"Youth who have experienced insecurity during childhood face low rates of high school graduation and are unlikely to attend college or university. At Rutgers University, the Price Family Fellows program provides financial, emotional, and academic supportfor students who strive to better themselves and achieve their dreams through education. Eight graduates of the program now share reflections, photographs, and memories in search of new, sometimes radical, meanings of home and family. Beautifully illustrated with the students' own photography and writing, Notes from Home weaves a tapestry of memories and experiences. Through portraiture, oral history, writing, and family archives, they explore childhood, geography, immigration, education, and family relationships, recovering misunderstood or overlooked moments. Loss and uncertainty, as well as joy, play, and love helped each contributor form a sense of identity in light of the challenges they faced. This book demonstrates their remarkable strength, resilience, and personal achievement. Each chapter is strikingly unique in its vision and approach"--
This beautifully illustrated volume weaves together personal stories, photographs, drawings, poems of students who have experienced insecurity during childhood into a tapestry of memories about the meaning of home.
Notes from Home weaves a tapestry of personal stories from a group of youth who have experienced family insecurity during childhood. At Rutgers University, the Price Family Fellows Program provides financial, emotional, and academic support for students who seek to steer their own narratives and achieve their dreams through education. Eight graduates of the program now share reflections, photographs, and memories in search of new, often surprising meanings of home and family.
Through portraiture, oral history, writing, and family archives, the contributors explore childhood, geography, immigration, education, and family relationships, recovering misunderstood or overlooked moments. In the process of making this work, the group found old family photos, returned to sites of significance, and made new friendships, discovering the transformational potential of this kind of storytelling to reframe hardship, loss, and uncertainty. In the words of one contributor, &;I felt like this process was a necessary step that allowed me to acknowledge and comprehend what I was experiencing at the time. It allowed me to create a more coherent understanding that I am who I am because of my past and because I was the one who had control of molding my own, better path.&; Each chapter, encompassing one person&;s story, is strikingly unique in its vision and approach.
