Part Two/ Interaction with Damon Preston on Tuesday 13 August 2013: The New Salem Educational Initiative in Microcosm

Part Two: The Importance of the Enduring Relationship and Going Where They Are

In terms of my interaction with Damon Preston's family on this particular day suggesting in microcosm key programmatic features of the New Salem Educational Initiative, there was first of all the matter of my route to Damon's’s residence. Readers of Just Another Day at the Office know that Damon comes from a family that has faced significant challenges relevant to psychological health and residential stability. In the early autumn of 2012, Damon’s mom, Evelyn Patterson, was working through a number of personal issues and had decided to sever a relationship that she had maintained for several years with Marcel Gifford, who had effectively been serving as Damon’s (very attentive) stepfather.  Evelyn moved suddenly in late September 2012 without telling Marcel where she was going. I resolved to track her down.

When students enter the New Salem Educational Initiative, I communicate to them that they and their families will be building a relationship with me that is enduring. Typically, parents of my students let me know when their telephone numbers and residences undergo a (frequent) alteration.  Evelyn, though, had made her most recent change with such suddenness that even my weekly appearances and forensic sensibilities had been unable to keep up with the shift.

But a week into October, Evelyn called me to let me know where she was staying, with the request that I not tell Marcel. Although I like Marcel and thought that on balance he was good for Evelyn, I abided by her request and started picking Damon up at the new apartment address in far South Minneapolis. The first two residences at which I had picked up Damon (one off Glenwood Avenue on Newton Avenue North, the other just off Olson Highway) had been on my most favored stomping grounds--- North Minneapolis.

Damon’s academic situation suffered for a while amidst the familial challenges, but in the course of the 2012-2013 academic year his math and reading skill levels stabilized once again as he remained absolutely dedicated to his studies with me as the most firmly constant and joyful experience in his life.

At the end of that academic year, Stacey told me ruefully that she was going to have to move again. Her rent, though covered largely by Section 8, had become too costly for her. The most decent inexpensive apartment that she had been able to find was in St. Paul, just northeast of downtown, northward a bit on I-35E. Stacey was greatly relieved when I affirmed that, if this was where I would find Damon, then that is where I would be.

So it was that on Tuesday, 13 August 2013, I set off for an eastern extremity of St. Paul. I preferably connect with students residentially situated in North Minneapolis. But the relationship is permanent. If they move, I continue to connect with them wherever they are. And, while I prefer to hold academic sessions at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in North Minneapolis, if I go as far afield as the eastern neighborhoods of St. Paul, I find other places to teach my students: the student’s home, a library, a quiet corner of a fast food restaurant; or, as on this given day with Damon, sometimes we pull up to a table in a park or playground.

Damon’s current apartment complex has a fairly nice playground with a picnic table suitable for study. This is where we held our session on the day of note. My arrival at Damon’s apartment, and my interactions with him and his family, featured numerous qualities that contributed to the microcosmic nature of the experience on this particular afternoon.

I record my observations and thoughts from the session conducted at the picnic table in Part Three of this series.