Today was, needless to say, an ambitious day. In our three years running Elm Tree, we have never before embarked on a field trip, but we couldn't have set off with a better group. In the morning, the kiddos arrived and did their usual routine: grabbing some sticks and preparing for some light exploration. But today was a different kind of adventure, which the kids quickly grasped. We expanded on our already-established set of rules, like "stick together, no matter what" and "no talking to strangers under any circumstances, unless we're around." We made sure to add some new ones as we knew the journey from subway to ferry in the heart of Wall Street wasn't exactly a walk in the park (in our case, literally). So we put our campers in pairs, making them responsible for each other just as much as themselves.
After that, we walked through the cobble-stoned streets towards the water, hopped in line for the ferry and were on our way. Some of our kiddos were initially nervous about the impending boat ride: Annabel grappled with some seasick PTSD, but remained totally steady; Ubalo gripped the banister of the stairwell tightly, looking like a rugged mountain climber; Lyla was nervous at first, but quickly put those big brown eyes to good use, snacking and staring at the Manhattan skyline as it faded into the distance.
On the boat, we met a family from the United Kingdom. The name of the town they were visiting from escapes us, but it served as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution and features the world's first drawbridge! Once our ferry docked, we buddied up with our travel partner and stepped foot on Liberty Island, a first for a good number of us. We stood in front of our ferry, named Miss Freedom, and had a quick informal discussion about the multiple meanings of that moniker: both an allusion to Lady Liberty herself, and perhaps, with deeper consideration, a name that reflects the desire for freedoms lost (just between us, such a downer!).
With that, we quickly found our new patch of grass for the day, and it was right underneath the backside of the Statue of Liberty. Once we laid out our trusty tapestry, we asked the kiddos to look up at the statue and come up with a way to greet her. The kiddos collectively decided on, "what up, G.L.!"—G.L. stands for Green Lady, for those not in the know—which they screamed joyfully in unison. (PS, they kept saying "what up, G.L.?" all day, asking her if she's hungry, if she needs a turkey sandwich and, if so, how big it would have to be.)
Even though they had their snacks on the ferry over, the kids were ravenous and voted to have lunch ASAP, so we did. As we mentioned in Day 1, some of our most precious moments happen in transition. During lunch, a discussion regarding personal space developed into a larger talk about self-determination and individuality. We wanted to explain to the kids that the bedrock principles of Elm Tree, which include an emphasis on their voice, agency and autonomy, were things we encouraged them to carry over into their day to day lives. Out of the blue, Romy asked if any of the kids had ever heard the song, "You Don't Own Me" by Lesley Gore. Wynnie asked if we could play it, so Rod pulled out the small speaker he'd been carrying since Monday for no reason, and played the song in the same way that we read Maya Angelou's "Life Doesn't Frighten Me" on Day 1. We listened three times, asking different questions each time, with the final prompt being for the kids to recite the lines that struck them most. The moment was light and intentionally silly, but the answers were authentically moving as the kids instantly took to the song and kept singing it throughout lunch.
After lunch, we decided to get our creative juices flowing with an oral poem exercise, "When Suddenly...". Sitting in a circle, we each add to a story, signaling the next person's turn with the phrase, "when suddenly...."
"The Statue of Sylvie"
The Statue of Liberty comes to life and says, "don't do that", when suddenly / somebody climbs up the Empire State Building...I mean...yeah, the Empire State Building, and it's a gorilla, and suddenly / a little girl named Sylvie came walking into the park and picked up all the trash that was there, and then she became famous, then suddenly / everybody surrounded her, and they said, "Sylvie, Sylvie, Sylvie! You've arrived! Thank you for arriving!", when suddenly / the ground starts to rumble and The Statue of Sylvie comes out of the ground, then suddenly / the Statue of Liberty says, "Ta-Ta, got to be going back to France" and NYC cheers, and they say, "you know what? We want to return you," and they break her in pieces, and they put her on a ship back to France from where she came, and then everybody in the whole of NYC comes to Liberty Island and puts The Statue of Sylvie in her place, and underneath they write a poem, and it says, "when suddenly" / The Statue of Liberty started to come back, when suddenly / she came back, but after she came back she ran away because she wanted to go to Japan, and then she got broke into pieces and then there was a statue of Amelia and then they finally knew. Then suddenly / a shark came by and a person fell of the island and the shark ran away, and the person screamed and five million other people joined in, and then they all had a dance party in the water, and everyone brought their beach stuff, then suddenly / the ground starts to rumble again, and a million statues of Elm Tree camp come up from the ground, then suddenly / a ninja turtle came out of the ground and out of my head—all of them, when suddenly / a ferry appeared and we had to put on our bags and leave Liberty Island and go back to the dreary island Manhattan to enjoy the rest of our lives full of freedom.
All throughout the day, the kids were noticing that most people on Liberty Island were speaking languages other than English. Wynnie asked if people come to New York City "just to see this." Shortly afterward, we had a man take our photo in front of the statue, and when we asked where he was from, he told us Budapest, Hungary. We also met people from France, India and even more foreign lands, like Florida.
While waiting in line to board the ferry back to Manhattan, the kiddos were excited to see coins from all over the world tossed onto the iron railing just above the water. One of the kids noticed that the copper penny is actually what the Statue of Liberty would look like today if it weren't for the mist of the water and the debris of the city. Some of the pennies had even turned that same shade of sea foam green. The kids asked us for a penny, and Romy rummaged through her change purse, and managed to dig up some pennies for each kid. We asked them to make a wish that was in some way poetic. Sorry, we can't tell you what they wished for—you know "the rule"!
This day, if not anything else, was most about bonding, solidifying existing friendships, making new ones, and letting the kids deepen their thoughts about everything that we have written, read and discussed this week — for themselves. And they did! They framed a lot of our activities and the things that they saw around what we have spent the last three days discussing. The hidden secret of poetry is that it is always around. It's just that not many people take the time to look for it and really see it. This is at the heart of Elm Tree, the idea that kids do not fear poetry because they haven't learned that poetry can often be considered intimidating, and unjustly so. As soon as we introduce it, they start to see it! They see it in every landscape.
With love and liberty,
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