*greenwood.

ashley johnson: Passionate. Inspirational. Sweet. If we could have had any "surprise" speaker Monday (after an already incredibly long day) I'm glad it was Ashley. As if I didn't already want to go to the Delta, now I feel like I need to go. Ashley did an amazing job of mapping out Greenwood--both the good and the bad of it--but hearing is not the same as seeing. Yes, it's unbelievable that some people have shower curtains as front doors, but I can't even imagine what I'd feel the minute I laid my eyes on that sight--especially if little kids were running around the area. Seeing is believing. We plan on making the trip this weekend. I really want to see Mississippi.

    Another thing I really enjoyed from Ashley's discussion of Greenwood was her discussion about integration into the community. She seemed to really know the town and the people. She was a part of it all. This past semester I took a class on legal theory and one thing we continually discussed was whether or not it is necessary to be an insider--in other words, does a person need to be a part of the very system they are trying to change or describe? In my opinion, it is extremely important that a person integrates because that is where the big change (or at least ideas about what needs to change) will come from. However, it is also important that a person can stand outside of his/her self and look in on what's going on. You need both perspectives. I think Ashley had that. She was from somewhere else entirely and so could see the larger issues, whereas everyone else didn't know. She kept describing how the students would come to school bright-eyed and bushy-tailed because they just didn't know. As Mr. Barnes said, "they don't know what they don't know". However, she also understood the experiences of her students and made the effort to see the little things--the things people don't notice from the outside. This, I believe, put Ashley on both sides of the desk (Barksdale), and it probably why she was such an effective teacher.