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From YouTube: Arlington Reads | Andrea Elliott
Description
Join us for a conversation between author Andrea Elliott, Library Director Diane Kresh, and Department of Human Services Director Anita Friedman to discuss Elliott's book "Invisible Child" on Thursday, Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. Doorways, Bridges to Independence, and PROJECTPeace will be in attendance.
The event will be live-streamed for registered attendees.
https://arlingtonva.libcal.com/event/9268460?_ga=2.108425090.180201183.1666102142-922438133.1652797813
B
Can
you
hear
me
well
or
sort
of
a
little
louder?
Okay
in
the
back
has
confirmed
that
it's
just
fine.
So
thank
you
for
being
here
this
evening.
My
name
is
Diane
kresh
I'm,
the
director
of
Arlington
Public
Library,
we've
been
doing
programs
like
these
for
about
16
years.
Everyone
is
different,
they're,
always
a
thrill,
and
it's
Delight
delightful
to
have
so
many
of
you
out
here
this
evening.
I
heard
it's
cold,
so
I
guess
that's
the
time
of
year
that
we're
in
let's
take
a
minute,
please
or
second
rather
to
mute
our
devices.
B
On
Cue,
all
right
so
since
2006
Arlington
reads
has
brought
authors
and
readers
together
to
discuss
the
most
challenging
issues
of
our
times
and
share
the
stories
of
those
who
are
unseen
lives
affected
by
housing,
insecurity,
racism,
poverty,
domestic
violence,
drug
addiction,
hunger,
immigration
among
many
others,
we're
fortunate
to
have
the
friends
of
Arlington
Library
as
our
sponsor.
In
these
events,
not
only
do
they
pay
for
all
Library
programming
everything
from
summer
reading
through
author
events
like
these,
they
support
our
mission
to
be
always
free
and
always
open,
I,
don't
know.
B
If
any
of
you
went
to
the
book
sale
a
couple
of
weeks
ago,
every
hand
should
be
in
the
air
right:
okay,
the
the
money
that
we
earn
at
the
bookstore.
Excuse
me
at
the
book.
Sales
all
comes
back
to
the
library,
so
it's
an
enormous
benefit.
It's
not
only
a
fun
Community
event,
but
it's
just
terrific
support
for
the
library,
and
we
could
not
do
that
without
the
friends.
We're
also
joined
tonight
by
a
representative
from
project
piece.
They
have
a
table
in
the
lobby.
B
If
you
have
questions
they're
part
of
the
Department
of
Human
Services,
so
they're
here
supporting
us
as
well,
and
the
book
signing
will
be
managed
by
independent
Bookseller,
one
more
page,
which
is
a
terrific
bookstore
and
they've,
been
a
really
wonderful
friend
to
us.
For
the
last
several
years,
this
year's
series
rebooting
the
classics,
was
presented
in
partnership
with
freedom,
reads
a
first
of
its
kind
organization
that
supports
the
efforts
of
people
in
prison
to
imagine
new
possibilities
for
their
lives.
B
It's
the
brainchild
of
Reginald
Dwayne,
Betts,
poet,
lawyer
and
prison
reform,
Advocate,
who
also
spent
eight
years
in
prison
and
knows
the
power
of
books
to
open
worlds
and
change
lives
through
curated
collections
of
new
books
and
classics
reintroduced
by
contemporary
authors,
men
and
women
housed
in
our
prisons
and
detention
centers,
including
Arlington's
Detention
Center,
can
imagine
what
lies
ahead
for
them
once
they
leave
prison.
As
bets
said
in
last
month's
Library
sponsored
program
at
the
Detention
Center,
you
can't
be
what
you
can't
see
Our
Guest
this
evening.
B
Joining
me
this
evening
is
my
colleague
and
friend,
Anita
Friedman,
director
of
Arlington's
Department
of
Human
Services
and
we'll
kind
of
tag
team.
The
interview
as
we
go
along
two-time
Pulitzer
prize-winning
author
and
investigative
journalist,
Andrea
Elliott
has
dedicated
her
career
to
unflinching,
immersive
reporting,
Invisible,
Child
poverty,
survival
and
hope
in
an
American
city
won
a
2022
Pulitzer
Prize
was
one
of
Barack
Obama's
favorite
books
of
2021
and
was
named
one
of
the
best
books
of
the
Year
by
NPR
Amazon
and
the
New
York
Times.
B
Andrea
is
also
a
distinguished
chronicler
of
Muslims
Living
in
America
Post,
9,
11
and
Imam
in
America
about
a
Muslim
leader
in
Brooklyn
won
the
Pulitzer
Prize
for
feature
writing
in
2007.
in
their
citation.
The
judges
wrote
that
Elliot's
account
beautifully
written,
provides
an
unparalleled
look
into
the
making
of
terrorists
and
is
a
reporting
tour
de
force.
Andrea
has
served
as
an
Emerson
Collective
fellow
at
new
America,
a
visiting
journalist
at
the
Russell
Sage
foundation
and
a
visiting
scholar
at
the
Columbia
population.
Research
Center.
B
She
is
the
recipient
of
a
George
Polk
award,
Anna
Whiting
Foundation
Grant
Columbia
University's
medal
for
excellence
and
was
recently
the
winner
of
the
New
York
Public
Library's
2022
Helen
Bernstein
award
for
excellence
in
journalism.
She's
appeared
on
media
such
as
the
PBS
NewsHour,
NPR's,
fresh
air
and
Talk
of
the
Nation
CNN
and
BBC.
Please
welcome
Andrea
Elliott.
D
C
I,
just
still
honestly,
when
I
look
out
at
the
audience
here,
I
couldn't
be
happier
to
be
here.
Number
one
I'm,
a
DC
native
and
it's
just
it's
good
to
be
home
born
in
Virginia
actually
then
went
to
DC.
So
you
know
there
were
so
many
years
that
I
spent
on
this
book
when
I
couldn't
imagine
this
moment
so
I'm
just
very
grateful
to
be
here.
C
This
is
Dasani
Dasani
and
I
met
in
2012
when
she
was
11
years
old.
It
took
me
nearly
a
decade
to
write
what
I'm
about
to
read
you,
which
comes
actually
pretty
early
in
to
the
book.
It's
the
last
thing,
I
wrote,
but
it
took
me
living
through
all
of
this
to
see
what
I'm
about
to
write
read
to
you,
because
it's
maybe
it
was
the
hardest
thing,
because
it's
the
passage
that
attempts
to
explain
why
she
matters
and
why
her
life
matters
and
I
want
to
preface
that
by
saying
I
know.
C
This
is
long
I've
been
told
it
reads
quickly,
but
it
is
the
length
of
a
presidential,
biography
and
I
believe
that
her
life
is
worth
every
bit
as
much
and
as
kind
of
in
honor
of
that
I
very
intentionally
modeled.
This
passage
after
something
that
Robert
Carroll
wrote
in
in
the
first
of
his
books
about
LBJ,
which
was
about
understanding,
Lyndon,
Baines
Johnson
and
the
character
in
particular,
of
the
36th
president
of
the
United
States
of
America
is
essential
to
understanding
the
character
of
America.
C
C
Back
then
from
the
ghetto's
isolated
Corners,
a
perfumead
was
the
portal
to
a
better
place
today,
Dasani
lives,
surrounded
by
wealth,
whether
she
is
peering
into
the
boho
chic
shops
near
her
shelter
or
surfing
the
internet
on
Auburn's
shared
computer.
She
sees
out
to
a
world
that
rarely
sees
her
to
see.
Dasani
is
to
see
all
the
places
in
her
life
from
the
corridors
of
school
to
the
emergency
rooms
of
hospitals
to
the
crowded
vestibules
of
family
court
and
Welfare.
C
C
C
Only
together
have
they
learned
to
navigate
poverty
systems,
ones
with
names,
suggesting
help
Child
Protection,
Public,
Assistance,
criminal
justice,
homeless
services
to
watch
these
systems
play
out
into
Sony's
life
is
to
Glimpse
their
power,
their
flaws
and
the
threat
they
pose
to
dasani's
own
system
of
survival.
Her
siblings
are
her
greatest
solace,
their
separation,
her
greatest
fear.
C
This
is
freighted
by
other
forces
Beyond,
her
control,
hunger,
violence,
racism,
homelessness,
parental
drug
addiction,
pollution,
segregated
schools.
Any
one
of
these
afflictions
could
derail
a
promising
child
as
Dasani
grows
up.
She
must
contend
with
them
all
now
when
I
began.
Let's
rewind
this!
It's
because
this
is
like
eight
years
before
I
wrote
this
I'm
standing.
This
is
maybe
a
few
weeks
before
this
Photograph
by
the
great
Ruth
Remsen
was
was
taken
outside
dasani's,
Brooklyn,
homeless,
shelter
and
I
I
actually
met
her
there.
C
C
C
It
was
a
decrepit
shelter
in
Brooklyn
and
as
the
years
that,
when
the
years
that
as
the
years
came,
that
I
continued
to
follow
them,
I
would
Witness
some
of
the
most
outrageous
forms
of
systemic
oppression
and
the
most
remarkable
acts
of
family
courage,
resilience,
love
I,
would
come
to
see
my
own
City
with
new
eyes.
I
would
come
to
see
the
boundaries
of
race
and
class
that
had
never
been
invisible
to
Dasani,
but
are
invisible
to
a
lot
of
people.
C
All
this
began
with
a
statistic:
I
saw
on
my
computer
that
one
in
five
children
in
America
are
growing
up
poor.
Now
it's
about
one
in
seven,
we're
talking
about
in
raw
numbers,
roughly
13
million
children,
it's
the
highest
child
poverty
rate
of
any
wealthy
nation
in
the
world
and
most
developed
Nations,
and
so
that
was
that
was
just
sort
of
jaw-dropping
for
me
in
part,
because
the
public
discourse
was
and
continues
to
be
so
often
when
it
comes
to
Poverty
about
the
adults.
C
It's
centered
on
blaming
adults
for
poor
choices,
for
a
lack
of
self-reliance,
a
lack
of
personal
responsibility,
and
we
talk
about
the
adults
without
Reckoning.
With
their
children
and
I
kept
asking
myself,
but
what
about
their
children?
Where
are
they?
This
is
a
community
that
has
very
little
political
clout
because
a
they
don't
vote,
they
have
very
little
power
and
B.
C
They
tend
to
live
in
marginalized
communities
that
are
under
a
lot
of
surveillance
by
the
government
and
they
understand
that
they
need
to
protect
their
families,
and
so
this
is
what
we
would
call
in
journalism,
a
very
hard
target
to
write
about
children
who
are
poor,
but
I
kept
asking
myself
what
about
the
kids?
What
about
the
kids?
This
is
the
epigraph
of
my
book.
C
So
my
entire
Focus
was
them:
Dasani
immediately
stood
out
to
me
she's
there
she
is
at
church.
They
had
this
mobile
van
that
church
that
they
attended
once
a
week.
She
was
just
you
know,
there's
so
many
words
to
describe
her.
She
was
a
firecracker.
She
was
feisty
and
little
and
electric
and
full
of
ideas
and
sparkly
and
very,
very
loquacious.
She
wanted
to
talk.
C
She
loved
telling
me
things
which
was
gold
for
me,
because
so
many
kids
I'd
interview
up
until
then
were
struggled
to
explain
what
they
were
going
through
and
she
wanted
to
narrate
her
experience
to
me.
So
that
was
very
important.
She
was
one
of
these
kids
who
beat
all
the
boys
at
pull-ups,
even
though
she
was
so
small.
C
She
was
also
on
the
honor
roll
when
I
met
her,
even
though
her
life
in
the
shelter
which
we'll
get
to
in
a
minute
was
another
story,
but
on
the
outside,
she
projected
aspiration
and
drive
and
I
just
wanted
to
tell
that
story.
I
felt
compelled
to
follow
her
in
her
life.
For
all
those
reasons
she
loved
being.
First,
she
was,
you
know
not
just
on
the
honor
roll.
She
was
the
firstborn
child
of
Chanel
who,
as
I
mentioned
in
the
reading
I
just
did.
C
It
was
named
after
a
perfume
ad
that
her
mother
spotted
in
a
magazine
in
1978.
from
a
very
segregated
part
of
Brooklyn
Brownsville,
which
back
then
in
the
70s
city,
is
bankrupt.
There
are
fires
everywhere.
You
know
it's
very
siled.
A
magazine
ad
was
the
closest
you
could
get
to
this
other
world
and
so
embedded
in
their
very
names
from
the
moment
I
met
them.
I
saw
this
kind
of
interesting
narrative
Arc
that
you
fast
forward.
C
You
know
23
years
later
and
Chanel
is
now
pregnant,
with
her
first
child
and
she's,
looking
for
a
name
and
she's,
also
reaching
for
something
aspirational
and
Wham
on
the
bodega
shelves
of
her
Bodega.
Is
this
new
product
by
Coca-Cola
the
Dasani
bottled
water
which
had
just
come
out,
and
this
is
also
very
close
to
where
her
mother
was
born.
But
by
now
the
wealth
had
arrived
and
so
Dasani
would
grow
up
in
a
city
that
was
much
more,
but
this
gentrified
I
mean,
if
you
know,
Adams
Morgan.
You
know
the
story
of
Adams
Morgan.
C
The
poor,
poor,
like
Dasani,
is
growing
up
with
access
to
all
the
things
that
she
can't
have,
but
she
also
has
an
idea
of
what
those
things
are,
because
that
she's
surrounded
by
them.
So
these
were
some
of
the
themes
that
we
can
get
into
a
little
bit
later.
Just
a
few
blocks
away
was
her
shelter.
The
Auburn
Family
Residence
and
I
I
went
there
with
my
investigative
hat
on
more
than
anything.
I
was
on
the
investigative
unit.
C
I
wanted
to
get
access
to
the
shelter
because
I
had
heard
horror
stories,
but,
of
course
the
public
wasn't
allowed
anywhere
near
it,
and
I
wanted
to
stay
as
I
wanted
to
keep
my
reporting
as
quiet
as
possible.
I
hesitate
to
use
the
word
undercover
because
I'm,
not
a
cop,
although
people
suspected
I
was
a
quote
unquote.
C
Snitch
but
I
was
hanging
out
at
the
front
of
the
shelter
talking
to
mothers
and
trying
to
find
my
way
into
this
story
and
and
thinking
of
it,
conceiving
of
it
as
a
story
about
child
poverty,
but
also
about
the
shelter
and
out
walked
Chanel,
and
that
family
became
my
portal
in
I,
eventually
actually
snuck
in
through
the
back.
We
can
tell
that
story
later,
but
set
off
security.
You
know
I
set
off
a
fire
alarm
and
ran
passport
sets
of
security
guards.
C
To
survive
in
poverty
requires
a
lot
of
innovation.
It
requires
there's
this
idea
that,
for
example,
the
poor
don't
work.
If
you
are
in
the
shelter
you
see
that
people
are
working
all
the
time
just
to
survive.
It
may
not
look
like
work
in
terms
of
the
formal
labor
market.
It
might
look
more
like
bartering,
but
so
there
were
just
so
many
things.
C
They
would
prop
a
hair
dryer
on
a
milk
crate
and
aim
it
at
the
baby's
crib.
This
is
baby
Lily
right
there
to
keep
her
warm
at
night,
because
there
was
no
heat
just
so
little
control
over
your
environment
and
and
really
just
roaches
mice,
mold
horrible
horrible
dickensian
conditions
in
a
shelter
system.
That
was
run
by
City
agency
that
had
a
nearly
one
billion
dollar
yearly
budget.
C
Her
definition
of
the
impact
of
root
shock
is
that
it
is
a
traumatic
on
people,
traumatic,
stress,
reaction
to
the
destruction
of
one's
emotional
system.
So
what
was
emotional
ecosystem?
What
was
dasani's
ecosystem
well
to
her?
What
kept
her
so
as
horrible
as
this
all
sounds.
What
I
come
back
to
is
the
point
I
made
about
Innovation.
Kids
are
naturally
creative
right.
C
She
considered
herself
a
third
parent,
something
that
she
was
proud
of,
but
also
frustrated
by
her
own
parents.
Chanel
Supreme
struggled
with
the
same
opioid
addiction
and
has
taken
much
of
America
and
has
led
to
more
than
a
million
overdose
deaths
since
the
1990s
as
chronicled
by
Beth
Macy
and
many
others,
they
got
hooked.
The
same
way.
A
lot
of
white
Americans
did
Chanel
was
prescribed
Oxycontin
during
a
Long
Hospital
stay
and
by
the
time
I
met
them.
C
I'm,
going
to
show
you
just
a
very
quick
video
of
my
early
interaction
with
Dasani,
because
I
really
like
it's
important
to
me
and
I,
really
like
to
bring
her
into
the
room
and
have
her
voice
be
a
part
of
this.
You
can
get
a
sense
of
both
her.
It's
it's
hard
to
watch
at
times.
I
will
tell
you
it's
it's
short,
but
I'm
asking
her
about
her.
C
What
how
she
defines
the
perfect
childhood
and
you'll
see
that
she
makes
reference
to
her
parents
struggles
with
addiction,
and
she
this
is
a
child
who
is
very,
very
afraid
of
her
family
being
broken
up,
and
so
this
is
dangerous
territory,
and
so
she
wavers
a
bit
in
talking
about
it,
describing
it
in
different
ways
and
then
you'll
also
see
the
way
in
which
she
pushes
back
at
me
in
your
imagination.
What
does
the
perfect
childhood
look
like.
C
C
My
purpose
was
to
understand
a
lot
of
things:
the
systems
in
her
life,
but
also
what
it
was
like
to
be
growing
up
deeply
poor
in
the
richest
city,
one
of
the
richest
cities
in
the
world,
the
city
with
the
highest
concentration
of
richest
billionaires
in
the
world,
including
the
mayor,
who's,
a
billionaire.
What
was
that
like
and
I,
kept
saying
that
word
and
then
I?
C
Understand
comes
from
Old
English
from
the
word
understanding
and
it
literally
means
to
stand
in
the
midst
of
and
I
think
that's
if
I
had
to
describe
it
summarize
what
I
did
in
all
those
years
that
Dasani
was
to
stand
in
the
midst
of
her
life.
It
was
to
ride
the
train,
it
was
to
stand
in
the
welfare
line.
It
was
to
see
all
kinds
of
moments,
big
and
small,
that
I
would
never
be
able
to
to
unsee.
As
I
said
earlier,
and
one
of
her
greatest
Role
Models
was
Faith
Hester.
C
C
She
sees
the
bottle
now
we're
in
2012
and
bedstuy
has
become
an
emblem
of
gentrification
and
that
teacher
Faith
Hester
a
year
after
I
met
her
and
began
following
all
of
these
lives
was,
as
she
puts
it,
gentrified
out
of
her
neighborhood.
She,
her
landlord
landlord
flipped
her
building
and
she
landed
in
the
shelter
system,
one-third
of
parents
in
the
shelter
system.
C
Right
now
we
have
nearly
70
000
in
the
New
York
City
shelter
system
are
working
she's,
one
of
the
first
people
who
called
my
attention
to
the
child
protection
system
and
I
mentioned
the
systems
that
sound
like
they're,
providing
help
I'm
going
to
speed
forward
in
the
interest
of
time
and
just
say
a
couple,
quick
things.
If
you
ever
doubt,
there's
a
geography
to
Poverty
I'd
urge
you
to
look
at
the
map
at
the
beginning
of
this
book,
where
I
had
Dasani
chart.
C
For
me,
these
systems,
each
of
them
have
acronyms
by
the
way
homeless,
Services
is
DHS.
Criminal
justice
is
doj.
Public
assistance,
HRA
child
protections
ACS.
None
of
these
acronyms
had
the
power
of
ACS.
It's
like
saying
ice
to
a
migrant
kid,
because
ACS
is
the
agency
that
could
break
up
your
family
and
so
there
they
are-
and
you
know
so
she
saw
each
Borough
in
terms
of
those
acronyms.
They
were
mapped
in
her
mind.
She
had
a
sort
of
map
that
other
people
just
don't
see
because
she
grew
up
going
to
these
places
in
2015.
C
Acs
did
in
fact
remove
the
children.
We
could
talk
about
that
case
later
of
all
the
kids
I,
never
thought
that
anything
could
come
between
Dasani
and
her
sister,
Aviana
and
I'm
going
to
close
by
reading
this
passage,
iviana
was
named
after
a
pricier
bottle
bottled
water.
11
months
later
they
were
Irish
twins
Evian.
C
They
shared
the
same
pillow,
the
same
mattress,
the
same
dresser
drawer.
They
had
secret
handshakes
to
this
day.
I
was
with
them
last
week.
If
a
joke
sometimes
like
nothing
will
be
said
and
they'll
just
start
laughing
and
it's
like
they've
shared
a
joke
through
telepathy
and
I'm
like
what
what
just
happened
like
they're,
so
so
United
I
I
really
believe
that
they
didn't
see
each
other
as
individuals
for
the
first
six
years
of
their
lives.
C
They
were
so
so
close
and
when
they
were
taken
away
and
put
in
different
foster
homes,
something
happened
that
I
could
never
have
predicted,
which
is
that
they
became
estranged
forever.
Family
writes
Dasani
on
December
3rd
2017.
above
a
photograph
on
Facebook
showing
three
new
friends.
They
are
throwing
gang
signs.
C
Dasani
now
16
knows
that
her
strange
sister
Aviana
will
be
wrangled
by
this
to
write
forever.
Family
is
dasani's
way
of
saying
the
opposite,
that
nothing
is
forever
not
even
family
that
one's
sister
can
be
replaced
as
easily
as
one's
own
blood,
which
is
not
thicker
than
water,
as
their
mother
used
to
say
in
the
photograph
Dasani
wears
a
red
bandana
in
allegiance
to
the
Bloods
one
family
is
poised
to
take
the
place
of
another
Dasani
has
not
seen
Aviana
in
over
a
year.
C
They
last
exchanged
texts
five
months
ago,
but
Dasani
knows
how
to
break
her
sister's
silence
precisely
two
hours
and
35
minutes
after
Dasani
posts,
the
forever
family
photo
Aviana
appears
on
Facebook
clicking
a
digital
hand
the
hand
waves
at
her
sister
Dasani
waves
back,
hey
sis
Wright's
15
year
old
Aviana
feverish
correspondence
follows
they
agreed
to
meet
the
following
weekend
at
a
subway
station
in
Queens.
They
are
both
nervous,
so
Aviana
sends
detailed
instructions.
C
C
Instead,
they
settle
on
Broadway
Junction,
which
is
impossible
to
miss.
Got
you.
Sis
Aviana,
writes
on
the
afternoon
of
December
10
Aviana
leaves
her
foster
home
in
Queens
and
desani
leaves
her
foster
home
in
Staten
Island.
They
check
their
phones.
I'm
on
the
train,
writes
Aviana
me
too
rates
to
Sani
by
1
28
pm.
They
are
minutes
apart.
C
Both
trains
arrive
and
the
sisters
dismount.
They
cannot
find
each
other
iviana
writes
that
she's
here
Dasani
writes
that
she's
coming
upstairs
Aviana
writes
that
she's
coming
down
no
Dasani
right
she's
coming
up.
Where
are
you
at
Dasani
asks
if
Jana's
at
the
turnstile
come
to
the
escalators
rights
to
Sani
thread
stops
the
station
stops?
C
They
have
no
words,
they
hold
each
other
like
refugees
who
have
crossed
an
unseen
border.
Everyone
is
watching
mind
your
own.
Damn
business
Dasani
manages
to
shout
from
her
sister's
impossible
clutch.
She
cannot
breathe
like
this.
No
one
hugs
like
this
you're
holding
me
too
tight.
Let
me
go,
let
me
go
No
One
lets
go.
C
C
C
F
B
You,
yes
all
right,
so
we're
going
to
talk
for
a
little
bit
kind
of
toggle
back
and
forth
between
the
two
of
us
and
then
we'll
open
it
up
for
questions
from
all
of
you
and
my
staff
will
will
manage
that.
But
I
want
this
to
be
as
engaging
as
possible,
because
this
is
an
incredibly
powerful
story.
It's
a
real
privilege
to
sit
here
with
you
and
have
this
conversation
about
Dasani
it
also
reading
rereading
the
book
call
to
mine
several
comparisons.
B
B
So,
aside
from
the
obvious
parallels,
I
was
curious
about
special
ethical
challenges,
maybe
that
you
may
have
had,
with
a
becoming
close
to
the
family,
to
begin
with
earning
their
trust
or
having
them
feel
comfortable
and
then,
secondly,
focusing
on
the
child,
who
at
the
time
was
a
minor
and
her
parents
certainly
had
to
be
supportive.
So
how
did
you?
How
did
you
navigate
some
of
those
early
challenges
in
getting
the
level
of
authenticity
and
and
bravery
and
courage
that
you've
managed
to
do
with
the
book?
Well,.
C
C
I
think
it's
important
to
face
them
to
think
about
them
to
never
feel
too
comfortable
about
the
I
notion
that
we've
arrived
at
an
answer,
because
this
work
is
important.
So
it's
not
that
we
should
be
afraid,
but
we
should
never
feel
too
comfortable.
I
didn't
have
a
lot
of
guidelines
from
The
Newsroom
to.
D
C
Honest
because
we
just
don't
do
a
lot
of
immersion,
it's
a
real
Niche,
there's
a
handful
of
us
that
do
this
kind
of
work
and
we
tend
to
get
on
the
phone
with
each
other
and
say
like
what
do
I
do
about
this.
What
do
I
do
about
that?
The
rule
book
on
relations
with
sources
at
the
New
York
Times,
at
the
point
at
which
I
began
this
project
literally
read
like
something
out
of
Mad
Men.
C
There
was
a
section
on
relations
with
source
and
it
was
like
you
may
enjoy
a
round
of
golf
with
your
sources,
but
you
have
to
pay
for
your
Martini
or
it's
almost
like
that.
I
mean
it
was
just
because
these
rules
were
baked
at
a
time.
You
know
in
the
1950s
for
the
most
part,
when
the
paper
was
very
focused
on
protecting
itself
from
the
perception
of
corruption,
right,
that
gifts
cannot
exchange
hands
that
we
are
independent,
that
we're
not
going
to
be
influenced
by
the
powers
that
be.
But
what
about
the
powerless?
C
So
we're
allowed
to
take
our
sources
to
lunch.
We
pay
what,
if
the
people
you're
taking
out
to
lunch
for
them,
food
is
the
transaction.
So
there
was
just
a
lot
of
new
Terrain
and
where
I
found
greater
Clarity
was
with
academics
and
especially
with
ethnographers
most
memorably,
the
great
and
late
Leon
Fuji,
who
worked
with
Rwandan
Genocide
victims,
and
she
and
I
talked
a
lot
about
this,
and
you
know
her
view
was
that
wrestling
with
the
ethics
is
the
price
we
pay
for
the
privilege
of
this
work.
E
C
That
you
can't
ever
stop
and
part
of
the
wrestling
is
to,
for
example,
in
getting
close,
and
let's
talk
about
that
because
that's
really
important
you
one
has
a
tendency
sometimes
to
obscure
the
built-in
asymmetry
of
power
that
your
relationship
represents.
Oh
because
we're
hanging
out
it's
all.
Okay,
no
I
hold
the
keys
to
the
story.
C
Don't
think
you
can
access
that
kind
of
intimacy
without
allowing
your
emotions
to
also
serve
as
a
guide
and
and
why
can't
both
things
be
true?
Why
can't
I
be
fully
available
to
the
all
the
range
of
emotions
that
me
as
I
as
a
human,
I'm,
Bound
To
Have,
and
also
see
things
with
clear
distance
and
so
I've
learned
to
that?
That
kind
of
thing
can
actually
Elevate
the
work,
but
trust
is
not
a
destination.
I
think
it's
a
work
in
progress.
C
I
never
took
the
family's
trust
for
granted
ever
and
we
talked
about
it
when
things
got
weird
like
it's.
My
job
is
really
weird
I.
Remember
deciding
like
three
years
and
she's
like
this
is
just
weird
I
mean
you're.
Always
around
what:
how
is
it
your
job
to
follow?
My
life
I
was
like
I
know,
I'm
way
past
my
latest
deadline-
I,
it's
just
there
was
so
much
to
learn
and
follow
her
tiny
baby
sister
put
it
best
at
the
age
of
three
and
I
mean
I
really
immersed
I.
C
Remember
spending
the
night
in
my
sleeping
bag
just
to
know
what
it
was
like
to
wake
up
in
their
home
in
Staten
Island,
where
they
struggled
with
heat
issues
and
the
cold,
and
sometimes
not
enough
in
the
fridge,
and
just
really
trying
to
to
observe
as
much
as
I
could
and
Lily
looked
at
me
at
the
age
of
three
as
children
are
apt
to
do
because
they
say
the
truth.
She
said
every
time
I
see
you
you
in
my
house,
that's
great
and
I
was
like
I
should
put
that
on.
C
B
Do
I
want
to
just
follow
up.
One
brief
comment,
though,
because
a
lot
of
what
you've
described
some
of
this
stuff
is
really
tough.
I
mean
yes,
there's
the
decapitation
of
the
mice
and
all
of
that,
but
there's
just
Revelations
about
the
parents
and
their
backgrounds.
Etc,
that's
very
difficult
and
I
think
it
was
what
maybe
you
were
talking
to
Chanel
and
she
said.
Well,
you
know
it's
all,
okay
with
me,
because
the
truth,
the
truth,
hurts.
C
B
C
Thank
you,
I
think
it
got
to
the
point
where
I
was
so
deep
in
and
Chanel
understood
the
stakes
that
I
I
had
to
make
a
clear
I
need
to
know.
There
can't
be
any
secrets,
I
and
maybe
we
can
discuss
if
things
need
to
be
off
the
Record
or
not,
but
I.
There's
nothing.
I
can't
know
right
and
what
I
found
was
remarkable
about
the
family.
The
things
that
were
really
hard
for
her
to
share
were
things
like
her
drug
history,
which
I
had
all
the
records
right.
C
I
could
I
knew
when
I
could
see
through
time
in
history
when
she
was
testing
positive
or
negative.
You
know
for
periods
of
sobriety.
This
is
an
extraordinary
amount
of
transparency
that
that
act
of
vulnerability
in
a
world
where
to
be
vulnerable
is
not
just
like
not
normal.
It's
actually
can
be
dangerous
was
extraordinary.
It
was
extraordinary
the
trust
so.
B
A
I
was
going
to
follow
up
on
on
the
last
comment,
where
you
know,
I
think
the
your
ability
to
show
what
was
going
on
with
the
family,
but
with
such
respect
and
dignity
is
really
what
you
know
allows
the
story
to
be
told
and
to
be
felt
by
by
everyone
without
seeming
like
I'm.
You
know
you're
a
voyeur
of
poverty
or
or
racism,
or
something
and
I
think
the
same
things
that
you're
talking
about
these
principles
of
of
understanding
and
standing
with
people
who
are
living.
A
These
experiences
is
precisely
what's
wrong
with
our
system,
even
in
Arlington,
where
we
have
co-located
services,
I
mean
it's.
Nothing
like
you
know,
we're
25
square
miles.
I
grew
up
in
New,
York
City,
you
know
to
get
from
Brooklyn
to
Staten.
Island
is
like
a
practically
a
day's
trip.
You
know
yeah,
so
we
co-located
in
the
early
60s,
where
we
have
the
housing
and
the
child
welfare
and
the
homeless
services
and
everything
in
one
place,
but
just
because
you're
co-located
doesn't
mean
the
people
who
are
working
with
those
who
really
need
the
support.
A
Have
the
respect
and
the
the
you
know,
sense
of
I
value
you
and
your
experience
and
I
can
help
you.
It's
always
there's
always
this
power
differential.
You
know
I've
got
what
you
need
prove
to
me
that
you're
worthy
of
it
and
that's
you
know.
How
do
you
see?
How
do
you
think
local
government
and
can
deal
can
make
a
difference?
You
know
even
you
know,
in
terms
of
transforming
the
way
we
work
with
people.
C
C
This
I'd
be
like
what
about
the
house
right.
You've
got
HRA
and
all
these
other.
What
about
investing
in
that
one?
Because
that's
also
a
system,
it's
like
families
are
not
treated
like
an
asset
right
to
invest
in
and
the
best
example
I
have
of
this
is
what
happened
when
the
family
was
broken
up,
broken
up
on
accusations
of
neglect
because
of
a
bunch
of
bureaucratic
lapses
that
were
in
part
also
the
family.
C
Wasn't
the
parents
were
not
doing
well,
you
know,
removed
from
the
home,
Supreme
was
overwhelmed,
food
stamps
got
cut
off,
they
were
without
food.
He
was
overwhelmed.
What
you
know
he
didn't
need
ACS
to
come
in
and
give
him
parenting
classes.
He
needed
someone
to
work
phones
for
him.
He
was
overwhelmed,
and
rather
than
do
that,
rather
than
bolster
him
up
when
families
of
means
are
in
crisis
right,
your
neighbors
kid
gets
really
sick.
What
do
we
all?
Do?
We
show
up
with
casseroles
right.
H
C
Work,
the
phones
we
offer,
we
don't
say:
okay,
wait.
First,
you
need
to
get
into
therapy
and
then
we'll
fix
the
the
Practical
problems,
but
when
families
that
are
poor
end
up
in
crisis
and
are
monitored,
the
stress
goes
is
off
the
charts,
because
it's
just
added
to
it's
like
now.
You
need
to
do
this
and
do
this
and
do
this
and
do
this
or
it's
all
going
to
end,
and
so
he
couldn't
handle
it.
The
wheels
came
off
and
what
did
they
do?
C
They
took
eight
kids
out
of
this
home
that
was
food,
insecure,
struggling
all
kinds
of
ways,
no
electricity
and
put
them
in
a
system
that
wound
up
spending
33
000
a
month
on
those
eight
kids
right
right
like
how
is
that?
Okay,
so
I
just
think,
there's
so
many
ways
to
look
at
this,
but
just
in
The
Silo
of
child
protection.
Why
is
it
that
our
federal
government
invests
10
times
the
funds
in
programs
that
separate
children
from
their
families
rather
than
in
programs
that
keep
them
together,
which
is
prevention?
A
Yeah,
that's
my
answer.
I
always
say
the
cost
of
doing.
Nothing
is
not
nothing,
you
know,
I
mean
we
need
a
whole
family
approach,
a
whole
family
approach
right
and
so
much
more
I
mean
I.
Think
a
lot
of
our
government
systems
were
gutted.
You
know
well,
I
won't
talk
politics,
but
we
know
which
president
you
know
so
that
we
were
now
only
responding
to
when
things
got
bad
in
crisis
and
not
investing
exactly
in.
C
C
Talked
about
co-location,
so,
okay,
Supportive
Housing,
that's
a
co-location
right
approach!
You
put
a
family
like
this
in
a
place
that
also
it's
a
little
bit
like
the
shelter
but
better
they
have
a
roof
over
their
heads.
They
have
a
social
worker
on
the
on
the
premises
they
have
other
supports,
maybe
help
with
job
training.
Everything
is
there.
Supportive
Housing
expensive,
like
the
last
I
checked,
was
like
eighty
thousand
dollars
per
person
per
year.
C
People
bought
at
that
it's
very
hard
to
to
get
people
behind
that
politically,
like
that's,
really
expensive,
but
we
never
talk
about
how
expensive
poverty
is
like
we
pay
for
poverty,
we
pay
for
it
on
the
back
end,
we
pay
for
it.
Poor
kids,
who
are
raised
poor,
are
twice
as
likely
to
be
incarcerated,
are
twice
as
likely
to
have
health
ailments
like
asthma,
diabetes
or
to
have
a
child
out
of
wedlock
or
to
not
be
able
to
participate
in
the
labor
market.
C
B
B
The
kid
who
got
out
and-
and
it
was
well,
it
was
devastating
to
the
family,
as
you
pointed
out,
because
she
was
such
an
integral
part
of
the
management
of
their
of
their
system.
So
can
you
talk
a
little
bit
about
for
those
who
maybe
haven't
read
the
book?
Yet
the
boarding
school
experience
and
what
happened
to
the
family
sure.
C
C
Now
they
know
about
it
because
of
the
book
anyway,
Hershey
Pennsylvania
is
named
after
him,
the
town
There's,
you
know
the
theme
park
and
then
there's
the
school
about
2,
000
kids
go
to
the
school,
they
live
in
they're
removed
from
their
families
of
Origins
and
put
in
homes
with
real
married
couples,
called
House
parents,
12
kids
per
couple,
and
they
are
given
this
parallel
childhood.
Their
every
need
is
taking
care
of
braces
full
wardrobe,
ballet
classes
tutoring,
and
they
can
live
there
year
round
and
she
got
in
her
sister
didn't
get
in.
C
She
got
in
and
she
left
at
the
chance
and
she
she
got
there
and
she
took
off.
She
left
ahead,
two
math
levels.
She
joined
the
track
team.
She
became
a
cheerleader,
she
was
thriving
and
you
know
you
notice
in
the
video
when
I
said,
describe
the
perfect
childhood.
She
said
quiet.
That
was
the
first
word
that
came
out
of
her
mouth,
which
is
striking
because
I
know
if
I
asked
my
kids
to
describe
perfect
childhood.
The
first
word
would
not
be
quiet,
it
would
be
like
you
know,
endless
amounts
of
candy
or
whatever.
C
It
was
the
greatest
crisis
of
her
life.
She
couldn't,
she
couldn't
reconcile
the
suffering
of
her
siblings
with
her
own
privilege.
She
felt
you
know
her
entire
life
she'd
been
wired
to
whatever
happened:
Stay
Together,
Stay,
Together
stay
together
and
suddenly
by
staying
in
this
other
place,
she
was
abandoning
them.
So
she
she
got,
kicked
out
and
repatriated
herself
and
I.
C
Don't
think
there's
a
way
to
give
away
what
happens
in
the
book,
because
it's
about
what
how
it
happens,
not
what
happens,
but
she
came
back
and
entered
the
foster
care
system
and
then,
when
all
things
were
equal
again,
I
think
she
found
really
what
feels
like
her
authentic
place
in
the
world
which
is
to
live
with
her
mom
live
with
her
sister
and
live
with
her
little
brother
Papa
stable
housing.
She
became
the
first
in
her
family
to
graduate
from
high
school
he's,
not
fancy
Hershey,
but
she
graduated
she
enrolled
in
Community
College.
C
She
Now
is
working
a
steady
job.
She,
you
know
she's
by
her
own
Mark
by
her
own
measure,
actually
happy,
and
so
that's
another
thing
that,
following
her
life
has
gotten
me
to
to
reconsider,
is
how
we
define
success.
What
is
our
measure
of
happiness,
and
also
like
this
narrative
that
you
have
to
leave
that
that
you
must
depart
in
order
to
succeed,
means
you're,
leaving
behind
this
whole
other
community?
Are
we
saying
that
that's
the
answer
that
we
give
up
on
the
whole
community.
A
And
it
was
so
reminiscent
of
the
way
you
started
when
you
were
describing
the
way
the
child
welfare
system
came
into
being
of
these,
you
know,
Society,
you
know
of
benefit
of
benefactors.
Who
said?
Oh
all,
these
kids
need
is
a
nice
place
to
go
into
the
into
the
countryside
where
they
can.
You
know,
breathe
fresh
air,
and
here
we
are,
you
know,
100
years
later,
and
it's
just
a
repetition
of
this
right
from.
C
The
very
beginnings
of
our
child
welfare
system-
this
has
been
a
country
that
has
offered
as
a
policy
response
to
Poverty
child
family
separation
is
the
answer
from
the
orphan
trains
to
the
present
day.
Yeah,
and
it
is
especially
brutal
and
offensive
and
deeply
emotionally
violent
is
how
I
would
describe
it.
The
experience
of
a
black
family
seeing
their
children
get
separated
in
this
way
in
a
system
that
involves
tremendous
profits.
The
agency
overseeing
their
separation.
C
You
know-
and
this
is
I
mean
our
history
writ
large
right.
We
we
know
this,
but
to
then
to
know
that
this
is
her
grandfather
into,
because
her
parents
were
saying
to
me
all
along.
This
is
a
modern
version
of
slavery
and
in
the
beginning
stream,
and
now
I
I
say
who
am
I
to
say
that
I
was
so
blind
to
to
this
other
city
that
existed
in
my
own
midst.
B
C
Okay,
this
is
the
most
extraordinary
discovery
of
the
book
because
nobody
knew
this.
They
all
said.
Okay,
he
drank
a
lot
and
he
was
mopping
floors
and
he'd
tell
these
crazy
stories
about
some
distant
war,
and
none
of
us
believed
him
and
we
didn't
want
to
put
and
on
a
lark
I
like
filed,
a
frame
of
information
request
to
the
National
Archives
and,
like
eight
months
later
boom.
This
massive
file
comes
in
right.
He
joined
the
Buffalo
Soldiers.
C
He
had
served
in
the
92nd
infantry,
the
only
all
black
infantry
to
fight
in
Europe
during
World
War
II
he'd
survived
three
major
battles
in
Italy,
he'd
returned
with
three
bronze
service
Stars
to
the
Jim
Crow
South,
after
fighting
Nazis
and
fascists
abroad,
comes
home
to
this
division
gets
denied
all
the
benefits
that
his
white,
veteran
fellow
veterans
got,
didn't
get
to
be
a
homeowner
I
mean
that's.
Why
I
said
you
know
I
began
with
like.
Oh,
this
is
a
story
about
a
homeless
kid.
What
is
homelessness?
C
Well,
there's
roots
to
homeless,
there's
roots
to
Poverty.
There's
dots
that
you
have
to
connect
back
in
history.
When
you
see
what
happened
to
him,
we
always
talk
about
the
public
safety
net
that
it's
you
know
either
frayed
people
criticize
it
or
people
criticize
the
poor
for
depending
on
it.
We
rarely
talk
about
the
private
safety
net,
that
Shores
up
white
families,
where
white
families
have
been
able
to
amass
10
times
the
net
worth
of
black
families.
C
That
Story
begins
in
the
50s
when
the
middle
class
was
created
in
large
part,
fueled
by
the
GI
bill
right
right,
where
people,
except
for
people
like
him,
got
to
buy
homes
and
wealth
carried
over
through
generations.
Instead,
he
was
relegated
as
a
renter
and
stuck
his
the
what
he
made
and
I
got
his
wage
records
compared
to
what
he
could
have
earned
that
Gap
I
can
give
you
a
numbers,
190,
000,
incredible,
which
is
huge.
So
you
know
it's
not
an
abstract
thing
that
she
inherited
a
poverty
that
had
been.
C
You
know,
CR
the
foundations
of
which
began
long
before
her,
and
it's
it's
really
important
to
know
that.
I
think
that
that
was
for
me,
the
greatest
Discovery
and
for
Dasani
as
well
she's,
very
proud
of
of
the
story
of
her
great
grandfather.
Having
been
this
decorated
veteran
and
no
one
even
listened
to
him
right,
they
didn't
believe
him
yeah.
B
B
You
want
to
be
on
the
public
nickel,
not
recognizing
that
some
people
can't
get
a
job
because
they're
former
felons
or
right
they
had
other
kinds
of
difficulties,
a
lot
of
felons
who
are
no
longer
felons
paid
their
debt
to
society
and
can't
vote.
So
they
can't
even
participate
in
local
government
policy.
Making
Etc.
C
That
is
what
Chanel
would
say.
Is
the
system
working
exactly
as
it's
designed
by
the
way
right,
and
we
were
with
these
wonderful
women
today
who
are
inmates
and
some
of
them
you
could
imagine
coming
out
into
the
world
again
having
so
much
to
offer
and
then
coming
up
against
this
wall.
They
know
the
wall
is
waiting
for
them.
B
A
Well-
and
you
know
the
sheer
even
with
the
possibility
of
of
having
employment-
and
there
are
programs
that
we
have
to
for
to
help
re-employ
people
who
were
previously
jailed,
but
you
need
three
jobs:
three
minimum
wage
jobs
just
to
pay
like
the
rent.
You
know
the
the
the
gap
between
what
a
person
who
has
less
education
and
and
has
has
these
barriers
on
their
resume
can
obtain
in
terms
of
their
wage
versus
what
it
costs
just
to
live,
especially
in
a
place
like
this
or
in
New
York.
It's
untenable
right.
C
So
people
often
talk
about
poverty
as
the
result
of
poor
choices.
Adults,
making
poor
choices
I've
come
to
see
it
very
differently,
I
think,
especially
in
this
family
I.
Think,
as
this
book
shows,
it
is
so
often
about
the
absence
of
any
choice
at
all.
It's
you're
so
busy
surviving
think
about
Maslow's
hierarchy
of
needs
which
really
really
played
out
in
in
fully
in
front
of
me
with
respect
to
watching
them
survive
things
I
mean
at
the
base
of
this
pyramid.
Are
the
physiological
needs
food,
Water
Shelter?
C
You
have
to
have
those
in
place
to
reach
the
next
level
and
the
next
Rebel,
and
only
at
the
top.
Do
you
have
things
like
self-esteem,
belonging
love
if
you're
so
consumed,
and
this
is
where
they
always
were-
was
at
the
bottom?
How
are
they
expected
to
thrive
if
they're
always
surviving,
but
you'd
have
to
spend
time
walking
with
them
to
see
it?
I
remember:
I
mean
Faith
Hester,
the
teacher.
C
She
had
two
master's
degrees
and
we
were
standing
in
welfare
because
she
was
forced
to
go
there
as
part
of
the
requirement
for
staying
in
the
shelter
system,
and
she
she
leaned
in
and
she's,
like
the
grammar
on
the
signs
is
incorrect.
Do
you
think
I
should
say
something
well
I
get
penalized,
and
then
we
get
up
to
the
front
and
something
happened
that
day,
procedural
that
I
definitely
didn't
understand
and
she
definitely
didn't
understand
and
she
she's,
like
I,
have
two
master's
degrees.
C
If
I
can't
figure
this
system
out,
how
is
anyone
else
supposed
to
it's
just
impossible?
It
is
like
a
it's.
A
real
job
to
be
poor.
I
mean
I.
You
know
this
idea
that
they
don't
work.
It
just
drove
me
crazy,
they're,
always
working
in
some
way.
They're
all
the
wheels
are
always
turning.
How
am
I
going
to
put
food
on
the
table
right?
How
am
I
going
to
get
to
the
next
paycheck
or
food
stamps
allotment?
You.
B
Mentioned
the
public
schools
and
these
two
very
important
women,
the
principal
and
the
teacher
you
just
named
and
I
hadn't
thought
previously
much
about
how
important
the
public
school
is
to
children
like
Dasani
and
her
siblings.
It's
shelter,
it's
warm
in
the
winter.
It's
often
food,
it's
occasionally
clothing.
B
It's
stability,
it's
somebody
taking
an
interest
and
saying
I
believe
in
you
and
all
I
could
think
of
was
what
we
experienced
over
the
last
couple
of
years
with
the
closed
schools
and
the
pandemic,
and
the
test
scores
are
out
and
guess
what
49
out
of
50
States
they're
low
wow,
who
knew
and
and
what
do
we
do
with
that
and
that's
among
everyone.
What
does
it
say
about
families,
children,
like
Dasani
and
her
siblings?
Do
they
ever
catch
up
and
what
happens
to
them?
And
where
is
the
emphasis
on
making
sure
this?
B
C
As
you're
saying
this
I'm
thinking
you
know,
I
almost
would
like
in
the
school
public
school
system,
to
there's
analogy
an
analogy
to
be
drawn
with
with
respect
to
the
family,
like
the
school
system
is
so
busy
doing.
All
the
anti-poverty
work
that
other
programs
can
no
longer
do
are
funded
right.
This
is
our
biggest
anti-poverty
program.
Right
is
the
school
system.
It
is
meals
throughout
the
year
provided
in
most
places
you
can
access
them.
It's
surrogate
parenting.
It's
a
second
home
libraries
are
another
second
home
right,
big
big
for
Dasani,
but
they're.
C
You
know
freighted
with
so
many
things
that
have
to
be
tended
to
Medical
Care
included
before
they
can
even
begin.
The
job
of
educating
Faith
Hester
had
to
do
so
many
things
before
she
could
even
have
her
students
ready
enough
to
learn
so
she
could
teach
she
would
bring
in
snacks.
She
would
I
mean
it
was
just
it's
astounding
to
me
the
degree
to
which
schools
are
expected
to
pick
up
the
slack
of
a
otherwise
very,
very
limited
safety
net
and.
A
That's
where
they're
going
to
go
for
their
support,
so
we
have
to
really
try
and
work
much
closer
with
the
schools
to
support
them
in
in
having
that
kind
of.
You
know,
system
of
support
for
the
families
but
and
I
I
really
think
that
it's
also
the
teachers
are
so
important
in
terms
of
a
trusting
adult.
You
know,
they're.
C
C
B
Right
reminds
me
of
there's
an
anecdote:
In
There
Are
No
Children
Here,
where
Lafayette
he
they
he's
asked
about
aspirations
for
growing
up,
and
he
says
well,
if
I
grow
up,
if
I
grow
up,
I
want
to
be
a
firefighter
and
I
was
just
so
strong.
If
wow
I
mean
that's
something
that
most
of
the
rest
of
us
right
take
for
granted.
B
We
mentioned
public
libraries
a
second
ago
so
I'm
going
to
fly
the
flag
for
public
libraries,
Elizabeth
Campbell,
who
was
a
local
Hero,
established
public
television,
and
she
once
said
what
the
three
pillars.
You
know:
public
television,
Public,
Schools,
public
libraries
being
so
important
to
the
Vitality
of
a
community,
and
if
you,
when
you
talked
about
the
word,
understand
earlier
being
in
the
midst
of
that's,
that's
what
we
believe
in
the
public
library
we
are
in
the
midst
of
community.
We
we
help
shape
Community.
We
provide
welcome
to
newcomers.
B
We
provide
resources
when
they're
not
going
to
their
teachers.
They're,
probably
coming
here,
to
use
the
computers
and
to
get
help
on
filling
out
a
form.
I
mean
I.
Remember
during
during
the
pandemic,
just
filling
out
the
vaccination
form
to
get
an
appointment
right
was
was
a
barrier
to
so
many
people.
So
can
you
talk
a
little
bit
then
about
the
importance
of
the
library
and
reading
to
dishoni
and
her
family
I?
Think
you
wrote
that
Chanel
and
supreme
both
were
real
Avid
readers?
Yes,.
C
C
and
he
got
at
his
GED
and
then
was
able
to
reform
himself
after
leaving
Chanel
just
yes,
they
they
have
self-educated
and
they
read
all
my
work
as
part
of
the
way.
My
way
in
was
to
give
them
all
my
work
and
and
to
have
real
dialogues
with
them
about
the
things
I'd
written
and
they
were
just
very
attached
to
the
meaning
of
words
and
one
of
the
library
was
absolutely
essential.
C
Walt
Whitman
library
is
this
tiny
little
Public
Library,
where
dasani's
grandmother
had
gone
as
a
kid
for
shelter
where
everyone
in
the
neighborhood
went,
and
you
know
these
places
to
Outsiders
just
seem
like
okay,
this
is
just
another
Library.
They
are
such
a
Lifeline
I
mean
people.
Ask
me
in
Fort,
Greene
after
the
original
series
ran
on
the
New
York
Times
of
dasani's
life.
You
know,
what
can
we
do?
What
can
we
do?
C
They
were
thinking
big,
sweeping
things
like
I'm,
going
to
give
money
to
this
thing
or
what
what
you
know
asking
me
and
my
response
was:
if
you
live
in
Fort
Greene,
just
go
by
the
library
right
one
afternoon
a
week
and
sit
there
and
see
whose
homework
you
can
help
with
right,
because
there
it's
like
a
sea
of
needy
kids
and
these
Librarians
talk.
It's
like
another
form
of
Faith
Hester
they're
doing
all
this
other
work.
C
In
addition
to
being
Librarians,
I
mean
it
was
extraordinary,
but
the
family's
attachment
to
language
is
something
that
carries
through
the
book
and
is
one
word
that
I've
been
thinking
about
a
lot
lately,
because
I
got
so
used
to
it.
I
stopped
thinking
about
it
was
the
word
they
used
by
way
of
greeting
and
by
way
of
saying
goodbye
which,
which
is
the
word
peace
right,
yeah
yeah,.
H
C
They
didn't
want
to
ever
say
goodbye
and
peace
in
the
religious
teachings.
They
followed
of
the
five
percent
nation,
which
is
an
offshoot
of
the
Nation
of
Islam,
stands
for
properly,
educating
all
children
everywhere,
and
so
they
were
always
looking
for
the
meaning
of
words,
but
it
really
moved
me
that
and
saddened
me
that
they
never
wanted
to
say
goodbye,
because
you
know
Dasani
in
particular,
her
life
had
been
marked
by
so
much
loss.
So
many
departures,
the
goodbyes,
were
really
painful.
C
Right
and
I've
been
thinking
a
lot
about
their
use
of
the
word
peace
in
the
presence
or
in
the
face
of
or
against
you
know,
evidence
all
entirely
to
the
contrary,
right
that
that
they
would
hang
on
that
word
that
they
would
stay
rooted
and
anchored
in
that
word,
Chanel
wrote
the
word
peace.
At
the
end
of
a
complaint
she
filed
the
night
that
her
mother's
urn
containing
her
mother's
ashes,
was
tossed
in
the
garbage
in
the
incinerator
at
Auburn.
C
It's
like
you
lost
my
mother's
ashes
and,
at
the
end,
peace
dasani's
brother
is
now
at
Rikers
facing
a
murder
charge,
and
you
know
Rikers
and
New.
York
city
jails
have
had
more
deaths
this
year
than
ever
on,
record
we've
lost
18
inmates.
It's
a
humanitarian
disaster
colleague
got
beaten
up
really
badly
by
Corrections
Officers.
Recently
he
was
in
solitary
confinement,
I
talked
to
him
once
a
week
and
he
ends.
He
never
says
goodbye
he's
at
the
end.
It's
a
very
gentle
piece.
It's
like
you
know
this.
C
B
H
You
talked
about
getting
into
the
family
I
wonder
if
you
could
talk
a
little
bit
about
what
it's
been
like
getting
out.
Yeah
you
have
to
move
on
to
other
other
things
and
they
stay
in
their
world.
And
can
you
talk
just
a
little
bit
about
what
it's
like
for
you
to
have
to
step
away
and
what
it's
like
for
them
to
have
their
story
be
out
there
and
you
know
they're
they're
still
in
that
world.
That's.
C
Such
a
good
question,
you
know
it's
been
a
very
hard
transition,
because
I
want
to
say,
as
upsetting
as
a
lot
of
the
material
I
witnessed.
A
lot
of
the
events
of
their
lives
were
as
upsetting
I.
Don't
see
this
as
a
a
catalog
of
Sorrows
or
as
as
a
dis
like
as
a
book,
that's
defined
by
hardship,
because
I
I
really
see
the
through
line
as
one
of
Joy,
because
that's
what
I
felt
in
their
presence,
I
I
felt
happy
to
be
with
them.
C
C
H
C
C
I
Yeah
I
really
appreciated
the
Articles,
you
wrote
and
it
the
sympathy
it
creates
for
trying
to
do
something:
I'm,
a
policy
person
and
I
struggled
with
what
do
we
do
and
Hershey
obviously
is
too
expensive
to
do
for
everybody,
but
it
doesn't
even
satisfy
what
you
pointed
out.
It
separates
the
family,
so
it's
almost
as
bad
as
adoption
by
a
rich
family
or
something.
So
you
were
suggesting
that
you
bring
somebody
in.
D
I
Would
be
much
cheaper
than
the
400
000
a
year,
but
I'm
wondering
playing
that
out.
You
bring
somebody
in
they're
going
to
notice
all
those
failures
in
the
house,
the
Bro,
the
sink,
that's
folked,
so
you
got
to
fix
that
and
then
all
the
medical
conditions
and
the
psychologically
got
to
send
them
to
these
doctors
whatever,
and
the
bill
probably
adds
up
to
four
or
five
hundred
thousand
dollars
for
this
one
family
and
get
also.
You
mentioned
the
inequality
from
racism,
so
maybe
you
take
eight
trillion
dollars
in
reparations,
which
is
what
one
Duke
scholar.
I
I
C
Mean
I
go
back
to
what
what
was
missing
for
this
family
I
think
I'm
a
Believer
in
the
Universal
right
to
housing.
My
father,
who
passed
away
last
year,
was
very
instrumental
in
creating
the
Section
8
program
that
that
program,
which
is
a
federal
subsidized
housing
program,
is
available
to
only
three
percent
of
Americans.
It's
been
a
lifesaver
for
this
family,
so
Dasani
is
doing
okay
right
now
because
of
two
variables:
stable
housing,
family
cohesion,
her
family
got
back
together,
they're
together
and
they
have
a
stable
roof
over
their
heads.
C
So
I
I
just
take
a
very
practical
approach.
I
could
leave
the
sort
of
like
social
fixes
or
cultural
whatever
matters
to
other
people,
but
I
think
that
you
know
the
I
was
in
the
Netherlands
recently
and
I
mean
they're
they're
fascinated
by
the
book.
They're
appalled.
They
just
can't
believe
how
far
we
allow
our
children
to
fall
in
this
country,
so
Universal
right
to
housing
and
and
basic
income.
We
saw
with
the
child
tax
credit
which
evaporated
for
that
year
that
it
was.
C
You
know
the
pandemic
relief
program
was
3.5
million
children
lifted
out
of
poverty
right
every
month.
We
so
and
there's
a
lot
of
ongoing
research
looking
at
those
households
and
how
they
spent
their
money,
and
lo
and
behold,
people
actually
want
to
spend
it
on
the
right
things.
They
do
love
their
kids
they're
such
a
paternalistic
view
of
where
families
that
you
know
they
don't
know
what
they're
doing
so,
there's
some
very
basic
things
that
we're
not
doing
that.
C
A
F
D
A
Right
huge
wait
list:
we
don't
even
open
the
wait
list
only
every
10
years,
but
we
but
the
local
government
I
do
want
to
say
this.
In
favor
of
the
County
Board
we
have
our
own
lookalike
of
housing,
Choice
voucher,
we're
the
only
place
in
Virginia
you'll
find
this
called
housing
grants,
and
so
we
use
similar
thresholds
of
poverty.
A
We
we
focus
on
people
who
are
disabled
or
Working
Families
or
people
with
who
are
older
and
we
provide
rental
subsidy
out
of
the
local
taxpayer
dollars
for
another
1500
households
costs
15
million
a
year,
but
it's
something
that's
really
like.
That
is
the
anchor
for
people.
They
need
a
place
to
live
where
you
can
have
a
life
and
your
family
together.
You
know
so
please.
J
I
really
have
a
two-parter
and
I,
don't
want
it
all.
To
dismiss
the
narrative
that
you've
given
us,
where
we're
able
to
see
and
experience
the
lives
I
mean
that's
what
books
are
all
about.
We
are
able
to
witness
for
ourselves
what
this
family
is
has
gone
through,
and
what
they're
going
through,
but
I
do
want
to
say
a
couple
of
things.
First
of
all,
about
bureaucracy,
I
was
so
struck
with
the
lack
of
respect
these
people
were
given,
I
mean
they
could
not
have
a
microwave.
J
C
E
E
J
E
J
Rehab
hospitalization
I
am
I,
have
been
to
the
Mental
Health
Institute,
where
I'm,
not
a
naive
white
lady,
but
I've
tried
to
think
what
can
I
do
to
help
these
people
and
where,
where
could
my
strengths
be
helpful
and
I
have
gone
to
the
schools?
I've
been
working
on
this
for
about
two
and
a
half
months,
trying
to
help
with
the
reading
when
I
first
saw
the
the
scores
drop
and
the
first
report
wasn't
just
three
weeks
ago.
J
The
first
report
came
out
naturally
like
two
months
ago,
but
even
before
then
I
came
to
the
library
and
I
said:
do
you
all
have
a
program
where
you
help
children
I,
don't
know
if
I
walked
up
to
a
table
with
someone
doing
homework
that
they'd
necessary
be
respect?
You
know
receptive
to
me
so
I
want
to
say
that
the
schools
are
so
busy
trying
to
get
it
done,
that
they
can't
even
accept
help.
B
B
K
Let's
say
this,
but
I
work
in
housing
and
there
are
groups
in
Arlington,
Arlington,
Housing,
Corporation,
Ireland
team
partnership
for
affordable
housing
that
provide
housing
and
they
do
after
school
programs
where
they
need
volunteers
to
help
with
reading
and
help
with
homework.
So
that's
true.
There
are
some
programs
out
there
I
encourage
you
to
look
into
those
and
I
appreciate
your
comments
about
housing,
because
you
know
both
Matthew
Desmond
and
yourself
have
did
a
sort
of
a
similar,
in-depth
look
and
came
out
with
the
same
similar
conclusions.
K
K
I'm
gonna
do
this
for
four
years,
but
hey,
there's
still
more
to
look
at
there's
still
more
to
look
at
and
then
related
to
that
also
very
interested
in
you
mentioned
in
the
very
beginning
about
the
ending
and
how
you
had
many
different
ones,
I
kind
of
read
as
I
one
day
I
got
to
the
like.
Second,
to
last
chapter
where
it
was
really
depressing
she'd
gotten
out
of
high
school,
she
was
getting
in
all
these
fights
and
I
was,
and
that
was
the
end
of
that
chapter.
K
It
was
only
a
few
pages
left
in
very
detailed
which
I
loved
throughout
and
then
it's
like.
Oh,
this
is
the
end.
This
is
really
you
know,
and
then
I
read
the
last
chapter
and
it's
like
very
quick,
quick
summary
of
like
all
these
great
things
that
happened
since
I
was
just
curious
on
that
and
just
how
you,
how
you
got
to
the
ending
and
how
it
kind
of
came
that
way.
Yep.
C
I,
it
struck
me
recently
that
the
end
of
a
book
is
maybe
one
of
the
most
vulnerable
places
for
the
author,
because
it's
where
you
finally
you
know:
you're
you're,
letting
the
reader
know
that
you've
you've
left
right.
You've,
you
have
let
go
and
there's
some
and
it's
never
an
easy
decision
how
to
do
that.
C
A
C
C
C
I'll
tell
you:
I
was
getting
close
to
kind
of
like
okay
I'm
done
I'm
gonna
start
writing
this
thing
and
it's
going
to
be
done
in
maybe
three
years
total
and
that's
when
the
family
fell
was
the
kids
were
taken
in
front
of
me
and
I?
Remember,
calling
Kate
Medina
Kate
the
great
that's
what
I
call
her
my
editor
at
random
house
and
I
just
said
this
is
now
a
different
book.
C
E
C
C
Did
somehow
I
did
yes,
I
yeah,
we
could
talk
more
a
portion
of
the
proceeds.
I
I
can
only
pray
that
proceeds
will
come
because
if
the
book
has
not
generated
proceeds
yet,
but
the
more
talks
I
do
I'm,
sharing
very
generously
with
the
family,
I
I
feel
that
it
is
their
story
and
that
they
should
benefit
and
I
will
also
like
I
just
want
to
share
this
because
I
think
it's
good
for
people
to
know
like
the
Pulitzer.
The
Pulitzer
didn't
really
mean
much
to
Dasani
I.
Remember
she
Googled
Pulitzer.
C
Yeah,
that
was
amazing,
but
for
me
it
obviously
added
value
to
my
life
in
ways.
I
can't
even
predict
so
I
felt
it
was
fair
for
me
to
accept
the
prize
but
give
her
the
money,
so
the
prize
money
that
the
book
that
has
come
for
the
you
know
has
gone
to
the
family.
Things
like
that
I
just
want
people
to
know
that
this
is
a
book
about
racial
inequity
and
I
feel
that
it
must
I
it
would
it's
just
the
way
that
I
feel
about
it.
B
So
before
we
get
to
the
next
question,
we've
been
doing
our
part.
We've
certainly
promoted
the
book
and
the
talk
this
evening,
but
I
found
out
that
the
book
has
circulated
a
few
hundred
times
and
it's
still
on
our
holds
list,
which
means
that
there
are
lots
of
people
waiting
to
read
it
so
I'm,
hoping
that
that
helps
spread.
B
C
A
B
E
So
you've
talked
a
little
bit
just
in
the
last
few
minutes
about
how
you've
been
able
to
share
some
with
the
family.
You
know
some
of
the
the
monetary
reward.
That's
yes,
with
what
you've
done.
I
was
wondering
as
long
as
you
as
you
were,
with
the
family.
How
difficult
was
it
for
you
to
maintain
your
role
as
an
observer
and
not
jump
in
and
try
to
help
them
with
immediate
problems?
How
did
you
so.
C
C
It
was
like
a
high
wire
act
in
a
sense,
this
issue
of
proceeds
because
they
absolutely
should
benefit
from
their
own
story
and,
at
the
same
time,
while
I
was
in
the
trenches,
writing
this
and
Reporting
it
I
needed
them
to
feel
I
felt
that
it
would
be
unethical
to
even
raise
that
issue
because
they
needed
to
be
volunteering
entirely
their
their.
Their
decision
had
to
be
a
voluntary
one,
not
one
made
out
of
financial
necessity.
C
Most
books
don't
make
money
by
the
way,
but
where
was
it
to
potentially
or
was
something
to
come
out
of
this?
That
would
benefit
them,
and
then
that
was
the
thing
that
kept
them
involved,
even
if
they
were
uncomfortable
would
feel
was
wrong.
Felt
wrong
to
me.
So
I
suspended
that
conversation
entirely
stuck
by
the
rules
that
we
always
had
that
this
is.
These
are
the
rules
of
my
profession,
you're,
here
out
of
choice.
C
C
The
best
example
I
have
of
this
is
a
militant
jihadist
named
Omar
hamami
from
Alabama
who
joined
the
shabab
in
Somalia
who
ultimately
died,
but
I
I
wrote
about
his
life
or
cover
story
of
the
New
York
Times
Sunday
magazine
and
I
was
his
mother
is
from
Alabama
Americans,
father,
Syrian
and
I
was
interviewing
the
dad
and
the
dad
I
think
was
a
little
bit
sympathetic
in
general
to
some
of
Omar's
political
views.
Anyway,
just
listen
to
me
quietly
as
I
went
through
all
the
facts
of
the
story.
C
As
a
fact
check,
you
know,
Omar
was
last
reported
to
have
beheaded
someone
in
Somalia
like
he
did
it
himself.
You
know,
listen,
didn't,
say
anything
he
was
involved
in
this
attack.
He
was
involved
in
that
thing
on
and
on
and
on
and
on
okay,
okay.
Shafiq.
Now
we're
going
to
talk
about
high
school,
so
apparently
in
the
ninth
grade
Omar
smoke
pot.
He
did
what.
C
I
mean
you
know,
you
know,
I
can
think
of
a
couple
of
things.
I
can't
think
of
a
couple
of
things
where
she
was
like
I,
don't
know
if
I
want
that
in
there.
Absolutely
not
your
main,
you
know
it's
just
I
mean
it's
amazing.
What
she
allowed
me
to
write
so
yeah,
no
I,
don't
think
I
really
feel
that
I
was
blessed
with
Incredible
amounts
of
trust.
I
just
tried
to
do
right
by
it
all.
K
C
K
Do
something
yeah,
you
know
you're
well
connected
I'm
sure
you
could
pick
up
the
phone
and
and
plus
you
saw
things
that
I
know
Supreme
did
and
said:
hey,
that's
not
his
fault.
You
know,
I'm
gonna
go
tell
the
judge,
you
know
so
were
there
any
times
when
you
like
either
did
something
like
that
or
tried
I
know.
K
C
I
mostly
tried
to
stay
out
of
it.
There
was
I
like
for
me.
The
line
was
with
the
kids
right.
I
I
had
a
really
hard
time,
seeing
them
suffer
and
Nana
in
particular,
who's
now
fully
blind,
but
she
was
going
blind.
She
was
without
her
glasses.
She
had
lost
them.
This
was
early
on
the
first
year
and
she'd
gone
a
month
without
them
and
I.
It
was
like
horrible
because
her
parents
were
overwhelmed.
They
weren't
taking
her
to
the
eye
doctor
to
get
them
replaced.
C
She
had
a
special
ophthalmologist
and
I
was
sort
of
like
what
do
I
do,
because,
if
I
step
in
and
buy
her,
the
glasses
I've
now
I'm
supposed
to
be
writing
about
her.
The
reality
and
I
was
then
I
was
like
well,
but
I
could
actually
call
her
eye
doctor
up
and
interview
them
right,
like
the
the
place
that
helps
her
and
so
I
called
Lighthouse
for
the
Blind
I
was
like
you
know.
They
heard
like
New,
York,
Times
and
within
24
hours.
She
got
glasses.
C
D
C
A
great
question
I
thought
I
could
handle
it
until
I
saw
the
kids
get
taken
and
I
knew
them
really
well,
and
you
know
they
were
calling
me
in
those
during
those
those
evenings
when
they
could
have
access
to
phone,
because
they
all
knew
my
phone
number
and
I
I
definitely
felt
something
shift
in
that
period.
The
way
that
my
own
children,
internalized
it
was
mom,
is
driving
around.
It
was
like
for
three
weeks:
I
did
this
with
the
song
Purple
Rain
on
repeat,
like.
D
C
Of
coping
in
front
of
them,
I
didn't
get
into
it
with
them,
but
Prince
is
my
guy
and
I
my
answer
to
how
to
cope
when
it's
not
even
my
life
and
I'm
just
witnessing
it,
and
isn't
it
so
much
harder
that
it's
actually
imagine
what
it's
like
to
be
them
is
not
satisfying
for
the
very
reason
you
just
said,
because
we
still
do.
We
still
do
go
through
stuff,
and
my
answer
is
to
put
it
on
the
page
like
that
is.
That
is
how
I
cope.
C
C
She
was
a
real
early
role
model.
For
me,
she
is
an
expert
in
PTSD.
She
lost
a
lot
of
patience
to
AIDS.
She
went
through
a
lot
as
a
therapist
of
loss
dealing
with
people
bringing
the
scars
of
Trauma
from
Central,
America
and
I
just
remember
and
like
in
high
school,
just
seeing
her
come
home
and
with
all
of
that
on
her
face
and
then
kind
of
just
shutting
the
door
and
leaving
it
outside
and
being
able
to
to
shift
and
not
really
talking
about
it.
C
Much
in
that
that
was
an
example
early
on
for
me
of
both
service
and
also
like
in
order
to
serve
I
need
to
also
have
boundaries,
because
I
want
to
be
able
to
survive
and
I
hope.
You
can
also
find
a
way
to
stay
the
path,
because
burnout
is
real.
Yeah,
absolutely
teachers
burn
out
more
than
anyone
outside
yeah.
B
B
So
we're
going
to
wind
down
I
want
to
thank
everyone
for
being
here
this
evening
to
hear
this
remarkable
story:
engaging
conversation,
I
thank
my
dear
friend
and
colleague,
Anita
Friedman,
who
works
on
behalf
of
poor
people
and
impoverished
people
and
homeless
people
every
day,
and
you
know
she
wears
her
heart
on
her
sleeve
and
that's
a
really
good
thing
to
do,
and
thank
you
Andrea.
This
is
been
a
remarkable
conversation.
This
this
book
is
going
to
stick
with
me
for
quite
a
while
to
me.
B
Still,
the
best
word
in
the
title
is
Hope
yeah,
that
it
isn't
just
Devastation
and
being
depressing
and
talking
about
stuff
that
we
don't
like
to
talk
about,
not
to
mention
the
insurmountable
seeming
policy
problems
and
debates
and
conversations
that
we
can
have.
But
with
writers,
like
you
shining
a
light
on
formerly
unseen
people,
I
think,
if
enough
of
us
can
pay
attention,
incremental
change
is
still
change.