Read-With-Me At AIC

Location: American Indian Center

Date: Tuesday, February 19, 2013; 6:00-7:00 pm

It was refreshing to come back to AIC, for it truly is a welcoming place.  I think it’s because it reminds me of the place that I used to visit with my parents and play, way back when I was a boy.  I had not been to AIC for over a month and arrived to find the kids enjoying themselves, playing a game of ‘Red, Yellow and Green Light’.  The idea was that Jacqueline, one of the volunteers, would say the color of a light and the kids would go from one end of the room to the other following these ‘traffic lights’.  Red meant ‘Stop’, Yellow meant ‘Slow Down’ and Green was ‘Go’.  There were times when they would be running and Jacqueline would say “Stop” and all of them would freeze on spot.  There was lot of laughter and I watched them for a bit, before checking to see what Wilson was up to.

He said that we would be making Chinese lanterns today and from the pictures he showed me, I felt it was going to be a challenge for me.  I have vague memories of taking part in a lantern making competition in school and reason the memories are vague is because I may have chosen to forget about the entire incident!  He then proceeded to show me more complex versions of the same and said we should do them next after the kids have had some practice. 

Who knew that Chicago Cares
may lead me to secret passages

Wilson then called the meeting to order and all of us gathered around in a circle.  Beside Jacqueline, other volunteers were Tony, Nate and Mandy, while the kids were Anesha, Pia and Wilmer, all of whom I had met earlier.  I was disappointed to see that little Maia was not in attendance.  As an ice breaker, Wilson suggested that we introduce ourselves and tell everyone what our favorite game was.  I was the first to go and for life of me could not think of anything.  “Hide and Seek”, I said, because I thought it was something kids could identify with.  But everyone else, including Wilmer and Pia, picked more interesting games.  In fact, Wilson picked puzzles because it stimulates the mind.  However, Anesha said she liked Hide-and-Seek as well and to illustrate that point, went and hid inside a bookcase.  Wilson always has a story to make something mundane seem extraordinary and he told us that the building we were in was built by the Freemasons, which meant that there were several secret passages behind the walls.  He said that for our end-of-the-school-year activity, we could explore them during the last Read-With-Me project in May.  I was already excited and made a mental note to ask Wilson to remind me about that session. 

North America on the World Map

I looked around and the main table at which we had sat the last time was missing.  I asked Wilson and he pointed at the corner where it was standing on its side.  Somebody had done a fantastic sketch of Illinois on it, and it had several dots and lines in it.  Once again, Wilson was not going to let an opportunity to quiz us pass and so he asked what we thought the dots and lines were.  When none of us could answer precisely, he called one of the staff members who explained that the dots were Indian reservations in the 19^th century and the lines were the roads that linked them.  In fact, some of those roads are still in existence today.

Since there were more volunteers than kids, Wilson said that we should split up and do different tasks.  He asked the kids to pair up with a volunteer and I was slightly pained that no one picked me.  However, Wilson had bigger plans and asked me to help him invent a new game.  I looked around and saw a big ‘Children's World Map’ on one of the tables.  It had lots of pictures and cartoons about each country and its specialty, like animals in African countries or noticeable landmarks like ‘The Great Wall’ in China.  Geography, particularly cartography is a hobby of mine and I said we could have ‘Find the place’ game where kids have to search for a place based on clues.  This was another game which my classmates and I used to play in school.  It’s never too late to have a second childhood.  Wilson loved the idea and decided to incorporate that, either later in the evening, or the next week.

Seemed like an interesting book

Anesha had just finished her reading session with Jacqueline and wanted to play.  However, Wilson asked her to pick another book and read with me, something she reluctantly did.  She chose a book which she claimed was her favorite – ‘A Bad Case Of Stripes’.  It was a story about a girl who doesn't know what to wear to school and after trying a few outfits, her face breaks out into multi-colored stripes.  The rest of the story was her day in school, though we never got to finish since Anesha lost interest.  Wilson decided that it was time for our activity and we all gathered to make lanterns.  I sat next to Pia and we saw Wilson explain how it was to be made.  It actually was not that difficult and Pia and I started on our lanterns.  We had to decorate the inside of our lantern and I drew a star and wrote, ‘When you wish upon a star’.  Then with some help from Pia to shape it using her arm, we got it done.  I asked Pia if I should attach a handle to it and she not only said yes, but also picked a color for me. 

My lantern

By this time our hour was up and I decided to carry my lantern with me.  I put it around my water bottle and crossed my fingers that it would make it home.  I told Wilson that I would not be back next Tuesday due to another project and was alarmed to hear him be cryptic and say that he would be keen to hear my feedback on that one.  If Wilson felt that way about a project, I was going to think twice.  He however convinced me to go, though I may prefer to come back here and participate in that map game we had invented.  I went for dinner that night and showed some of the folks the lantern I had made.  To most it may have seemed trivial and it did look like a poor amateurish attempt, as do many of my other projects.  But I display them proudly in my office workspace, not because it's the quality, but rather the memory that matters. After all, as a wise man once said, “It’s not the thing you fling.  It’s the fling itself”.

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy