Looking for Me …in this great big family Betsy R. Rosenthal Before beginning this memoir in poems, please read the Author’s Note at the end (after p 161) and look over the Glossary and photographs

A word picture of 1936 Baltimore, a depression era Jewish family, and the daughter who often felt invisible, alone, and lost like Cinderella (pp 37, 39). Edith’s story isn’t as danger-filled as the stories of most of the refugees you’ve read about. Nor is it based on physical disabilities like Auggie’s or Petey’s or Melody’s (Out of My Mind) Except for the family size and culture as well as unfamiliar allusions that only Mrs. Mrs. Harrell is old enough to know about  it’s a story that we should identify with in places, and we’ll share about that in a minute. Elbow grease Wes Moore grew up in a Baltimore neighborhood too, but how was his experience different from Edith’s?

Share with your group now… Did you smile at some of the antics the kids got into? (p 30, 105) Have you ever felt like the “fifth wheel” or like you lacked attention? (p 17, 18, 76, 84) Have you felt embarrassed at school or felt dumb around another student? (p 85-7, 95) Have you felt you had to work harder than your siblings? Ever been jealous of one of them? (p 34-37, 131-2) Have you had a good friend save you from getting in trouble? Have you been teased or threatened or bullied? (p 52- 4) Have you found the courage to “fight back” (p 59-60) Has a teacher “saved your life”? (p 138, 144-5, 160-1) Does anyone in your family have a serious story to share? (p 56-8, 64-65) Have your insides ever felt like you “swallowed a whole bucketful of needles”? (p 69) Share with your group now… I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat at pp 158-9. Did you? Any other really sad parts?

Reread the poem on p 44. Now read this classic poem by Emily Dickinson Reread the poem on p 44. Now read this classic poem by Emily Dickinson. What would you say that E. D. would think about Edith’s feelings? I'm Nobody! Who are You? I'm nobody! Who are you? Are you nobody, too? Then there's a pair of us -don't tell! They'd banish us, you know. How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog To tell your name the livelong day To an admiring bog!

Reread the poem on p 146. Then read one of Mrs Reread the poem on p 146. Then read one of Mrs. Harrell’s favorite quotes by noted physician and one of the founding professors of Johns Hopkins Hospital, William Osler. Ahhhh No bubble is so iridescent or floats longer than that blown by the successful teacher.

Wouldn’t it be amazing for you to write a memoir in blank verse…to write about yourself using a series of incidents. It could be hilarious, serious, thought-provoking…you choose the tone. You choose the focus and the situations/people from your life to include. This could be a five or ten poem piece…or book length. Mrs. Harrell wrote a memoir (a prose piece, not verse…I’ll try to reformat it some day) focused on two incidents and two people from her childhood. It’s called “Murder She Wrote,” and it’s about trying to kill two boys, one in third grade, one in sixth…go figure! I’ll share it as a Google doc.