Tag Archives: OddBox

On Mahmoud Darwish’s Birthday, 13 Poems

The Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish (d. 2008) was born in al-Birwa on this day in 1941. To commemorate his entrance into our world on March 13, ArabLit has 13 poems (and poemish texts):

1) “The Moon Did Not Fall Into the Well,” from Journal of an Ordinary Grieftr. Ibrahim Muhawi

Muhawi’s translations have a wonderful sense of the rhythm of the original, and this particular text is narrative, open-hearted, and with deeply etched characters. It opens:

—What are you doing, father?

—I’m searching for my heart, which fell away that night.

—Do you think you’ll find it here?

—Where else am I going to nd it? I bend to the ground and pick it up piece by piece just as the women of the fellahin pick up olives in October, one olive at a time.

—But you’re picking up pebbles!

—Doing that is a good exercise for memory and perception. Who knows? Maybe these pebbles are petrified pieces of my heart.

2) “Love, like meaning,” from In the Presence of Absencetr. Sinan Antoon.

Perhaps the greatest of Darwish’s works, this version brought Antoon the 2012 National Translation Award:

Love, like meaning, is out on the open road, but like poetry, it is difficult. It requires talent, endurance, and skillful formulation, because of its many stations. It is not enough to love, for that is one of nature’s magical acts, like rainfall and thunder. It takes you out of yourself into the other’s orbit and then you have to fend for yourself. It is not enough to love, you have to know how to love. Do you know how?

3) The Dice Player,” from If I Were Anothertr. Fady Joudah

The charming “The Dice Player” with a visual adaptation:

4) “The Horse Fell off the Poem,” from The Butterfly’s Burdentr. Fady Joudah

There is no margin in modern language left
to celebrate what we love,
because all that will be … was

5) “The Second Olive Tree,” tr. Marilyn Hacker

And with horses, olive trees:

The olive tree does not weep and does not laugh. The olive tree

Is the hillside’s modest lady. Shadow

Covers her one leg, and she will not take her leaves off in front of the storm.

Standing, she is seated, and seated, standing.

6) “Nothing But Iraq,” tr. Shareah Taleghani

A cry to Badr Shakir al-Sayyab:

I remember as-Sayyab screaming into the Gulf in vain:

Iraq, Iraq. Nothing but Iraq.

And nothing but an echo replies

I remember as-Sayyab, in that Sumerian space

A woman triumphed over the sterility of mist

She bequeathed to us earth and exile . . .

For poetry is born in Iraq,

So be Iraqi to become a poet, my friend.

7) “And where is my will?” from Memory for Forgetfulnesstr. Ibrahim Muhawi

And where is my will?

It stopped over there, on the other side of the collective voice. But now, I want nothing more than the aroma of coffee. Now I feel shame. I feel shamed by my fear, and by those defending the scent of the distant homeland–that fragrance they’ve never smelled because they weren’t born on her soil. She bore them, but they were born away from her. Yet they studied her constantly, without fatigue or boredom; and from overpowering memory and constant pursuit, they learned what it means to belong to her.

“You’re aliens here,” they say to them there.

“You’re aliens here,” they say to them here.

8) “Diary,” tr. Tania Tamari Nasir and John Berger.

If you were told: you’re going to die here this evening What would you do in the remaining time? Look at my watch Drink a glass of juice Munch an apple Watch an ant who has found what to eat Then look at my watch There’s still time to shave have a bath I say to myself: One needs one’s finery when about to write So I’ll wear the blue shirt I sit til noon alive at my desk I do not see the effect of color on words Whiteness whiteness whiteness I prepare my last lunch I pour out wine into two glasses For me and for the one who will come Unannounced Then I take a siesta in between two dreams

9) “The Tragedy of Narcissus,” from If I Were Anothertr. Fady Joudah:

10) “A Noun Sentence,” The Butterfly’s Burdentr. Fady Joudah

A noun sentence, no verb

to it or in it: to the sea the scent of the bed

after making love … a salty perfume

or a sour one. A noun sentence: my wounded joy

like the sunset at your strange windows.

11) “If I Were a Hunter,” tr. Shakir Mustafa

If a hunter I were

I’d give the gazelle

a chance, and another,

and a third, and a tenth,

to doze a little. My share

of the booty would be

peace of mind under

her dozing head.

12) “Mural,” translated by John Berger and, Rema Hammami

My nurse says: you are better now

and injects me with a tranquillizer:

Be calm

and worthy of what you’re about to dream

even a little…

13) “ID Card,” tr. Salman Masalha and Vivian Eden

This would not likely be a poem Darwish would choose among only 13 of his works. But it is one that, although written in his early days, in 1964, continues to have great political resonance:

Write it down! Im an Arab

My card number is 50000

My children number eight

And after this summer, a ninth on his way.

Does this make you rage?

I am an Arab.

8 Short Stories by Arab Women for International Women’s Day

Your gift for International Women’s Day is eight great short stories by Arab women, in translation, available free online:

By artist Helen Zughaib, in an exhibition “Arab Spring/Unfinished Journeys: Humanizing Politics Through Art.” A detail image of her piece Generations Lost, 2014. Photographer: Stephanie Mitchell.

Many short stories I’ve recently enjoyed — Hanan al-Shaykh’s “The Angel” in Arab Women Voice New Realities; Najwa Binshatwan’s “Return Ticket,” tr. Sawad Hussain, in Banthology — have been written by women. Yet relatively few are available online. A translation of Samira Azzam’s “Man and His Alarm Clock” has been paywalled for $42.50.

Here is a handful of pearls, stitched to a branch:

1. “Pearls on a Branch,” from the collection of folktales Pearls on a Branch, ed. Najlaa Khoury, tr. Inea Bushnaq.

This gorgeous, subversive, beautifully translated collection — subtitled “Tales from the Arab World Told by Women” — is a must-have for all ages. This story, published on Tin Houseopens:

There was or there was not
In olden days that time has lost…
O you who like stories and talk
No story can be pleasing and beautiful,
Without invoking the Almighty, the Merciful.

THERE WAS A KING – there is no sovereign but God – and this king had a daughter. She was his only child and he liked to please her. So when the month for the pilgrimage to Mecca drew near, the king asked his daughter:

Tell me what do you want me to bring you from the Hajj?

2. Rachida el-Charni, “The Way to Poppy Street,” tr Piers Amodia.

This story — by Tunisian writer Rachida el-Charni — was also selected for the Granta Book of the African Short Story, ed. Helon Habila.

She saw him coming towards her, whistling and humming. He stopped in front of her to ask politely if she knew the way to Poppy Street. Not for a moment did she imagine that he would use the second she took to think to snatch her gold necklace and take to his heels.

3. Lena Merhej, “I Think We Will Be Calmer in the Next War,” tr. Merhej.

This story, by talented Lebanese artist, cartoonist, and graphic novelist Lena Merhej, opens:

You can read both the Arabic and the English of these graphic short stories — or comix — at grandpapier.org.

4. Malika Moustadraf’s “Just Different,” tr. Alice Guthrie. 

This story, by the maverick Moroccan short-story writer Malika Moustadraf (1962-2006), opens:

Avenue Mohammed V is silent and desolate this late at night, empty apart from a few stray cats meowing like newborn babies; it’s a creepy sound.

5. Basma al-Nsour’s “Disappointments (and a Few Clarifications),”tr. Andrew Leber

This story, by acclaimed Jordanian short-story writer and attorney Basma al-Nsour, opens:

My life would have been a lot easier if only my grandmother had not been a liar. Or, to put it more nicely, if she hadn’t been so imaginative on that winter night when she convinced me that she would never leave me.

You can also read al-Nsour’s “That Pathetic Woman,” tr. Thoraya El-Rayyes, on ArabLit.

6. Adania Shibli’s “Out of Time,” translator not named.

This story, by Palestinian writer Adania Shibli, is built on the work of classic Palestinian short-story writer Samira Azzam, best-known for her collection, The Clock and the Man. Unfortunately a translation of Azzam’s “Man and His Alarm Clock” is no longer online.

My little watch is the first to sense the change going in to and out of Palestine.

7. Rasha Abbas, “The Gist of It,” tr. Alice Guthrie

There are also a number of other Rasha Abbas stories online, such as “Statement of Absolute Hatred,” “Falling Down Politely, or How to Use Up All Six Bullets Instead of Playing Russian Roulette,” and “Statement of Absolute Hatred,” all tr. Guthrie.

8. “The Sea Cloak,” by Nayrouz Qarmout, tr. Charis Bredon

A collection for Qarmout’s stories, titled The Sea Cloak and tr. Perween Richards, is forthcoming from Comma Press this May. The story isn’t printed online, but you can listen to it performed by Grazyna Monvid:

لا للتقاعد التعسفي للمعلمين

لا للتقاعد التعسفي للمعلمين

 

نستقبل آذار استقبالنا البهيج بانتهاء فصل الشتاء. يوم المرأة ويوم الأم ويوم الأرض، وهناك يوم للمعلم في بعض الدول .

في فلسطين تغلبت وزارتنا على الجميع وأحالت معلما في سن الثلاثين للتقاعد المبكر. هل يعتبر الأمر سابقة، أم مجرد إجراء تعسفي طبيعي في ظل فساد حكم مستفحل في كل مكان؟

وقبل تناول الموضوع أكثر، يجب التوقف عند سبب إحالة المعلم الشاب الى التقاعد . السبب موقفه من الاحتجاجات التي قادها المعلمون قبل سنتين. أي ان ما جرى كان اجراء انتقاميا ضد المعلم كان قد بيت من قبل صانع القرار في الوزارةمنذ سنتين.

هل لنا ان نتخيل ماذا يعني هذا الاجراء؟

أي نوع من القمع يتم ممارسته من اجل المطالبة في حقوق تعتبر مبدئية لمعلمي المدارس؟

نحن نتكلم هنا عن المعلمين. بناة المستقبل، ناقلي التعليم وحاملي شعلة الامل لأبنائنا.

كيف نروج لنظام تعليم غير تقليدي، منفتح، ريادي، قيادي، والمعلم هذا يعرف انه عندما عبر عن نفسه قضي على مستقبله؟

لا أعرف ما الذي يجب ان نسكت عنه او نحارب من اجله في ظل هذه التراكمات من الانتهاكات الانسانية.

لماذا تصبح مرة اخرى الطامة أكبر عندما نرى تجاوزات وانتهاكات وزارة التربية والتعليم؟

بكل بساطة ، لأنه المكان الذي نعد للمستقبل من خلاله … أهذا هو مستقبل الاجيال؟ حاضر مبني على القمع والعقاب عند التعبير عن الحق؟

المشكلة لا تنتهي عند وزارة التربية والتعليم ، التي تحولت ممارساتها الى إجراءات عجيبة منذ عرض “انجاز” الى نوع المسابقات التي تبدأ باسم الوزير رتنتهي بصورته على العملة النقدية.

المشلة في تعاطينا لهكذا ممارسات انتهاكية والتعامل معها على انها خاصة لمكان بعينه أو شخص بذاته .

ضحية اليوم من ممارسات القمع والترهيب كان معلما. ولكن هذا لا يعني ان ما جرى لهذا المعلم يؤثر علينا كمجتمع من كل الاتجاهات . لا استطيع الا ان اتساءل ، اذا ما كانت نتيجة وقوف معلم بالاضرابات قد أدى الى فصله او احالته الى التقاعد المبكر. تخيلوا ان هذا الشاب يتقاعد في هذا العمر؟ كم من المعلمين بانتظار إحالتهم الى الاستقالة او التقاعد ؟ ما الذي نتوقعه من الدوائر التعليمية > من المعلمين الاخرين ، من الطلاب ، من الاهل ؟

في بلاد العالم الطبيعي ، أعرف مبدئيا ، انه لن تكون هكذا حوادث لأنه من المستحيل التفكير زن هناك وزارة تقوم بهكذا فعل لمدرس ، ولكن ، هذا لا يأتي فقط لأن النقابات فاعلة. لا اعرف ما الذي يقال في هذه الاثناء عن نقاباتنا المختلفة . اين دور النقابة ؟ حالة تطويع النقابات ليس ايضا فرضيا او غريبا ، لأن المشكلة ليست مصادفة. فحالة التطويع هذه تبدو جماعية. لقد تحولنا الى مجتمع متكامل في حالة تقويضه وتطويعه.

غدا يصادف يوم المرأة … كم حالة تشبه حالة قمع هذا المعلم الشاب عند النساء؟ من الواجب ان تكرس النساء يومها غدا من اجل قضية معلم المدرسة. لأن الموضوع لم يعد يقتصر على تمييز وتنكيل بجنس محدد . ولكن التنكيل صار مؤسساتيا يطال كل من يخالف رغبات الامر او صاحب السلطة.

قضيانا تتضاعف وتتشابك ، ولا زلنا نردد نفس الشعارات والمطالبات من اجل قضية على حساب اي قضية اخرى . فتحولت قضاياتا الى ايام احتفال ، نقف فيها على المنصات ونندد ونطالب ونتذمر.

يجب ان يكون يوم المرأة هذا العام يوم نصرة للمعلمين المهددين بانهاء مسيراتهم التعليمية قبل ان تبدأ بالتشكل. يوم المرأة هذا العام ، يجب ان تكون صرخاته ونداءاته ضد الاضطهاد والقمع الممنهج من قبل السلطات المختلفة ، وفي هذه الحالة وزارة التربية والتعليم ، التي تكسر كل قواعد الريادة في كل مرة ، وتؤكد ان التعليم اذا ما استمر في هكذا مسار كمؤسسة ، فلا عتب على الاجيال القادمة .

All The White Supremacists Running For Office In 2018

All The White Supremacists Running For Office In 2018:

tzikeh:

A quick and easy guide to finding their opponents, and then donating your time and/or money to anyone willing to stand up against these assholes. 

And let’s reinforce the lesson everyone should have taken away from the 2016 election:

THE PERFECT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE GOOD.

I DON’T GIVE A SHIT IF THE PERSON RUNNING AGAINST THE WHITE SUPREMACIST DOESN’T THINK COLLEGE SHOULD BE FREE

OR THAT WE SHOULD HAVE UBI

OR ISN’T A FUCKING VEGAN 

OR WHAT-THE-FUCK-EVER IS UP YOUR ASS TODAY

YOU VOTE AGAINST THE WHITE SUPREMACIST.  

PERIOD.

AND IF YOU’RE LUCKY ENOUGH NOT TO HAVE A WHTIE SUPREMACIST RUNNING IN YOUR DISTRICT, FIND ONE SOMEWHERE ELSE AND GIVE YOU TIME AND MONEY TO THEIR OPPONENT.

THIS ISN’T FUCKING ROCKET SCIENCE.

Trigger warnings for basically every-fucking-thing.

Portraits of 10 Women Who Acted as Spies to Stop the Nazis

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. The Germans would have done well to take note of William Congreve’s writings during World War II. While the efforts of men in war have been well highlighted, we often forget that women played just as large a role in ensuring victory. Some piloted planes, others worked hard in factories, and a very special few joined the Allied secret service. The following 10 women risked their own lives to scout enemy positions, bomb railroads, and ensure that the Third Reich met its match.

1. Andree Borrel

1-andree-borrel.jpg

Andree was contributing to the war effort even before becoming a spy. This French national and her friend were responsible for an underground railway into Spain, which they used to evacuate downed Allied airmen from occupied France. When the network was betrayed in 1940, she fled to Portugal and eventually joined SOE in 1942.

She was one of the first female agents to parachute into France along with Lise de Baissac on September 24, 1942. After joining the resistance in Paris, she became second in command of the local network by March 1943. Responsible for attacking a power station and other infrastructure, she and three key members were arrested. After proving too tough to crack through interrogation, she was taken to a concentration camp where she was given a lethal injection. Andree regained consciousness after the injection. Fighting the doctors for her life, she was eventually overpowered and cremated while alive.

2. Nancy Wake

2-nancy-wake.jpg

Born on August 30, 1912, in Wellington, New Zealand, Nancy worked as a journalist in pre-war Nazi Germany. After marrying a French industrialist, she joined the French Resistance in occupied France and helped British airmen escape capture. In December 1940, after being betrayed, Wake was captured. After convincing her guards that she wasn’t the woman they were looking for, she traveled to Britain and joined the Special Operations Executive (SOE). This was where she learned that her husband had been shot by Gestapo agents—which turned out to be a bad move on their part when Nancy came back with a vengeance.

She was dropped back into France in 1944 to coordinate Resistance attacks with the planned D-Day landings. This time she led an armed raid against Gestapo headquarters and German gun factories. After getting separated from her radio operator during a German counter-attack, she walked 200 kilometers (124 miles) and biked a 100 more kilometers (62 miles) to contact another operator. One of her resistance members said, “She is the most feminine woman I know, until the fighting starts. Then she is like five men.” Nancy died in 2011, at the age of 98.

3. Violette Reine

3-violette-reine.jpg

A French national, Violette moved to London before the start of the war. It was here that she met, fell in love with, married, and had a child with Etienne Szabo, a French Foreign Legion Officer serving with Free French forces. After Szabo was killed in 1942, Violette joined SOE to avenge his death (a common theme that might suggest making enemies of women was the downfall of Nazi Germany).

Replacing Philippe Liewer, an agent who had been uncovered and was hiding in Paris, she helped to completely restructure and reorder the shattered resistance movement in Normandy in June 1943. She also led sabotage missions against roads and railways as well as spotted potential bombing targets for the British. After briefly returning to Britain, she went on a second mission into France in which her car was ambushed. After holding off German troops with 64 rounds of ammunition so that her colleague could escape, she was captured and deported to Saarbrucken along with two other female agents and 37 male prisoners. During the transit, she used the cover of an Allied air raid to gather water for the imprisoned men in her final valorous act before she was executed on January 27, 1945.

4. Cecile Pearl Witherington

4-cecile-pearl-witherington.jpg

Cecile, a Brit born in France, joined SOE on June 8, 1943, after fleeing France. When she dropped into France on September 22, 1943, she started as a courier. The Germans, not taking kindly to even the prettiest of girls smuggling illegal weapons and intel, made even this low-level job incredibly dangerous.

When her superior was arrested, Cecile took over his duties. As leader of the Wrestler resistance network, she fielded over 1,500 fighters who played key roles in the Normandy landings. They were so effective that the Germans placed a 1,000,000 franc bounty on her head. In one instance, a force of 2,000 German soldiers were sent to attack her and her men in a battle which lasted 14 hours. The battle saw the death of 86 Germans and 24 of her freedom fighters. In all, 1,000 German soldiers were killed under her command, and railways connecting South and North France were disrupted over 800 times. In the final days of the occupation, she presided over the surrender of 18,000 Germans.

5. Virginia Hall

5-virginia-hall.jpg

Virginia may be the most impressive of the women on this list. While they all kicked Hitler’s butt, Hall did it with only one real foot—the other was a prosthesis, and a terrible prosthesis given the time. No stranger to danger, she served as an ambulance driver during the invasion of France, which we’re sure was an incredibly difficult task with the lack of automatic transmissions and even harder still with the clutch.

Before even becoming an agent, she organized the resistance, helped downed pilots, and carried out raids in 1941 under the guise of an American reporter. The Germans declared the “Limping Lady” one of the most dangerous Allied spies in 1942, and with her very unique limp, she was forced out of France. The American equivalent of SOE recruited Virginia in 1944 and sent her into France via parachute in 1944, with her prosthesis in her backpack. From her landing onward, she disguised herself as a farmhand and trained French resistance troops, organized sabotages, and helped with the resistance role in D-Day.

See more »

5 facts about U.S. evangelical Protestants

My best estimate is that 50% or so Americans do not have a clue who Billy Graham is/was and never heard him preach. He has not been actively doing anything since mid- 1970 – those under 40 years –
Billy who?

FT_18.03.01_5factsEvangelicals_featured.

The Rev. Billy Graham, who recently died at age 99, was one of the most influential and important evangelical Christian leaders of the 20th century. As the country remembers Rev. Billy Graham, here are five facts about American evangelical Protestants.

“This is my older sister’s business. I’m just helping her out….

tumblr_p4tpms3B221qggwnvo1_500.jpg

“This is my older sister’s business. I’m just helping her out. I barely knew her for most of my life. We come from a village, and she moved to the city when I was a baby. She supported our whole family. Everyone depended on her. She sent us money every month, but I barely knew her. I only spoke to her on the phone. A few years ago I followed in her footsteps and moved to Jakarta, and now we’ve become very close. I can finally witness the sacrifices that she’s made for us. She works all the time. She owns this small restaurant and runs a furniture business out of her home. Even though she’s a woman, she does all the marketing and negotiating herself. She wakes up early in the morning to search for wood in torn out buildings. When she comes home at night, her body is so tired that she goes directly to sleep. I want to become like her so she can rest. But I’m afraid I’m too naïve. When I watch her, I feel like she can do anything.”

(Jakarta, Indonesia)

Sixty-nine percent youths on probation experience less recidivism in NY community mentoring program, report finds

By Clarissa Sosin
Juvenile Justice Information Exchange

 

NEW YORK — Youths on probation who participated in a community mentorship program run through the New York City Department of Probation had a lesser chance of recidivism than those who didn’t, according to a study published this week.

Youths between the ages of 16 and 24 who went through the Arches Transformative Mentoring Program while on probation had a 69 percent lower recidivism rate within 12 months of starting their probation than youths who did not participate in the program, the study said. After 24 months, it was 57 percent. The strongest impact was seen with participants ages 16 and 17.

Carson Hicks

“We’ve never really seen the effects of this magnitude, particularly for this population,” said Carson Hicks, the deputy executive director of the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, the city agency that commissioned the Urban Institute to do the study.

The study, conducted between November 2015 and June 2017, looked into the impact of the program and how it was implemented. Researchers used data provided by the Department of Probation from nearly 1,000 youths who were on probation between January 2013 and October 2014. Of the group, 279 were enrolled in Arches.

Researchers conducted focus groups, surveys, interviews and observed group meetings at more than half the program’s locations throughout the city.

Ana M. Bermúdez

“It was important to us to be able to, in the best of worlds, which has happened, prove that it works,” said New York City Department of Probation Commissioner Ana M. Bermúdez about the results of the study. “And, in a less than perfect world, to learn from all of the findings of the evaluations so we can strengthen it.”

Of the more than 70 city programs evaluated by the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity since its founding, Hicks said this evaluation had one of the best outcomes. Of the handful of projects related to criminal justice, it was the best, she said.

The Arches Transformative Mentoring Program was founded in 2012 as part of the New York City Young Men’s Initiative with money from Bloomberg Philanthropies. The participants in the program are at-risk youths, ages 16 to 24, who are currently on probation.

Upon joining the program they are assigned a mentor, known as a Credible Messenger, to work with one-on-one. They attend group meetings twice a week and complete the curriculum for a type of cognitive behavioral therapy done through workbooks called interactive journaling.

It is the one-on-one relationship that is the crux of the program, experts said.

“Just make sure that kids have positive experiences with education, with working, with relationships,” said Jeffrey Butts, the director of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College after reading the study. “The relationship itself may be the principal rehabilitative force.”

JJIE New York Metro Bureau logoCredible Messengers are older adults who have either gone through the criminal justice system themselves or who have backgrounds that are easily relatable for the participants. They meet with their mentee at least once a week, accompany them to appointments such as court dates and meetings with their probations officers, and are supposed to be available at all hours.

“The level of engagement that these young people have with their mentors was something that I didn’t expect,” said Mathew Lynch, a research associate at the Urban Institute and a co-lead investigator on the study.

This relationship created a support system and gave them someone to relate to.

For Antwaun, a 22-year-old from the South Bronx, it provided a sense of family, he said. When he first showed up at the program he was nervous and skeptical but once they sat down for group he found himself opening up.

“I didn’t expect to open up the way I opened up,” said Antwaun, who asked to only use his first name. “The accountability is there. The support, it’s just there.”

Now five months into the program, Antwaun is set to graduate in a few weeks. He wants to continue with programs such as Arches and become a Credible Messenger himself one day, he said.

It changed the youths’ perception of themselves, said Mia Legaspi-Cavin, the coordinator for a branch of Arches run by the Osborne Association in the South Bronx.

“That’s what starts changing their negative behaviors,” she said. “It’s not only that they’re not engaging in as many negative behaviors but they are engaging with more positive behaviors.”

Scaling up?

Seeing the success of the one-on-one mentorship, Arches established the Credible Messenger Justice Center with the hope that they can scale up the program and provide training and resources for other jurisdictions that want to create their own programs. They see an application for a similar program in health and education.

However, the program faces challenges. The study found that many of the mentees didn’t relate to the interactive journaling curriculum, something the Department of Probation said it’s going to look into. And there is the issue of funding and making it financially sustainable for the Credible Messengers, who are part-time employees in a position that in reality is full-time.

“It’s a passion,” said lead mentor for the Osborne location in the South Bronx Theodore Haywood, known as “T.”

Haywood, 70, said many of his mentors could be doing something more lucrative but chose not to. And he thinks the mentees know that.

“It’s what we love doing, he said. “It’s not a job.”

Haywood said he sees another challenge: fear of change. As a formerly incarcerated person who grew up not too far from the Osborne location, he sees and understands the struggles that the mentees are going through. He thinks the program is great and likes the idea of scaling up but thinks there will be resistance.

“Change is scary for people,” he said. “But the thing is, we were losing a lot of our youth and if we didn’t make some changes, things were going to get worse.”