The Alewife

White people confronting racism

Class begins Thursday

by Heather Goldman

Sometimes things are not exactly what they appear to be.  Take the famous Rubin’s Vase, for instance.   At first glance it seems to be a picture of a vase, but if you look a little closer another picture emerges.

Jennifer J. Yanco, founder of the course White People Challenging Racism: Moving from Talk to Action said she sees the Rubin’s Vase as an apt metaphor for bringing another perspective on racism into focus.

Jennifer J. Yanco
Alewife Photo by Heather Goldman

The course, which runs at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, seeks to deconstruct racism through the lens of white privilege, said Yanco. “We start by introducing this notion of white privilege so that we flip things. Instead of seeing racism as the disadvantaging of People of Color, we look at the other, often hidden, side.  This is the privileging of white people through a system that distributes benefits color-codedly.”

“It is like a shift in perception” she said  “you could see it as a vase or two profiles.  We’ve been looking at it as a vase and if we flip it we see that we’ve missed the mark.”

Racism is a part of our shared culture and must be dismantled collectively, said Yanco.   “We grow up with all of these assumptions and unexamined ideas and perspectives that we may be ashamed to acknowledge, thinking that they reveal us as bad people.  But together, we can explore these and see them for what they are, not personal defects but rather culturally conditioned attitudes and beliefs and together we can begin to take them apart.”

Prior to founding WPCR in 1999, Yanco taught courses related to racism at the CCAE.  While there, she was approached with the idea of organizing a course specifically for white people.  Her immediate response was self-doubt, which she attributes to the system of racism that discourages white people from taking action, she said.  “I recognized it as another way that racism works by making us white people feel that we can’t possible know anything about it, much less act on it and that is not true we can know a lot about it if we open our eyes.”

The five-week course, which has seen approximately 400 participants since its inception, has several important functions, said Yanco.  It gives people a community where they can come to reflect on the effects of racism in daily life while being supported by others with the same goals.   “You may want to say something but the culture will tell you that is not your place or make you second guess yourself.  Our aim is to create a community that will support you both in recognizing racism and in standing up against it.”   

WPCR facilitator Lisa D. Graustien said that the course creates a tremendous atmosphere for people to talk about racism. “White people can effectively talk about race and racism.”  For Graustein, the community has been incredibly healing in breaking down the isolation that sometimes accompanies issues of race while working through feelings of guilt and shame to become more effective in challenging racism, she said.

'Companion' bows in January

North Cambridge activist and actor Lloyd U. Smith plays himself as a faux city council candidate.

by Heather Goldman

The creators of the upcoming docudramedy, “The Cambridge Companion” know a bit about the element of personal touch. 

Their 20-minute film, which is set in Cambridge, is a collaborative effort inspired by their friendship, community and personal visions for the future. 

Director and co-writer Ethan H. Goldhammer said he wanted to make a film that was reflective of where he came from.  While in school at New York University, he saw many of his peers emulate their favorite films without incorporating elements of their own lives, he said. 

“My big problem with a lot of the projects at NYU is that there is no personal touch to them.  They’re all kind of trying to emulate whatever their favorite movies are with no sense of where they came from and where they grew up.  The best films that I saw always reflected the people’s personalities,” he said.

For the film, Smith campaigned along side other candidates, he said.

Lloyd U. Smith, who co-wrote and stars in the film, said call it a docudramedy.   “The drama and the comedy are obvious – ipse dixit! The documentary is my frustration with the way politics disguises the truth in ways that deny and frustrate the community.”

Goldhammer and Smith said they have known each other for a long time. They met at CCTV, where Smith hosts “Living in America” which airs on Sunday evenings on channel 9 from 7:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.  Goldhammer, who was enrolled in CCTV’s film program at the time, his filmmaking partner and cinematographer, Shuan Clarke, and Smith worked on a variety of projects where Smith would usually made cameos as a hobo.  For this film, they wanted to find a role that was more representative of him, said Goldhammer.

After returning from London where he wrote a full-length screenplay about Cambridge, Goldhammer said he got the idea to write a short that was set in Cambridge.   He started writing the script, which eventually became a collaborative process with Smith that continued throughout the shoot. 

The film, which was produced by Hayley Santolucito, is mainly inspired by the real-life relationship between Smith and Arthur “The Artman” Martins, who plays Smith’s son, as he runs for city council.   “Smith would tell strangers he was Artman’s father, I thought it was
a funny dynamic, so I used it in the script,” said Goldhammer.

Seeds of success at North Cambridge Catholic High School

 
Father Jose J. Medina, FSCB, the principal of North Cambridge Catholic High School, will be at the school's Nov. 15 Open House from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the school's 40 Norris Street site.

by Heather Goldman

Father Jose J. Medina, FSCB, embodies his past. He received a degree in civil engineering like his father and studied philosophy like his mother. The year that he was born, his family planted many olive trees. It was also the year that his grandmother had an operation that caused her to lose her sight. Medina’s birth was a reminder of this poignant time and has created a deep connection within his family and to his roots, something that he has carried with him throughout his life.

Medina has come to understand his personality within the context of these roots and the land where he was raised. Although he does not get back to his hometown of Andalucia, Spain often, he said when he does return he drives to see those trees and to mark their progress. His life and work personify his deeply rooted past. As he has branched out through disciplines and countries, he is spreading the seeds of possibility to the students that he works with at North Cambridge Catholic High School, so that they can establish their roots too.

As the oldest of 10 children, Medina said he took on a lot of responsibility at an early age. By seven, he was already helping his mother by doing the grocery shopping for her so that she could care for his younger siblings.

He was also the first of his siblings to go to college, a role that has defined him in many ways, he said.

Like many eldest siblings, Medina said that he was somewhat of an experiment. His rules were more stringent than those of his siblings. “When we were little, we had to be in bed at 8 p.m.” His siblings had rules more lenient. “My parents learned to be parents over time.”

His father was a civil engineer who had the unique aptitude and ambition to design and build, most focused on one or the other, he said. 

His father’s ability to communicate this to his children inspired three of them, including Medina, to become civil engineers themselves, he said.

Upon graduating with his degree, Medina joined the team building a hospital in the town of Fuenlabrada, Spain, he said.

In 1995, he followed his mother’s philosophical path when he entered the seminary to study philosophy and theology in Italy. Throughout his 20s, Medina worked with youth in various capacities, including parish groups. His superiors recognized his love of work and encouraged him to become a missionary rather than a parish priest. Medina said he agreed. “I have a great passion for working.”

After five years in seminary, he was ordained a priest in the Fraternity of the Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo, he said.

While studying in Rome, he spent his summers in the United States working in various capacities, he said. In 2000, he moved to Massachusetts where he realized a great need science and math. He began to teach these subjects, which are also his passions, he said.

His first job was at NCCHS and it was during this time that he fell in love with the school, he said.

In order to merge his degrees and to assure that none of his former interests would be under-utilized by his priesthood, Medina acquired his teaching degree from Harvard School of Education, then moved to Washington, where he taught at Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, he said.

In 2002, he was contacted by Sister Ellen Powers, CSJ, former president of NCCHS, who introduced him to the idea of bringing the Cristo-Rey Network to the school, he said.

The Cristo-Rey model is a corporate work-study program that helps low-income families afford a college-preparatory education, he said.  “The Cristo-Rey Model does what the Catholic Church has always done. It provides education to those most in need.”

The corporate work-study program works by rotating four students, one in each grade level, into an entry-level job at a sponsoring company, said Mary Turbert, assistant director of corporate work-study.

Each student works for a total of five days per month. The sponsoring companies pay a contracted rate of $24,500 per annum, which is equally distributed among the students to pay for their tuition.  Financial aid and grants help to fill in the additional tuition gap, Turbert said.

NCCHS already had an internship program but in order to determine if the school would be a good fit, they looked at a feasibility study, which proved workable, Medina said. The Archdiocese of Boston approved their plan, and NCCHS became part of the network.

Medina accepted the position as principal and returned to the school, where he also continues to teach, he said.

To make the cost of tuition even more accessible at NCCHS, the Tip O’Neill Leadership Society reduces tuition by an additional $1,000 through individual sponsorship. In the end, the family contribution is $1,400 per year, he said.

Medina said he believes it is important for the families to contribute to the cost of tuition because it brings value to what you are doing.

Sponsors on both the corporate and individual level can keep in touch with the children that they sponsor and monitor their progress, said Turbert. Sponsors have become involved in the personal lives of the students and many have become mentors. 

NCCHS’s President Robert J. McCarthy said cultivation is the key. “Partnerships with corporations and donors are essential.”

McCarthy said he is grateful for the many sponsors who take the initial risk of investing in a teenager.

The companies soon see, however, that the students are contributing to their businesses, said Medina.

Calm inside the storm of toy recalls

by Heather Goldman

The owner of Porter Square's newest toy store is reacting to the summer's toy recalls by keeping the proper perspective.

Richard A. Henry, owner of Stellabella Toys in Porter and Inman squares, said he first learned of the June 13 recall of various products of the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys line from R2C Corporation, the distributor.

Several hours later, he received a notice from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission confirming the lead-paint hazard on specific toys manufactured in China, he said.

Tatiana S. Varges, an assistant manager at Porter Square's Stellabella Toys, holds a shaped block set by Plan Toys. Plan Toys is a Thai-based company that uses food-grade dyes to color blocks.

Alewife Photo by Neil W. McCabe

Henry's first step was to voluntarily remove the affected items from his store, which he calculates to be maybe less than .0025% of his inventory, and post recall notices, he said.

The store was not affected by the subsequent Mattel recalls on lead paint and faulty magnets, or the most recent one on children’s watering cans, he said.

Lead paint is a well-know health hazard. If ingested, it can cause serious health problems in young children, including brain damage, he said.

He works with manufacturers who are at the top of their field, such as Plan Toys, a Thai-based manufacturer that colors its toys with food-grade dyes, a process which is more detailed and costly but, ultimately, safer, he said.

While there are not many toy manufacturers in the United States, approximately 40% of his inventory is manufactured in countries other than China, including Sweden, Germany, Thailand and England, where testing standards are even more stringent than the United States, he said.

If a child swallows one magnet, there is little danger, he said. But, if the child swallows more than one, the magnets find each other and bond to form a larger more lethal object passing through the intestines.

Toy recalls are not a new issue. Despite the media onslaught, only a very small percentage of items were affected. The situation appears to be much worse than it is because a few fell on the heels of one another, he said.

“The system failed at the point of manufacturing. The rest of the safety values worked,” Henry said.