Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
* * *
—
Dear Ms. Graham,
I don’t think you’re being fair with this social-issues project. Every single day I have to sit in class, irritated because I have two group members who goof off. That’s half my group! I’m not just a little irritated. I’m a LOT irritated.
The other reason is that these are big problems—it’s not like we can do anything that Matters for this project. So what’s the Point?
—Kayley
* * *
—
Dear Kayley,
Thank you for raising this concern. If you are feeling frustrated, I imagine others are as well. I will speak to the class today.
Sincerely,
Ms. Graham
HENRY
SCENE: Ms. Graham tries to convince the students that this assignment has a purpose. Typical.
MS. GRAHAM: It’s come to my attention that some students are feeling discouraged about the social-issues project. Let’s discuss this.
CLASS: (quiet)
KAYLEY: It does seem sort of pointless.
MS. GRAHAM: How so?
BLAKE: Well, there’s all these sad things happening in the world. And it’s not like we can actually do anything about it.
MS. GRAHAM: Has anyone ever heard of the butterfly effect?
AVIVA: How a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly? Is it the idea that people can change?
MS. GRAHAM: I really like that, Aviva. I love that human beings have the capacity for change. This particular term refers to something different, though.
KAI: Isn’t it that when a butterfly flaps its wings, it might change something across the world? Like some kind of ripple or something?
MS. GRAHAM: Yes! It’s the idea that a small change in one thing can lead to big changes in other things. Like for example, I know one of our teams served food at a soup kitchen. Imagine a hungry man who came to eat there—let’s say his name is Fred.
Pretend Fred came to the soup kitchen so hungry that he could hardly think. He left with a full stomach. And because he was full, he had enough energy to apply for a job. What might happen next?
KAI: Maybe Fred’s a hard worker and they like him.
HENRY: Maybe Fred gets promoted. Or gets a better job.
AVIVA: Maybe he doesn’t have to worry about being hungry anymore.
MS. GRAHAM: Let’s say all these things are true. He saves his money, and after many years of hard work and investment, Fred winds up wealthy, and he credits his life to that one meal at the soup kitchen. Let’s say he wants to give back. What might he do?
SHARON: Open up his own soup kitchen!
EMILY: Adopt a bunch of kids.
BLAKE: Build a huge frog habitat.
MS. GRAHAM: Right! He could do a wide variety of things to help others. That one meal, that one kind act, could snowball into a thousand kind acts and then could affect many lives. That’s the butterfly effect.
SHARON: That’s cool!
HENRY: Can the same be said for something negative? Like if, for example, someone is mean to someone else? (looks at Kayley pointedly)
MS. GRAHAM: Absolutely. Anything and everything we do—positive or negative, big or small—can influence other people and the world.
KAI: Is it like what we did for Kermit? We rescued him. He’d have died if he was left outside. But we saved his life.
HENRY: Yes, and he somehow (looks at Blake) hopped his way in here to our class. We’re frog heroes. Making a difference, one frog at a time.
KAYLEY: So we saved a frog. Big deal.
HENRY: Maybe because we saved Kermit, one of us will go on to be a famous biologist who solves global warming and saves our planet. It’s the frog effect.
MS. GRAHAM: Yes! Remember, change can take place on multiple levels. Even change within yourself is change.
HENRY: (whispers) Maybe some of us will set personal goals. Like maybe to not call people mean names?
KAYLEY: (red face)
MS. GRAHAM: Refocus on your social-issues project. Think about whether there’s something you can actually do to make a difference. Remember, even something small can have a big impact. Document your efforts in your journals. I challenge you all.
HENRY: Ooh. A challenge. Me likes that.
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
Ms. Graham has me thinking. How can we truly “immerse” ourselves in our social issue if we’re sleeping in our comfy beds every night?
We’re supposed to “challenge ourselves.” Does organizing bread rolls at a soup kitchen somehow make me understand what it’s like to be poor? Sharon and I talked about this at lunch today. I told her that my dad would say no, that we still have no clue what it’s like to be poor.
Then I told her all about his work as an investigative reporter. One time he spent a week in a refugee camp just so he could write about the experience. Sharon is SO interested in my dad’s work. It makes me remember how supremely cool it is.
I think I’ll get to Skype with him this week. I hope so. Maybe he’ll have some ideas? Hmmm. My wheels are turning….
Love and luck,
Emily
SHARON
I am untethered.
A lonely ship on the sea
With high-powered speed
And nowhere to go.
But now I spy a direction.
A purpose.
I want to do something real.
To understand what it’s truly like
To be homeless.
Maybe then I can find a way
To make a difference,
Just like Emily’s dad.
Ms. Graham says,
“Immerse yourself.”
How about being homeless for a night?
That’s diving in the pool at the deep end
and swimming all the way down
until our ears feel like
they’ll burst from the pressure.
Full immersion.
BLAKE
AVIVA
Date: November 30
Dear Malala,
You don’t know me. I am an American girl. I think you are SO brave. We are studying social issues in school, and I would like to learn more about how to make it safe for girls around the world to get an education. I saw your book in the library and I’m checking it out. Can’t wait to read it.
Sincerely,
Aviva Levy
* * *
—
I’m trying to channel Malala whenever I can. She didn’t let anything stop her.
But me—I still can’t get up my nerve to ask Emily to walk to school again (even though we wrote letters, it’s too weird to ask her). Since I’m still afraid to walk alone—it’s easier to keep biking.
But Malala can be my inspiration for our school project. Ms. Graham said even something small can make a difference. Maybe we can offer after-school tutoring for the lower-grade kids?
KAI
Dear Frog,
Sharon says she wants us to do more to “immerse ourselves.” We went to the soup kitchen, so I say we’ve already put the butterfly effect into action. Right?
But there’s no convincing that girl. She’s calling a lunchtime meeting. She said it’s Urgent! I feel kind of weird sitting with girls at lunch. Maybe I’ll just stand.
I overheard Kayley’s group talking about how women get paid less than men. That bothers me. If my social-issues group is a good example, girls work way hard. And Mom works way hard for sure. She hardly ever sits still. Even on Sundays when we watch our family movie and we all squish onto the couch together, Mom lugs the ironing board down to the living room
so she can iron while we watch. Maybe next Sunday I’ll help her.
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
Sharon invited Cecilia and Kai to sit with us for lunch. Kai just stood there all fidgety. Like he was only planning on staying a minute. Sharon passed around a bag of pita chips. And then she laid out her plan (which she said was inspired by our conversation about my dad).
The PLAN: We could all spend the night in a homeless shelter. We’d bring our journals and take notes, and this would help us figure out what homeless people actually need and what we could do to make a difference. Our parents wouldn’t have to know. We’d tell them we were sleeping over at each other’s houses. We’d be together, so we’d be safe. And then we could show Ms. Graham (and the whole class) how we “challenged ourselves.”
Ooh! I could write about this. My first experience with true in-the-trenches journalism. Maybe if I write something EXTRAORDINARY, Dad will help me polish it? Maybe Mom will be proud and it’ll pull her out of her sadness? She’s lonely (me too). Only…doesn’t she see that I’m right here? She has me for company, if she wants it.
Cecilia suggested a vote.
I’m in.
Love and luck,
Emily
CECILIA
Hola Abuelita,
Sharon’s idea makes my heart shake. Taking a bus all the way to the city? By ourselves? Sleeping at Sacred Heart shelter for a whole night? It was fine to visit with Mami, but to stay there overnight? I don’t know. That idea kind of freaks me out.
I reminded the group that Ms. Graham said “something small” can still make a difference. I thought maybe we could just do a bake sale and donate the money. I suggested we take a vote. I was pretty sure Emily and Kai would vote for the bake sale. Only one by one, everyone voted for the trip to Sacred Heart. So…I did too.
Sharon says our parents won’t understand. I know one thing for sure: If I ask Mami, she’ll say no. Sharon’s right that if I want to go, I can’t ask. But…this feels wrong. Abuelita, I wish you were here to give me consejos. I definitely need your wisdom.
WORDS TO PRACTICE
shelter = albergue
Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
KAYLEY
Dear Ms. Graham,
It’s Unfair to ask Blake Benson to do a project like this. It’s Unfair to our team and it’s unfair to him. I know I called him a DUMMY but I don’t really think he is. He’s smart about some things, like math and science and art and sports—anything without a lot of reading and writing, but more thinking and doing. We all know Blake gets pulled out of class for Resource Class, but maybe it’s not working.
What kind of education is Blake getting if all he’s doing is drawing and wasting class time? What if we change the topic from “Women’s Access to Education” and just think about “Access to Education”?
Ooh! I think I’m onto something here. My mother’s always got one Project or another. Now I have one, too—Blake Benson. Only this has to be a secret mission. If Blake knows that he’s my project, he’ll fight it. I doubt there’s extra credit for being nice, but I’m not sure if I care.
Update: I tried out my plan today. I asked Blake Benson to find video clips on “Access to Education.” And then I told him that when we get to the presentation part, he can design the art on our poster. Maybe reading and writing aren’t his thing, but drawing sure is. This way at least he’s doing something, instead of sitting around and laughing at every irritating thing Henry says.
Today he really worked for the first time. It was pretty cool, seeing him get into the project. He hardly made eye contact with me, though, probably because of the DUMMY thing. He’ll get over it. I guess it was nice of Blake not to tell on me. Of course, I didn’t tell on him either, but still.
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
I’m feeling guilty already. I’m not naturally a sneaky kid. I’m the opposite. I can’t even sneak snacks into a movie theater.
But tonight I lied and told Mom I’d be spending Saturday night with Aviva. She doesn’t know we’re not friends anymore. I’m always trying to cheer Mom up, so I haven’t shared any of the school drama. I used to tell her every time someone at school so much as sneezed.
Speaking of sneezing, Aviva’s animals make the back of my throat itch something awful. When I told Mom I’d be at Aviva’s, she just said, “Great.” Then she told me to remember to bring my allergy meds. I grabbed my journal so I could document everything, and tried to ignore the guilt.
Love and luck (now I’ll really need luck so I don’t get caught!),
Emily
CECILIA
Hola Abuelita,
I’m not going to send you this letter. I don’t want to disappoint you—if you read this, you’d read it with shame! You know I never lie to Mami. I mean, sure, we argue sometimes. But…we do have trust between us. Today I’m breaking it.
I told Mami that I’m sleeping over at a friend’s house to work on a school project. This is a trick (and why I feel terrible)—because I know Mami would do anything for my education. She’d get another job and donate all the money to my school if she didn’t need to sleep. Seriously. That’s how much she loves it.
I know lying is wrong, but isn’t sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reason okay? Still…I can’t even bear to imagine you reading this, Abuelita. I’ll have to rip this section out.
Besos y abrazos,
Cecilia
EMILY
Status:
Dear Hope,
I’m writing to you on the bus. I have never in my entire life ridden on a city bus without a parent. My stomach is churning with that sick-guilty feeling for lying to Mom. She didn’t ask me one single question. Is it because she trusts me so completely? (Okay, that makes me feel horrible.)
I promise I won’t do anything like this again. I know it’s for a good cause, but my heart is all fluttery. Just like that time I thought it was a good idea to roller-skate down Kayley’s steep driveway. It looked like fun, but I forgot about those tiny pebbles that can get caught up in a roller skate wheel. I went for it anyway, and I have the scars to prove it.
My mind’s tangled up with worries and excitement, and I’m thinking maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
Love and luck,
Emily
AVIVA
Date: December 9
I gotta write this down! Thank goodness I brought my journal home this weekend, because I feel like I swallowed a horse bit, and the sharp metal part is shredding my insides.
I lied! Ten minutes ago. A big old whopping lie. Mrs. Thompson (Emily’s mom) dropped by. I figured she was here to tell Ima what a rotten person I’ve been, but no, she said Emily forgot her green allergy pills for tonight’s sleepover. Uh…what?
I got all confused for a second, but then I figured Emily must’ve told her mom she was sleeping here. And the least I could do was protect her so she wouldn’t get in trouble. So instead of saying I hadn’t invited Emily at all, I just said she hadn’t come yet. (Half-lie? Half-truth?)
Mrs. Thompson stared at me for the longest moment ever, and then she started walking in circles, saying that Emily left her house hours ago and oh-my-g-d-where-could-she-be? Her voice got louder and louder. Ima came running downstairs to see what was the matter, and they both started panicking, and I couldn’t handle all the grown-up freak-outs (which are terrifying), plus they weren’t paying attention to me, so I escaped up to my room.
Writing in my journal is helping me think this through. Because Emily wasn’t planning to come in the first place, right? Maybe she wanted to go to the movies by herself without her mom knowing. What if she met some boy on the internet, which they always tell us not to do? What if she’s being held hostage somewhere? Oh
no. What if someone hurts her? Why didn’t she give me a heads-up? At least then I could’ve talked her out of anything stupid. Or if she’s just being sneaky, I’d have known how to cover for her.
Ohhh. Yeah. A sad thought sinks in. Maybe she did want to talk to me but was afraid because of the way I’ve been acting. Maybe that’s why. She didn’t think she could talk to me. Just like I didn’t talk to her about Tattoo Man. Just the thought of him sucks the breath out of me. Oh. My. G-d. Maybe he really was a kidnapper? What if he kidnapped Emily? I should’ve told someone. If Emily is kidnapped it will be all my fault!
I need to talk to someone! My mom? No—I’ll get in trouble for not telling earlier. I’ll call Kayley. My heart is Ping-Ponging around in my chest and now I’m crying and I don’t think I’m thinking straight but I know I have to do something and I just want Emily to be okay.
KAYLEY
Dear Ms. Graham,
Aviva just called me, all hysterical. I could hardly understand her, she was crying so hard. So I made her take deep breaths and start over.
There’s a Kidnapper on the loose! I can’t believe Aviva was almost kidnapped and she didn’t tell anyone! What’s her problem? Who knows why Emily said she was going to Aviva’s when she wasn’t, but I told Aviva she needs to tell the truth right away. Who cares if Emily gets mad? She’ll get over it.
Plus I told Aviva I’ll tell if she doesn’t. This is a big deal. After I got off the phone I ran downstairs to tell my mother and she got stress-y right away. She parked me in front of the television and told me to keep the doors to the house locked and stay inside. Then she left, I guess to go over to Aviva’s and help them figure this mess out.
I have an idea. I’ll call all the people on Emily’s team. We have a class contact list that the Room Mom puts together in September every year. Maybe Emily’s at one of their houses and her mom got confused about where she was going?
PS Weird. I can’t get ahold of anyone from Emily’s team. No one answered at Sharon’s house. I couldn’t try Cecilia because there’s no number for her on our class contact list. At Kai’s house I talked to this little kid who kept saying, “Hi. I Jayla.” She couldn’t have been more than three. I kept asking her to get Kai on the phone and she said, “I not Kai. I Jayla.”
Operation Frog Effect Page 8