Special Ed by Dennis Bernstein
Poetry. Come into the special ed classroom, where the kids who don't fit in anywhere else spend their day. For these kids--real kids Dennis J. Bernstein taught in the New York City public schools before he became an internationally known investigative journalist--pistols, switchblades, police cars and hunger are more instructive than textbooks. SPECIAL ED is about daily life under the siege of poverty, racism, and class warfare. We come to know these kids intimately: Gloria, whose mother was disappeared in Guatemala and whose friendship with Marilyn rescues her from trauma-induced silence; Paulie, who finds tears in the mirror's eyes but thinks of himself as tough and defies the gang-guys who threaten to drop him from the roof of the projects; Regina, who sells nickel bags before class and gets high alone in the gym before giving a heart-wrenching performance of a poem by Langston Hughes. Dennis Bernstein loves these kids fiercely, and we come to love them too as the collection unfolds.Dennis Bernstein is a hero to me because of his dedicated, unflinching reporting of real news on Flashpoints, at KPFA in Berkeley, California. But his fearless pursuit of the truth about what is happening in our rapidly transforming world did not prepare me for the beauty, depth, not-one-word-mislaid perception of this amazing book. Each word, each line, each thought has a weight, a texture, a surprise all its own. With its moving preface, in which Dennis shares his own struggles as a young child with special needs, SPECIAL ED: VOICES FROM A HIDEN CLASROM is that unusual gift literature can be: We are connected to humanity in ways we might never have even considered or imagined before. Above all it is art turned to us through the eyes of love.--Alice Walker
SPECIAL ED is about daily life under the siege of poverty, racism, and class warfare. In these stunning, understated poems, these poems unafraid to name the darkest facts of our world and yet continually informed with compassion, we find ourselves in Rilke's world of beauty and terror. To depict with love, as Bernstein does, is indeed to transform, the way a shattered guitar and broken glass are transformed by the kids in the special ed classroom into art and jewels.--Anita Barrows
Bernstein, Dennis: - Dennis J. Bernstein lives in San Francisco and has been a longtime front line reporter specializing in Human Rights. His articles have appeared widely including in the Boston Globe, New York Times, The Progressive, and The Nation. Bernstein was chosen by Pulse Media as one of 20 Top Global Media Figures of 2009. Bernstein's artist books, co- authored with Warren Lehrer, are in the Special Books Collections of the Museum of Modern art in New York City and other major museums around the world. Bernstein's poetry has appeared in the New York Quarterly, Chimaera, Bat City Review, The Progressive, Texas Observer, ZYZZYVA, etc. SPECIAL ED is Bernstein's first full collection of poetry.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781935520474 |
| ISBN 10 | 1935520474 |
| Title | Special Ed |
| Author | Dennis Bernstein |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | NYQ Books |
| Year published | 2012-02-09 |
| Number of pages | 84 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |