Listening to Each Other

make art with what you got--bandit queen press

One of the missions that Bandit Queen Press has always held is that of giving young people a space to publish. Publishing to me has always been about having a dialogue between difference.

The whole beauty of picking up a book is to be transported to another place, another experience, which is why the way in which modern publishing is set up really gets to me. The reason publishing looks the way it does, is because we have allowed it to reflect a power structure that, well, let's face it, isn't working.

Anyway, books can be portals to compassion. A way of putting yourself in other's shoes and empathizing with that person/character. Literature can be powerful, revolutionary even, in this way.

When I started teaching at my current job, there were a few students who caught my attention. One was D. D has always been this kid with an old soul. I distinctly remember when he started at that school. I was a substitute there and that kid had (and still has) a very serious expression on his face! D's ancestry hails from Palestine. In fact, here is a drawing he made 4 years ago, when he was in the 6th grade:

drawing by D during 6th grade English class        

I see something in all of my students, and it's always a treat when a student meets the potential that I see within them. D has been such a student. From the very beginning, I have shared with him books by Suheir Hammad, and we have spoken about writing. We've talked about Said and both have helped each other come to a better understanding of the Palestine situation. 

D lives in a neighborhood that is thought by many to be one of the most dangerous quarters in Copenhagen.  Where he lives, it's legal for the cops to stop and search young men. Most of these men are Muslim. He has always had to straddle his life at home and the life that awaited him at the school in which I teach.  Anyway, one of the things I have always spoken to him about is for him to write his story. 

 

And he's game. D has since graduated from my school and goes to Gymnasium now (about the equivalent of 11th grade). He's experiencing something new--a school where the majority of the population is, in fact, Danish. We often talk about this and how this fits into his story, his perspective on things. D sees himself as being a key player in the goings-on of Palestine. I think there is much potential there, and I will, as a writer and his former teacher, do all that I can to assist him. The world needs to hear stories from kids with unique perspectives. 

And D has this incredible way of surprising me. I get a little nervous about nationalism. The ideas of countries and borders and flags--separation, separation, separation!  But I understood his interest in Palestine, and I do feel that despite my own personal feelings about borders and politics, Palestine deserves to have its own country, in light of the current situation.  But like I said, this kid keeps on surprising me in the loveliest of ways. You know what he dropped the last time we spoke? "We're Berbers," he told me. "I come from a family of Berbers. We don't recognize borders." It was like the universe was blessing us to continue with the cultivation of his story. 

There are a few more students who I'll introduce you to. And I'll keep you posted about D, as we usher his story out to the world. 

Thanks for reading, 

farvel, 

the lab