An Interview with J

          J bounds up to me every Thursday afternoon. Long, dark pigtails flying in the wind, she wraps my waist in a hug. I tutor her once a week at a local elementary school. I’m lucky, after I semester of cleaning up deliberate juice box spills and threatening time out, I was assigned to J who loves math, loves to read, loves computer time, and loves being tutored. Every week I hear a bit of what she’s making of the world. Though her words don’t quite flow as Ryan’s do, she’s making something of the world nonetheless.

What do our times together assume about the way the world is? They assume that some children have a more difficult time in school than others, that coming from a low-income neighborhood without family support (which is the case for many of the students) is detrimental to learning. They also assume that hour by hour a volunteer can help them overcome that hurdle.

What do our times together assume about the way the world should be? They assume that there shouldn’t be a disparity between students. They assume that people in a community should care for one another. This program draws nearly one hundred volunteers each year who show up to tutor and share in life with a child who really needs help to reach their grade level in reading and math.

More than most tutor/student pairings, my time with J shows that on occasion the way the world is and the way the world should be can draw near to each other. She loves recklessly; giving hugs to anyone standing still enough and encouragement to the other students in our room. She is reading and doing math along with the rest of the kids in her grade; I rarely have to help her with her homework and instead get to push her to think more deeply. And what is J making of the world? She enjoys being with her family, they went on vacation together for spring break to a theme park. She doesn’t like church, she has to sit too still, but the tacos for lunch afterward make it worthwhile. She likes to read Sarah, Plain and Tall to me, even though she’s read it before. My “interview” with her came out in a series of likes and dislikes; I guess that’s how we all begin to make something of the world. I “like” this and “dislike” eventually become our means for evaluating what is true and good.