Jel(an)i Bean

Time for some massive catch-up...

I met the most remarkable guy, J (I don't want to put his name out on the internet, so stick with me). He's 10, short, dark and handsome. He's also incredibly funny, talented, articulate, and sweet. He's perfection! And my tutee!

At the end of October I helped out with IHouse's tutorial program party. IHouse offers its residents the chance to tutor young kids in the neighborhood. These kids really have incredible opportunities living so close to Columbia, lots of tutoring and programming. It seems to be just a matter of knowing what is out there and be able to take advantage of it all. So, back to Halloween...

I was helping out all the little kids doing art projects and stuffing themselves with sugar. One kid just really stood out as being really funny and outgoing. At one point, the DJ put on Michael Jackson's Thriller and all of us old grad students just had to try to remember all the moves. J looked at us clapping our hands over our heads and doing a slow shoulder shake and shook his head in disbelief. He then told us he would show us how it was done, and did a little dance. It was a mix of 80s style, breakdance, and complete childhood lack of inhibition.

At the end of the dance we were all J's fans. I asked him how many girlfriends he had. He made a "yuck" face and said "I"m not into girls." Then he looked right at me and asked, "Are you tutoring anyone?" And I said No, I don't tutor. And he said, "Well, you should tutor me." And so it has been.

We began tutoring ASAP and I have since looked forward to Friday afternoons being the best part of my week. He is so sweet and thoughtful. He loved that I taught him to remember INternal and EXternal (think of an exit sign), and he often talks about how bad it is to lie or spread rumors (from when we learned the word murmur). He summed up Colonialism in one sentence. He is shocked by stories of teenagers beating each other up. He wants to know if Stanford is a historically Black college. He dresses like a little man with slacks and turtleneck sweaters. He makes up stories, and you can tell because he starts to repeat himself and his voice gets a little higher.

Absolutely the highlight of my year!