Читать книгу Everyday Courage - Niobe Way - Страница 31

MALCOLM, a tall, lanky, light-skinned African American student walks into the room that has been set aside for interviews. This closetsized, hot and sleepy alcove is the only room in the school where one is guaranteed not to be interrupted by students or teachers wanting to use the space. Formerly a piano practice room, it has the added benefit of being one of the few soundproof rooms in the school—the interview can proceed undisturbed and confidentially. Sporting a flat-top haircut, baggy pants hung low around his hips, a colorful shirt, and untied sneakers, Malcolm looks like a typical urban teenager. Although he has volunteered to be interviewed, he seems shy and self-conscious with Mike, his freshman-year interviewer. He shifts in his seat as his eyes explore the small room. On the room’s lone poster hanging next to him, which offers the only visual distraction from the white cork walls, a Hispanic young man proclaims that becoming a teenage father “isn’t cool.” Malcolm briefly glances at the poster, and without reacting (his gaze indicates that he has seen the poster many times before), turns to Mike. He is ready to begin the interview.¹