Thoughts on Perseverence

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By Carolyn Hutton, Connections Facilitator

The Connections series with Claire Bergstrom’s Nashua Adult Learning Center class was about perseverance in hard times. We had planned to begin with Harvesting Hope, the story of Cezar Chavez. 

However, our first lesson in perseverance occurred when Claire contacted us, deeply concerned about the recent allegations concerning Chavez. What should we do? Certainly we did not want to turn away from a difficult topic of “what happens when heroes fall?” On the other hand, Claire pointed out that her students, all women, had been through emotional upheaval this year. She wanted a peaceful, uplifting end to the year.  

One thing I have learned over the years as a facilitator is to trust the teacher who knows her students. Trusting Claire’s judgement turned out to be the best thing for a couple of reasons. Not only did she have reservations about Harvesting Hope and discussing Chavez’s legacy, but she also had chosen another story, Home in the Woods by Eliza Wheeler. Based on a true Depression-era story, Home in the Woods demonstrated the perseverance of a widowed mother of eight children who makes a home out of a shack in the woods. “It’s a story about an ordinary woman doing ordinary things,” Claire explained. This turned out to be the students’ favorite.

The theme of “looking out for one another” was also strong in all of the stories we read. It became apparent that our "perseverance through hard times” stories were also about the resilience of a whole group. Students pointed out how in Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki it wasn’t just the players who were a team, but the parents who sewed uniforms out of bed sheets, the dad who gave his children something to do, and the family who found a way to celebrate Christmas. They held each other up. In Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline Ransome, Harriet Tubman ushered runaway enslaved people to many, many unnamed comrades along the Underground Railroad. Many women who marched with Susan B. Anthony, wearing white, carrying both flowers and flags, standing with small daughters and pushing baby daughters in prams, in Heart on Fire: Susan B. Anthony Votes for President by Ann Malaspina. This book inspired this class so much they all wore white to their last class together. And finally, A Home in the Woods was about a mother who led her children through the Depression. Students pointed out how not just the mother, but each child had a role to play in keeping everyone together.

Last spring, in an article trying to make sense of the Chavez story, Guardian U.S. columnist Rebecca Solnit observed, “Maybe we’re beginning to recognize that the hero is often the collective, the movement…” (March 31). Maybe so. It seems that the discussions and conclusions created by this particular class underscored Solnit’s point. Perhaps the community is the “hero,” or “heroine.” Perhaps a group of women in an adult education class who make sure a classmate’s voice is heard and who value each others’ stories are the best example of this.

For a printable version of this article, click here.

To learn more about the Connections program, visit www.nhhumanities.org/Connections.