| Arab American writer Naomi Shihab Nye sows the seeds of peace. |
For Arab American writer Naomi Shihab Nye, it was yet another reminder of how much has changed since September 11, 2001. There she was on a January afternoon at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, patiently waiting for a flight to California, when suddenly word came that everybody had to get out onto the sidewalks. Someone with a suspicious bag had just slipped through security, forcing the evacuation of three terminals and the delay of at least 100 flights.
Speaking in Monterey, California, the next day, the critically acclaimed poet, essayist, and children鈥檚 writer reflects on the bizarre scene and on the endless cycle of violence behind it. 鈥淚 was proud of how nicely everybody acted at the airport,鈥� she tells the 12th graders gathered at her destination, the music rehearsal hall at Santa Catalina, a serene all-girls high school. Still, there was something disturbing about the term 鈥渆vacuation,鈥� Nye says鈥� something so 鈥渨eird and shadowy鈥� that she felt compelled to pull out her notebook and write about it as soon as she got on the plane.
A self-described 鈥渨andering poet,鈥� Nye has been traveling across the country and abroad for the past 30 years, conducting writing workshops and inspiring students of all ages with her relaxed, sweetly humorous readings. Her chief mission is 鈥渢o endear poetry to children so they鈥檒l want to read more and be encouraged to write.鈥� These days, though, the 50-year-old feels an added sense of responsibility. As a highly respected American children鈥檚 writer鈥攁nd the eloquent daughter of a Palestinian refugee鈥擭ye has decided it鈥檚 her duty to help American youngsters see the good side of the Middle East and to help kids in other lands see the good side of America. Since 9/11, more schools and libraries have been contacting Nye鈥檚 California booking agency, asking if the writer can visit.
As Nye explains in her introduction to 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, a finalist for a 2002 National Book Award, 鈥淎rab Americans must say, twice as clearly as anyone else, that we deplore the unbelievable, senseless sorrow caused by people from the Middle East.鈥� At the same time, 鈥渨e must remind others never to forget the innocent citizens of the Middle East who haven鈥檛 committed any crime, the people who are living solid, considerate lives, often in difficult conditions鈥攅specially the children, who struggle to maintain their beautiful hope.鈥�
For her one-day visit to Santa Catalina, the petite, dark-haired writer has picked out a soft olive-green suit and a purple scarf to drape around her neck. The lush, 36-acre, Spanish-style campus, tucked into the hills near Monterey Bay, is far removed from the desert-dry images that Nye evokes in her poetry, and it鈥檚 likely the plaid-skirted seniors in her audience are fretting more about their college applications than troubles half a world away. Still, Nye seems genuinely touched as they respectfully file into the rehearsal hall clutching their assigned copies of Gazelle. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such an honor to see my books in so many friendly hands,鈥� she tells them, smiling. 鈥淚 never get over that feeling of gratitude.鈥�
In addition to speaking with students, Nye is scheduled to dine with faculty and offer an evening poetry reading. Despite her packed itinerary, the writer seems unruffled. For more than an hour, she cheerfully answers questions about her spare free-verse style, her writing process, and her familial sources of inspiration. The poet鈥檚 works are full of references to her teenage son, her Palestinian grandmother, and her gregarious journalist father, who came to America as a college student. (He met Nye鈥檚 American mother, a painter and Montessori teacher, while both were volunteering at a hospital in Topeka, Kansas.)
Eventually, the talk turns to politics. Nye mentions her school visits and other efforts to promote international understanding through organizations such as Seeds of Peace, which brings together teenagers from war-torn countries for summer camp in Maine. Then she fishes a crimson-covered volume from her bag and closes with a reading from a pre-9/11 poem called 鈥淛erusalem": 鈥�I鈥檓 not interested in/ who suffered the most/ I鈥檓 interested in/ people getting over it,鈥� she recites in a clear, gentle voice. 鈥�A child鈥檚 poem says/ 鈥業 don鈥檛 like wars,/ they end up with monuments.鈥欌��
For Coral Taylor, a tall Santa Catalina student with wavy dark hair, Nye鈥檚 open embrace of her heritage makes a lasting impression. 鈥淵ou can really see how proud she is,鈥� the senior says outside the hall. Coral鈥檚 mustached teacher, Donald Hackling, also seems pleased. As chair of the school鈥檚 English department, he was drawn to Nye primarily for her skill as a poet. At the same time, he was looking for a way to help pupils at the Catholic school better understand the complexities of the Middle East. Since reading Nye鈥檚 works, he notes, 鈥渕any students have been commenting on how much more insight they have.鈥�
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Nye credits her early love of poetry to a veteran 2nd grade teacher named Harriett B. Lane who had her pupils reciting lines from William Blake and Langston Hughes almost as soon as they could read. 鈥淚 always remember feeling charged up going into that classroom,鈥� Nye says during a phone interview from her home in downtown San Antonio. 鈥淚f we came in with a new poem, she would sit there and listen with her hands folded. Nothing was above our heads, in her view. She felt that poems could be the basis for the study of vocabulary, syntax, and public speaking....It was as if poetry was the best thing she had found to serve 2nd graders.鈥�
Before long, the doe-eyed young writer was filling her own notebooks with simple observations of her home and multicultural neighborhood, composing poems and sending them to children鈥檚 magazines. As she was finishing up her bachelor鈥檚 degree in 1974 at San Antonio鈥檚 Trinity University, a professor suggested she apply for a job as a traveling poet with the Writers in the Schools program, sponsored by the Texas Commission on the Arts. Other writing-related fellowships followed, and Nye has been trekking to schools and colleges ever since. 鈥淭he comments from students are smarter than anything you鈥檒l see on CNN,鈥� she says.
Throughout her writing career, Nye has been an early morning scribe, rising at 4 or 5 o鈥檆lock each day to compose her thoughts in the predawn stillness of the 100- year-old house she shares with her photographer husband and teenage son. Many of her award-winning pieces draw on the cultural diversity of her home in Texas; others are inspired by her travels in Asia and the Middle East. It wasn鈥檛 until the early 1990s, though, that an editor suggested she might have a knack for children鈥檚 literature. Sitti鈥檚 Secrets, a picture book about an American child who misses her Palestinian grandmother, won a Jane Addams Children鈥檚 Book Awardin 1995.
Nye is probably best known among middle school teachers and students for her 1997 novel, Habibi. The book, which also won the Addams award, was inspired by a year the author spent living with her parents and younger brother in the divided city of Jerusalem, then part of Jordan, in 1966 and 鈥�67. Now a fixture on many school reading lists, the book tells the story of Liyana Abboud, a 14-year-old Arab American girl still reeling from her first kiss, who suddenly finds herself without friends in a strange country, trying to make sense of the enmity between her Arab and Israeli neighbors.
Critics have lauded Nye for her ability to find grandeur in the mundane鈥攁 caf茅 waiter 鈥渟tacking plates on the curl of his arm,鈥� or 鈥渢he clear-belled voices of 1st graders"鈥攁nd she urges aspiring young writers to do the same. 鈥淪tart with the little, tiny, forgotten kinds of things that might be unnoticed by anyone but you鈥攖he line of conversation that made you laugh, or the little moment that glistens out of a whole day when you鈥檙e going to bed,鈥� she tells them.
A year and a half ago, however, the writer found herself having to pay more attention to the big picture. On September 11, 2001, Nye was stranded after teaching in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wound up catching a Greyhound bus home. Shortly afterward, she wrote and e- mailed an essay to a few friends, urging 鈥渁ny would-be terrorists鈥� in their midst to think about the damage they are doing.
鈥淢illions of people in the United States are very aware of the long unfairness of our country鈥檚 policies regarding Israel and Palestine....Many of the people killed in the World Trade Center probably believed in a free Palestine,鈥� the letter said. 鈥淏ut this tragedy could never help the Palestinians.... And it will be peace, not violence, that fixes things.鈥�
The intimate letter took on an Internet-driven life of its own. Newspapers from Texas to Canada to Beirut reprinted it on their editorial pages, and teachers at schools across the country wrote to ask whether they could distribute the letter to their classes. (Of course, Nye said.) The piece is slated to appear in at least two upcoming volumes, including a textbook. 鈥淪omeone even told me they saw it posted on the wall of a Buddhist temple in Japan,鈥� Nye marvels.
Educators familiar with Nye鈥檚 writing are not at all surprised that her work strikes such a chord. Dottie Price, a 3rd grade teacher at River Oaks Elementary School in Houston, says her culturally diverse school draws heavily on Nye鈥檚 picture books, poetry, essays, novels, and anthologies throughout the grade levels. 鈥淎 global perspective is important to us,鈥� she explains. 鈥淎s a poet and human being, Naomi offers that. We share her writing with our students because it is down-to-earth, beautiful, and often addresses the issue of the 鈥榦ther鈥� in our society.鈥�
Gary Anderson, chairman of the English department at William Fremd High School in Palatine, Illinois, asked Nye to speak last year as part of the school鈥檚 annual Writers Week. The invitation, he says, was 鈥渘ot specifically because of her heritage鈥攁lthough that is certainly a welcome part of her package鈥攂ut because of the way students and teachers respond to her writing. Students turn off pretty quickly when they鈥檙e bombarded with obscure mythological or literary allusions orarchaic vocabulary in poems. In Naomi鈥檚 work, students understand all the words while at the same time being led to see things, people, and situations in new ways.鈥� Fremd student Michael VanAcker agrees. 鈥淭he component of Nye鈥檚 work that struck me the most was her quiet, honest energy and strength,鈥� the high school junior notes. 鈥淗er work always has a significant core without unnecessary 鈥榝luff鈥� to doll up her language.鈥�
Nye鈥檚 school visits aren鈥檛 always comfortable. Recently, while at a Jewish school in the Bronx, the school鈥檚 head told her to be prepared: Some parents had expressed reservations about having a Palestinian American writer visit, and the students鈥� questions might be hostile. As usual, Nye was upfront with the students. Yes, she told them, she鈥檚 an Arab American writer. But, Nye added, she was not at all nervous about being there鈥擩ews and Arabs are cultural cousins, after all. 鈥淒on鈥檛 be shy to ask questions about Arab stuff or anything; go right ahead,"she said.
鈥淚 could see their bodies relax when I said that,鈥� the buoyant writer recalls; before long, the questions were flying. One boy raised his hand and asked Nye how she felt about Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. 鈥淗e seemed to think that anyone who was an Arab American would feel like they had to defend the guy,鈥� Nye says. 鈥淏ut I said, of course not.鈥�
Even if the United States goes to war with Iraq, Nye is confident she鈥檒l have a warm welcome in U.S. classrooms. 鈥淚 feel like everybody I have met since September 11 is more committed to understanding and learning about the region, and that鈥檚 very touching,鈥� she says. 鈥淪eriously, I have not met one teacher who I feel has not done his or her job.鈥�
Nye is about to publish Baby Radar, a picture book offering a toddler鈥檚 perspective of the world, and she鈥檚 working on a second children鈥檚 novel called Florrie Will Do It, about an American teen who works to save mom-and-pop enterprises. She鈥檚 also thinking about writing a small book of poetry, 鈥渏ust the right size for 12-year-old girls to carry around in their pockets.鈥� As for the school visits, she鈥檒l keep doing what she can for peace, one airplane flight at a time. Habibi, she notes happily, has just been published in Hebrew.
