STREETSIDE STORIES IN THE PRESS

A GLIMPSE INTO CHILDREN'S LIVES
Autobiographical tales from S.F. sixth-graders published in anthology
by Julian Guthrie
Friday, June 1, 2001

Emily Frias, a San Francisco sixth-grader, says adults "forget how it feels to be small."

Classmate Zdravko Draganic, who emigrated from Bosnia in 1997, thinks teachers will benefit from reading about a student's background.

Handrean Reza urges adults to really listen to kids, so that "when they get married, they know what to expect."

Sixth-graders gathered yesterday in the third-floor library of Francisco Middle School to receive copies of an anthology filled with their own stories.

Buzzing around the room clutching the cherry-red books, Emily, Zdravko, Handrean and their classmates explained why the words of kids were important.

Story-telling and writing helps them express themselves and gives adults a glimpse of the dreams, anxieties, joys and traumas of youth, they said.

The two-volume anthology, "Hooray! Stories of Celebrations," includes 260 autobiographical tales from San Francisco sixth-graders. The books, delivered this week to the proud first-time authors, were published by the San Francisco nonprofit Streetside Stories.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Streetside Stories has grown from 60 students in two San Francisco schools to 700 students in five city schools.

The anthology has a different theme each year. This year's focus is on celebrations. The stories recounting memorable celebrations range from innocent to world weary, from birthday parties at skating rinks to losing a friend in a gang shooting.

Most of the passages show that the worries of transcend generations.

Emily writes about being anxious over graduating from fifth grade. She had to leave her friends and go to a new school, where she wondered whether she'd fit in.

Sitting on a sofa in the library, with the book opened to her own story and photo, she said she hoped adults wanted to understand kids.

"My own mom really loves me, but sometimes she doesn't understand me," Emily said. "She didn't know I felt sad to be leaving my friends in fifth grade."

She would like grown-ups to try to remember how it feels to be a kid. Smiling, she said, "It feels great to be small. You have lots of chances to try out things."

Twelve-year-old Hung Fong struggled to write her story. She is a perfectionist, she said, and wanted every word to be just right.

Her story "Babysitting? What!" recounts in vivid detail how she was stuck baby-sitting on Chinese New Year. The two little girls, her sister's daughters,

were "very bad," she writes, yelling, screaming and breaking her toys.

"They fought like fifteen times," Hung writes. "I was so mad, I wanted to yell at them but I controlled myself."

Other stories recreate the innocence, aromas and exuberance of youth.

Kayla Criner writes about "The Best Thanksgiving" at her grandmother's house in Pittsburgh.

"My grandmother's house is three-story. The kitchen smells like pizza, spaghetti or breakfast. In my grandmother's house, I always feel soft things."

She writes about eating and playing, and eating some more. "My cousins and I played tag in the backyard for an hour. We walked down the hill and raced back up. Then we ate turkey, ham, yams, potato salad and macaroni and cheese. Before we ate, we got into a circle and everybody said a blessing. After dinner, we got vanilla ice cream with melted Hershey's chocolate."

Norbert Nunag wrote about his trip home to the Philippines.

"There was food that tasted very good," Norbert writes. "The weather was very hot with a little wind. My hand felt sweaty. My mom asked my auntie, 'How's your family?' My auntie said, 'They are okay.' My dad asked my uncle, 'How are those fighting cocks?' 'They are okay' replied my uncle. The party was very long and we got to know each other more."

The idea for Streetside Stories began in 1991 when two young brothers biked across the country, from Maine to California, teaching storytelling at schools along the way. After arriving in San Francisco, Seth and James Levy founded the nonprofit.

Streetside Stories operates its program in Francisco, Everett, Ben Franklin,

Marina and Denman middle schools. It has six employees and a $225,000 annual budget. Schools pay $4,000 for the workshop. Each student gets one free copy of the anthology.

Francisco's Principal Marian Seiki said she paid for the program with donations from Levi Strauss and the Zellerbach family foundation.

"We've had this program for over six years," Seiki said. "I'm very fortunate to have private industry helping. The kids are taught how to put their stories onto paper. Then, they see those stories published. There is no way I could get more for $4,000."

top

return to news coverage