MECA Made a Difference in Poet Laureate's Life

The very first time I heard Gwendolyn Zepeda read was at MECA Houston (Multicultural Education and Counseling Through the Arts) in Houston's old Sixth Ward. She was wearing a wonderfully tacky gown at her "Quinceañera I was Too Poor to Have" event where she read some of her essays about her experiences growing up in that same neighborhood. It was amazing and I fell in love with her as a writer.

Photo courtesy of Gwendolyn Zepeda and Photo by Lawrence P. Lander

Gwendolyn Zepeda was announced as Houston's first Poet Laureate by Mayor Annise Parker in April of this year. She will serve a two year term 2013-2015. She is a published author of chap books, novels, and children's books, including Houston, We Have a Problema, Lonestar, Better with You Here, Growing up with Tamales, Sunflowers, and I Kick the Ball.

One of the coolest things about Gwendolyn Zepeda is that she's a Houstonian and grew up attending MECA and she believes this shaped who she is today.

"I was there *all the time*, after school and throughout each summer, and there were so many experiences that affected all aspects of my life -- artistic, academic, and social," she said.

When I asked her about her greatest experience at MECA Gwen said that the important experiences she had were really "cumulative," and she goes on to list some specifics.

"MECA partnered with Discover Dance to provide ballet classes for several years, and those classes fixed my knocked knees and bad posture, and improved my confidence for the rest of my life."

One specific experience that she remembers fondly was the time they went to Baybrook Mall when she was around 16 and performed songs from Leader of the Pack as part of a summer show. She said, "afterwards a little girl of about 9 came up to me and told me that she wanted to be like me when I got older."

She goes on to say, "Doing the performances taught me public speaking and improvisational skills. The dance and voice classes that prepared me for the performances taught me discipline and the value of constant growth. Watching our teachers and program directors taught me project management skills. Alice Valdez and her employees and her donors put together events that I never would've imagined could happen in our neighborhood."

It's experiences like this that are great examples of how great MECA's work is in the Houston community and why Houstonians should support this great organization. Funding for this organization will help pay for these great programs that make a difference in a young child's life.

 It's no wonder they were one of the five organizations chosen by P&G's Orgullosa Project. Facebook followers can vote for one of the organizations and Orgullosa will donate to these organizations based on their ranking in the votes. So far MECA is in third place and it needs our votes to move up in the ranking. If you haven't seen their Facbook page go "Like It" and then vote for MECA Houston.

Disclaimer: I am a compensated endorser for the P&G Orgullosa Project.

Writing Tour of Houston

For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook or on Twitter yesterday was a pretty busy day for me.

My original plan was to  go to Lake Livingston by myself on a writing retreat. It seemed like a very good idea at first. Here is a picture of the cabana where I was going to stay.

Then I realized that instead of having an afternoon lacrosse game on Sunday my daughter would have a morning game. I had to be there at 9:15 a.m, of course. Murphy's Law. The only weekend I actually decide to go do something like this and she has a morning game. So therefore it didn't make sense for me to actually spend the night on Saturday if I had to get up that early to drive back. I decided I would drive out in the morning on Saturday and I'd stay for the day and drive home when it started getting dark. I decided all of this on Thursday.

On Friday I started second guessing myself when one of the owners of the camping grounds called to ask me if I was willing on switching over to a kitchenette because the couple who was staying here on Friday wanted to stay on Saturday too. By now I was thinking it was too far to drive there and back in one day so I quickly told her No, to go ahead and to give them the cabana. I wasn't spending the night on Saturday anyway so it didn't seem fair if they wanted it.

After making that decision I sat there and doubted my decision. I kept searching for cabins or cabanas nearby but couldn't find anything. I thought that maybe I could just go to Lake Conroe.

Finally I got the brilliant idea of doing a writing retreat here in Houston. I started it downtown. At first I wanted to go to the old library but I remembered I hate the parking around there. I parked at work for free and wandered around the Rice Lofts when I saw that Shay McElroy's Irish Pub was open and that they were serving lunch. As soon as I walked in and saw this beautiful little room I knew this was where I wanted to write.

I fell in love with this little side room inside the pub and I definitely want to go back there. I got most of my writing done here. My second stop was the lobby of the Rice Lofts and my final stop was the new area in Washington Heights. In the end I wrote more than 2,000 words.

I still want to go back to the old library and the reading room at Discovery Green. I'll save those for my second Houston tour. I can think of other places in Houston where I can write. The Black Lab is one of the places where I thought of going too.

But in May I want to go to the little cabana on the lake for a weekend to myself. This time I'll plan ahead, drive out on a Friday, and I'll stay until Saturday evening.

Apparently writing retreats are good for me. As it turns out, I picked the best day for my writing retreat. April 13 was also a Nanowrimo Write-a-thon Day.

Carson Reading Room at Jefferson Elementary

I've written a lot lately about disproportionate funding in HISD and two of the things that bother me the most about this sad situation is the fact that Jefferson Elementary doesn't have a nurse or a library. Both are equally important in my book. This week I was happy to learn about the Carson Reading Room at Jefferson that just opened this past fall.

I had a chance to meet one of Seth's assistant principals on Friday and she asked if I had time to see the Carson Reading Room. She asked if I knew who Dr. Ben Carson was and I'm ashamed to say that I didn't, considering that he was the keynote speaker at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast just this month and a lot has been said about that.

Dr. Carson and his wife run the Carson Scholars Fund and with the help of the Hearst Foundation they sponsor Carson Reading Rooms around the nation. Jefferson Elementary is one of only three schools in Houston who received a Carson Reading Room. The other two are close by in the northside of Houston, Looscan and Clemente Martinez Elementary Schools.

The Carson Reading Room at Jefferson is beautiful! There is a mural on the wall painted by local artist, Kay Sarver. She also painted the welcome sign outside.

It's a comfortable, warm space where children can curl up with a book. The sofa and the pillows in the corners looked so inviting that I wished I didn't have to go back to work so soon. It was wonderful to see a room that is every bit as great as a library.

Ms. White told me about the beautiful mural and the local artist Kay Sarver and how the dads who meet once a month with the principal for Donuts for Dads painted the room. I asked her if they take donations and she said that they do. I told her that I just recently cleaned out the kids' room and I have 3 stacks of books. She said they would be happy to take any books I wanted to donate.

I was so excited to learn about the Carson Reading Room and more about Dr. Carson's inspiring story. He was raised in poverty and overcame adversity to become a successful surgeon and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He understands that students at schools like Jefferson need all the help and encouragment they can get to read and that they need a space to do this.

If you want to donate to the Carson Reading Room at Jefferson, either books or money, contact principal Mr. Hamilton or Ms. White at Jefferson Elementary. The children at Jefferson will really appreciate it.

The Disproportionate Funds for Schools- Part I

I have said it many times, especially on here, I am a product of a the Houston public school system. I have always believed in the public school system, especially the magnet program in HISD and especially the Vanguard and IB programs.

Now as a parent I have experienced two totally different schools in HISD, a Vanguard recognized school with all the resources a school could want and a neighborhood elementary with not even enough resources for a school nurse.

When my then husband and I decided to stay in the city we knew that our future children's education depended on the Magnet and Vanguard program and if our children would be accepted in one of these. When our daughter was accepted into the Vanguard program I was ecstatic. The fact that she got into our first choice school made it even better.

Our first choice had been Oak Forest and a lot of thought had gone into that choice. One of the reasons I chose it was because it was so diverse and I thought the teachers were also diverse. At least that was according to the Report Card on the Schools published in the Houston Chronicle. Sure it meant driving out a little farther every morning and afternoon but I felt like it was worth it and it was. Our daughter did really well in her years at Oak Forest and excelled in all subjects. I know the education she received there had a lot to do with where she is now in middle school.

The school has great parent involvement and they give a lot to the school, in both time and money. I just took for granted all the things Oak Forest has. They have a nurse, a beautiful library, a librarian, an arboretum, a science lab, a computer lab, an art teacher, a music teacher, a band teacher and so much more. I thought the world of Oak Forest.

That is until I had a son that wasn't in Vanguard. I was so excited when he was accepted on a sibling transfer so that I didn't have to drive to two different schools. He would get to attend a great elementary school with his sister.

It wasn't long before the concerns started. They started in Kindergarten and escalated in first grade. It wasn't until second grade that the terms ADHD and Asperger's were used to describe him. I had started seeing a child psychologist who agreed that Seth was probably ADD but when I mentioned Asperger's to him he was outraged that the teachers and assistant principal would use that term so loosely. I agreed, until I had to see a different doctor for medication to manage the ADHD.

This doctor asked me right off the bat, "Has anyone said Asperger's?" When I finally accepted that my son probably had Asperger's, which is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, it was too late for my son's future at Oak Forest.

When I went back to the doctor to ask him if he could give me a diagnosis of Asperger's he told me, "The school district will test him for you. That's what your taxes pay for. They will diagnose him and  they will make accommodations for him."

So even though it was the school who brought up the term ADHD and Asperger's first, they didn't tell me this. I guess they thought I should figure it out on my own. By the time I could request that the district test him so he could receive the official diagnosis from HISD the school year was ending and it was a lot easier for the principal to say, "DENIED" on his sibling transfer due to too many behavior and disciplinary issues. Besides, they justified it, his sibling wasn't attending any more.

Welcome to the flip side of not having what the schools consider a "model student." He wasn't important enough because he wasn't a student who helped them with their test score average and thus how much money they would receive from the state. My daughter was that kind of student.

The great great irony in this story is what happened next. I didn't fight Oak Forest even though one of the moms was outraged and told me I should. I figured why should I stay at a school that didn't want him.

This school year my son is attending a much smaller elementary school adjacent to our neighborhood. It is not Vanguard or even Magnet. It doesn't have anything that makes it stand out and probably gets lost in the shuffle of the many schools in HISD.

But when my son started attending this school I saw such a dramatic change in his grades and in his behavior. Granted he was on medication regularly now but he also has two awesome teachers that get his off the wall sense of humor and quick wit. They learned how to channel his boredom to drawing and always provide him with paper and pencils to draw. They have just been great. Yes, they got started a little slow at the beginning of the school year because he was new and they didn't really see any challenges right away since he was doing fairly well in school.

When the challenges started, especially towards the end of the school day when the medication was wearing off, the school took action, especially the Assistant Principal, Principal, and the Special Education teacher. It only took one semester and a couple of challenging episodes for the school to have him tested by the district.

The district found that he does not have any learning disabilities and is in fact reading and doing math at 4th and 5th grade levels while in the 3rd grade. His challenge is staying focused and not getting over stimulated by too many children or getting upset.  Now he will receive accommodations if needed when he takes the STAAR test and other standardized tests this semester. Meaning he can take the test in a smaller group if necessary.

What's the point of my story? That this school, with all of its limited resources, is the one who took action and made things happen. This elementary school does not have A NURSE, a library, a librarian, an art teacher, a science teacher, a lab, an arboretum and there is no toilet paper in the restrooms. The teachers allocates a little toilet paper to each child when going to the restroom.

A school like Oak Forest with all its resources was able to send my son to the Principal's office a hundred times, suspend him, write him up and suggest that he had Asperger's but not once did they inform me or educate me that I could have him tested by the district. It was obvious that they wanted to have a big enough paper trail so that they could justify denying his transfer. They wanted to wash their hands of the "challenging" child who didn't help their test scores.

It took the smaller school with the limited resources and the disproportionate funding to take action. When telling this story to a friend today I likened Oak Forest to a beautiful woman with no soul and Jefferson an ugly duckling with a big heart. As a parent that is how I feel and I'm sure that there are many parents out there who feel the same way.

What I want to do here is to educate parents and make them aware that this kind of situation does exist. You can have one child in the Vanguard program with no problems and then you can have a child with special needs and you won't receive the same attention at the exact same school.

I also want to make parents aware that there are schools out there in HISD that have VERY limited resources yet they do an excellent job with what they have. The question that baffles me is this. Why don't these smaller schools with an obvious need receive more money from the district and from the state?

P.S. Just to clarify. Seth has 2 challenges. He has ADHD and Asperger's. The medication helps control the ADHD but not Asperger's. There is no medication for Asperger's.

Next Post: Why do some schools get a school nurse and a library and others don't?
Part 3 will look at race/ethncity and if it plays a role.

Check out skirt! Houston

Photo by Dat Lam

Go to skirt! Houston now and check out my first published feature story on Gwendolyn Zepeda and her first novel, Houston, We Have a Problema.

The Changing Face of Houston

After being holed up for almost a week it was really good to get out last Friday.

I'm always surprised to see the changes going on all around me. One change is across the street from Lindale Park on Fulton and next to the Korner Bar, the bar I mentioned in my tamale post. The neighborhood is officially called Fulton Court. These houses are really cute and great for someone that doesn't want a yard. The Metro Rail will eventually go down Fulton, right past this neighborhood so I think this is a great investment. Hey! Maybe the non-Hispanic patrons came from across the street!

Not too far from there, along 45 N, before it meets 610, they are building more new homes. I haven't driven by them yet, but I can tell they are more of those 3 story skinny monsters.

Also, next to my new Target on I-10 (notice how I call it "my") they are building new lofts called the Sawyer Heights Lofts. Great location! Great view of the park on one side and downtown on the other (I think). I'd have to stand inside to see if that's really the case.

They are also building a Chili's next to the Target! Now Chili's isn't my favorite restaurant, but with a shortage of chain restaurants in the 'hood it's nice to see a chain that saw our neighborhood worth investing in. Thanks Chili's and thanks Target. Target with the Starbucks inside.

I LOVE that Target. It was the best gift given to the city dwellers. It's such a great central location, close to downtown if you work downtown and close to everyone who lives on Washington, The Heights, The Woodland Heights, Lindale Park, Northside, I could go on and on...

I also drove down Washington and that area is ever changing. They are building building building! A new shopping strip is going up with a Yoga center! I also saw a cute new coffee shop driving towards downtown. I can't remember the name, but I think it was Italian. It looked very cozy and inviting and I need to go back there.

I love my city! I love what's happening with it. I only hope that Rey and I are ready with a cool renovated house soon to match our cool neighborhood!