Portraits narrators’ experiences reflect this
idea? Is education the only way, or are there other things that can act like
a “passport to the future”? If so, what are they?
● Why does it take courage to change your behavior? The singer
Stephanie Mills said, “Instead of wallowing in my misery, I just made
some changes.” It sounds like this is a quick and painless solution. In
reality, how long does it take to see results from a change that you make?
Think of a time in your life where you completely changed the way you
did something. When did you first start to see real results? What was easy
about making the change? What obstacles did you face?
● What is meant by the expression “your life is your invention”? What
factors determine the direction of your life? Which ones are in your control, and which are out of your hands? How can you deal with these factors so that you move toward the future you want to create for yourself?
Write
● Is it possible for a person to be a “bad person” and then change into a
“good person”? If you believe that change is possible, what does it require
to fully change? If change is not possible, why is that? Write a five-paragraph essay that responds to these questions.
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● What is your dream for the future of your country? Write a poem in
the style of Langston Hughes (below) beginning with the line, “I dream a
world…”.
Text
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn.
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way,
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black and white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And every man is free,
Where wretchedness will hang its head,
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-Of such I dream, my world!
(“I Dream a World,” by Langston Hughes, 1945)
About the Text
● The poet uses a lot of opposites in his description of what the world is
and what he wants it to be. List all of the opposites. Use context to help
you figure out the meaning of words you do not know.
● What are the “bounties of the earth”?
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Connecting with the Text
● What is Hughes’s dream for his country? What is your dream for your
neighborhood, city or country? What will have to happen in society for
your dream to come true? What part can you play in realizing that
dream?
Text
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops—at all.
(“Hope,” by Emily Dickinson, 1891)
About the Text
● When you think of hope, what animals come to mind?
Connecting with the Text
● What does Dickinson suggest about hope? What is the difference
between hope and a dream? Do you have hope for the future of the
world?
Explore
● What are the top three problems facing America today? How are these
problems being addressed? What problems do you think America will
have to face in the future? What can we be doing now in order to deal
with these potential problems? Look in the newspapers for a week and
read articles that discuss the problem you chose to focus on. What additional information did you learn about the problem and its possible
solutions?
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Canada, Geoffrey. Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun: A Personal History of Violence.
Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.
Children’s Express and Goodwillie Susan, ed. Voice from the Future.
New York: Crown, 1993.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Random House, 1947.
Evans, Jeff, ed. Undoing Time. Boston: Northeastern Press, 2001.
Gilligan, James. Violence. New York: Putnam, 1996.
Juvenile Justice Project of the Correctional Association of New York. 2002.
Rethinking Juvenile Detention in New York City. New York.
Poetry and Songs
Angelou, Maya. “Alone.” The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.
New York: Random House, 1994.
Dickinson, Emily. “Hope.” www.poetsociety.org
Field, Edward. “New York.” New and Selected Poems: From the Book of My Life.
New York: Sheep Meadow Press, 1987.
Hughes, Langston. “I Dream a World.” onlinepoetryclassroom.org
Ice-T, “Colors,” Colors (Original Soundtrack), Warner Brothers. 1988.
Kipling, Rudyard. “If.” www.everypoet.com
KRS-One, “Who Protects Us from You,” Ghetto Music: Blue Prints Of Hip-Hop.
Jive Records. 1989.
Sondheim, Stephen, “Jets,” West Side Story. 1961. www.westsidestory.com
Toner, Robin. “Welfare Chief Is Hoping to Promote Marriage,”
New York Times, 19 February 2002.
Films
Singleton, John. Boyz in the Hood, 1991.
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ABOUT THE SPONSORING
ORGANIZATIONS
Sound Portraits Productions
Sound Portraits is a New York city-based independent nonprofit production company dedicated to telling stories that bring neglected voices to an
American audience. Known for its cutting-edge radio documentaries,
Sound Portraits employs innovative approaches to disseminate ideas,
spark discussion, and broaden the national debate on such issues as poverty, juvenile justice, prison, and race. To learn more about its work, visit
www.soundportraits.org.
The Youth Portraits series was produced out of Sound Portraits under
the direction of Stacy Abramson. The project was a partnership between
Sound Portraits and Friends of Island Academy with support from the
Youth Media Program of the Open Society Institute, the National
Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the
New York Community Trust, Real Networks, the New York State Council
on the Arts, the Edwin Gould Foundation for Children, and the Lindsay
Shea Foundation. The five short audio pieces were first broadcast on All
Things Considered on WNYC in January of 2002. The pieces are also
available on CD and can be downloaded from the Youth Portraits Web
site: www.youthportraits.org.
Friends of Island Academy
Friends of Island Academy was founded in 1989 by the first principal of
the high school on Rikers Island and is devoted to breaking the cycle of
return to jail. Based in midtown Manhattan, Friends works with 350
young people each year upon their release from Rikers or other juvenile
detention facilities. The organization is dedicated to providing educational services including GED and literacy classes, as well as employment
services such as job preparation and placement, mentoring, counseling,
and youth leadership. For those who participate in Friends of Island programs, the recidivism rate drops from an average of 70% to 17%. More
information about Friends of Island Academy can be found on their Web
site: www.foiany.org.
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WNYC Radio
New York Public Radio (93.9 FM, AM 820 and www.wnyc.org) is
America's largest public radio station, reaching more than one million
listeners weekly. The Youth Portraits series was first broadcast on WNYC
during January, 2002, and is one of several educational and community
outreach initiatives championed by the station. WNYC works with the
New York City Board of Education to develop curriculum material, as
well as with community and youth organizations around New York to
develop the next generation of radio reporters and producers. In particular, WNYC's Radio Rookies youth journalism training program, which
pairs volunteer WNYC journalists with youth from Manhattan's five boroughs, has been nationally recognised. To learn more about WNYC, New
York Public Radio, please visit www.wnyc.org.
The New York City Department of Education
The Office of the Superintendent of Alternative, Adult and Continuing
Education Schools and Programs (AACESP) administers educational
services for juveniles and young adults. AACESP supported the creation
of the Youth Portraits Study Guide by providing its writer, a teacher
who has worked with court-involved youth for more than ten years.
To learn more about the work they do, visit them on the Web at
www.altschools.org.
Open Society Institute
The Youth Media Program of the Open Society Institute
(www.soros.org/youth) believes that actively engaging young people in
media activities encourages them to be more socially conscious, to have
greater commitment to civic society, and to develop strong critical thinking and communication skills. The Open Society Institute has provided
funding for the creation, production and dissemination of this guide as
well as for the Youth Portraits CD.
Credits
The Youth Portraits stories were produced by Stacy Abramson, Susan
Burton and David Miller with production help from Karen Callahan,
Jamie York, and Matt Power. Education consultant was Lisa Cowan. The
editor was Dave Isay.
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The study guide was produced by Stacy Abramson out of WNYC and
written by Rebecca Weinstein. The guide was designed by Mark
Michaelson and copy-edited by Carrie Schneider. Photos courtesy of
Andre Lambertson and Andrew Lichtenstein.
Thanks to Robin Friedman,Tim Lisante, Karen Callahan and Beth
Navon for help with this guide for their determination to get these stories out into the world and into the hands of other young people.
And of course, special thanks to each of the Youth Portraits narrators for
sharing their stories.
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Additional Resources
www.aclu.org
American Civil Liberties Union web site
www.brandycampaign.com
A web site that explores and promotes gun control.
www.can.com.za/non-violence
A project that works to change attitudes about violence, motivating young
people to take positive action against violence in their communities.
www.childrensdefense.org
The Children’s Defense Fund web site offers statistics and resources
about the state of youth in America today.
www.covenanthouseny.org/links
An extensive list of links from Covenant House, the largest privately
funded childcare agency in the United States.
www.foiany.org
The web site of Friends of Island Academy, a community-based organization that provides educational and counseling services to young people
after their release from Rikers Island.
www.gangstyle.com
A web site developed by ex-gang members.
www.gangwar.com
Information on intervention and prevention of youth gang violence.
www.home.inreach.com/gangbang
Mothers Against Gang Wars web site.
www.inthemix.com
PBS series created for teenagers featuring current issues and celebrities
www.nyc.gov
New York City government’s web site.
www.nytimes.com
The New York Times web site.
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© 2002 Sound Portraits Productions.
All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws.
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