Untitled - NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study

132 Pages·2017·2.18 MB·English

The
Literacy
Review
VOLUME 16
An annual journal of writing by adult students
in English for Speakers of Other Languages,
Basic Education, and High School Equivalency
programs in New York City.
Thanks To
GALLATIN DEANS
Susanne Wofford, Dean of the Gallatin School
Millery Polyné, Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs
Patrick McCreery, Associate Dean of Students
Linda Wheeler Reiss, Associate Dean for Administration
Celeste Orangers, Assistant Dean for Academic Policy and Administration
and Institutional Research
Amy Spellacy, Assistant Dean for Advising and Faculty Affairs
GALLATIN WRITING COMMITTEE
Eugene Vydrin, Chair; June Foley, Senior Director; Allyson Paty, Assistant
Director; Sybil Cooksey, Anne DeWitt, Greg Erickson, Hannah Gurman,
Rosanne Kennedy, Sara Murphy, Amanda Petrusich, Stacy Pies, Jacob
Remes, Andrew Romig
ADULT LITERACY AND SOCIAL CHANGE COURSE INSTRUCTOR
Dianne Ramdeholl
KIMMEL CENTER FOR UNIVERSITY LIFE
Sunita Devi, Associate Director
John H. Reiniers, Manager of Marketing and Scheduling
Richard Tom, Senior Scheduler
SPECIAL THANKS FOR GENEROUS CONTRIBUTION TO FUNDING
Lisa Kail, Assistant Director, NYU Office of Civic Engagement
The late Claire Morris Stern (B.A. 1989, M.A. 1998)
A GALLATIN WRITING PROGRAM PUBLICATION
The Gallatin School of Individualized Study
New York University
1 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Sydney Rappis
EDITORS
Tsering Bista Anthony Cao
Eva Chen Gil Cruz
Anthony McMillan Keyli Peralta
DESIGNER
Alex Ling
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Lizzy Cheshire Alexandra Mawe
VIDEOGRAPHER
Cici Sutter
VISUAL CONSULTANT
Lise Friedman
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Allyson Paty
ADVISER
June Foley
EDITORIAL BOARD
Deborah Apau, Mariah Bell, Susie Benitez, Sueda Bolukoglu, Eli Clemens,
Emma Condie, Louise Crawford, Lena Diaz, Natalie Doggett, Grace
Easterly, Lilly Peale Ferris, Sarah Fischer, Bryanna Gary, Donna Gary,
Doris Gonzalez, Mary Hayes, Kayla Herrera-Daya, Justin Hung, Molly
Hussey, Hajra Jamal, Pamela Jew, Lezhou Jiang, Doria Kahn, Veda Kamra,
Madison Kelts, Anais Kessler, Allison Lambdin, Grace Larkin, Karina
Leon, Elaine Lo, Tiana Lui, Jessica MacFarlane, Clara Malley, Matthew
Martinez, Kaitlyn McNab, Sadie Mlika, Arjun Parikh, Sam Patwell, Allyson
Paty, Grace Paye, Shelly Pires, Ximena Prieto, Ava Schrager, Gabriela
Serpa, Kiara Soobrayan, Mahar Asher Sperling, Alejandra Torres, Annika
von Grey, Sophie Walker, Teresa Wang, Sally Wu
Contents
INTRODUCTION
8 On Editing The Literacy Review Sydney Rappis
WHERE I’M FROM
12 Sorrow and Beauty of Home Sarath Jayarathne Tikiribandage
13 Born in the U.S.S.R. Sergiy Savyelyev
14 Ingrid’s Story Ingrid Trotman
16 Days of Simple Pleasures Xiao Li Luo
18 Living on the Farm John Elmore
20 Revolution Passant Zaki
22 Bread Timea Wranek
24 War Hanan Obadi
25 When My Mom Was Young Anika Ahmed
26 The Pain of a Divorce Salamata Compaore
28 My Childhood Lai Mei (Nancy) Wong
29 Hey, Chamo! Luis Marcano
LIVING IN NYC
32 My First Six Months in NYC Stéphanie Jaquier-Redon
34 Dance Me to the End of the 1 Train Bruna Nicolielo
37 A Sense of Subway Regina Wurzer
38 The Red Throne Maddalena Maltese
40 The Brooklyn Bridge as My Life Alice Brunetta
41 9/11 Andres Molina
42 Sixteen Years Ago Kentina Alcide-Julien
43 Police Overkill Leroy Mensah
44 Bitter Coffee Jennifer Alonzo
45 My Secret New York Maria Ester Venezia
46 Love Conquers All Marília Valengo
REFLECTIONS
50 I Haven’t Changed, I Have Just Grown Up Manal Naji
53 On the Banks of Abundance José Reyes
54 Human Senses Yei Florentine Niagne Epse Kimou
55 Crossing Boundaries Hassan Bin Zafar
56 The Bird Poems Shaimaa Eladly
57 The Machete Elkainah Stewart
59 One Door Closes, Another Opens Ranwa Bahit
PHOTO ALBUM
62 My Grandma’s Dogs Dun Chen
63 Paper Cranes Yuliia Semenova
64 Grandmother—Her Life and the Vases Yulian Ou
65 Hush, Baby Arnold Serieux
66 A Silent Love Tanjie Alex Tan
68 Doing Something for the First Time Miguelina Salcedo
69 Hijab Wafaa Jaghama
DREAMS & DISAPPOINTMENTS
72 The Outsider Dieudonne Ndje Bayi Seh
74 My Journey from a Small Village in Sudan Abdalsslam Abdalla
77 The First Page of My Novel Laila Elkabany
78 Packing Feelings Yane Ozoria de Medina
79 Rewrite My Journey Marthen Bone
80 The Familiar Stranger Zhiying (Kimmy) Huang
FAMILY & FRIENDS
86 Home Doaa Alwahwah
87 An Ode to My Grandfather’s Snoring Natalia Fedonenko
88 My Mother and Me Ruth Boirie
90 Amazing Grace Farida Akhtar
92 Father in My Heart Weiwen Zeng
94 Kumgang Mountain Sooyoung Kim
95 I Am Home Oryet Dawood
SURPRISES
98 My Most Frightening Moment Abdoul Tamboura
99 Back in My Day Ursula Arlette
100 The Old Radio Alicja Z. Szarzynska
101 The Blue Dress Jenifer Langford
102 1/2 Teaspoon of Love Jonatha Medeiros
104 Tak(c) Fernanda Siqueira
106 Someone I Have Grown to Love Jackie Rosado
TRANSFORMATIONS
110 Attitude Adjustment Thanapapha Amornpimonkul
112 My First Job Mayra Ramos
114 The Reason I Became a Police Officer Saori Seki
116 No Place Like Home Giselle Fitzpatrick
117 The Most Valuable Possession Qiao Bing (Nancy) Zhu
118 Consequences of Disobeying Parents Mamadou Diallo
121 Change of Heart LeVar Lawrence
122 Reading Sets You Free Ruth Santamaria
123 Why I Came to Creative Writing Class Mohamed Mahgoub
124 You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks Marie Alcindor
126 ALPHABETICAL INDEX BY AUTHOR LAST NAME
127 LIST OF PARTICIPATING SITES
7
On Editing The Literacy Review
Sydney Rappis, Editor in Chief
As a two-time editor of The Literacy Review, with two years on the
Editorial Board prior to that, I have been with this program throughout
my college career. Truly, the May celebration and the release of the new
edition has been one of the most constant things in my life these past four
years. Each year, without fail, I am amazed by the final product.
This year, we got about 350 submissions. The writers came from all
over the world, of all ages, and at a variety of proficiency levels. There were
poems, essays, and flash-fiction. The seven main editors of The Literacy
Review (along with June), read every submission. The Editorial Board,
made up of around 50 other students, read 75 each. The votes get counted,
determining which works will be seriously considered for LR. All this
happens online over winter break—editors reading on planes, trains, and
sofas all across the country. This process makes me grateful for computers
and our digital age; it saves some trees too.
At the end of January, we get together for the Big Decision Meeting,
where we finalize which pieces will be published. At this meeting, editors
can advocate for their favorites, and we read some of the pieces aloud. It’s
beautiful the way reading aloud can make writing come alive. It helps us
make the tough decisions. This is an all-day event, and we take many
things into consideration, including length, content, style, and originality.
But if a large number of the readers liked the piece, we include it.
After finalizing the selections, we email everyone with the decisions
and begin assembling the book. We determine the sections, contact the
teachers, organize the photo shoots, and edit each piece. We copy edit,
work with the designer to choose a cover, copy edit, choose the author
photos, copy edit, work to organize the celebration, and copy edit again.
Finally, the book is sent to the printer, we read and correct the proofs, and
the rest, as they say, is history.
Everyone featured in this book is brave. Whether the writing is pub-
lished in an edition of The Literacy Review, somewhere else, or nowhere at
all, those with the courage to commit themselves to sharing a story are
writers and an inspiration to all those who work on the book. Those who
write on the subway, on napkins at restaurants, in margins of other books,
on computers at libraries, or in the notes section of a phone pave their own
path as a writer.
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