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Evening in Paradise


"Berlin's new book is a marvel, filled with deeply touching stories about lives ...
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"Sometime in Summer": Why do you think the girls were friends? Do you recall any childhood friendships that stretched across racial or ethnic lines?

Created: 11/04/19

Replies: 3

Posted Nov. 04, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
davinamw

Join Date: 10/15/10

Posts: 3442

"Sometime in Summer": Why do you think the girls were friends? Do you recall any childhood friendships that stretched across racial or ethnic lines?

In "Sometime in Summer", "Mamie did not trust foreigners and Hope's grandmother hated Americans," yet the girls were friends. Why do you suppose that was? Do you recall any childhood friendships that stretched across racial or ethnic lines?


Posted Dec. 01, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Lole

Join Date: 11/30/19

Posts: 25

RE:

Lu and Hope seemed to be the only children in the area--both 7 year old girls and living next door, they gravitated toward each other. Hope's family incorporated Lu into their life with breakfast, doing her hair and wrapped in blankets, watching the rain. I enjoyed how they perceived simple things in a shared childish way: thinking the smelter burned at a different time when it always burned at 9:00; the mosaic pattern in the weeds when setting sun lit broken glass; the Texas sky filled with stars in the middle of the night.

Pam lived next door to me and she and her family had customs and practices, foods and holidays very different from those of my family. She and I helped her grandmother make their special bread (which I loved), and a fishy appetizer (not so much), and a very different tasting kind of candy. We grew up seeing each other daily, connecting during high school and college, and whenever we returned to our hometown, until we didn't anymore.


Posted Dec. 03, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
Maggie

Join Date: 01/01/16

Posts: 434

RE: "Sometime in Summer": Why do you think the girls were friends? Do you recall any childhood friendships that stretched across racial or ethnic lines?

They were the only children on the block. They both enjoyed skating, hopscotch and jacks, all fun activities that I enjoyed with my best friend during the summer. We became friends when we were 4 years old. My sisters were 4 and 10 years older then me. Shawn had two younger sisters. Each of them had a best friend their same age that lived on our block. Often the 6 of us would play together.
I had one Asian friend during junior high. Her mother was very quiet. Her father was not home a lot as he was the chef in a very high end restaurant. We lost track of each other in high school. Years later I heard she was very successful and was living in Russia.


Posted Dec. 03, 2019 Go to Top | Go to bottom | link | alert
teacher reader

Join Date: 02/14/18

Posts: 64

RE: "Sometime in Summer": Why do you think the girls were friends? Do you recall any childhood friendships that stretched across racial or ethnic lines?

Growing up in the South in the 50's I had no opportunity to cross racial or ethnic lines for friendship. What caused my childhood friendships to end were cultural differences. Even though neither of my parents had attended college, it was an expectation that I would. I was encouraged to do well in school and I liked it. My best childhood friend came from a good family, but one that did not promote education. Early in high school, we drifted apart. My husband had exactly the same experience with his best childhood friends.

Children are "in the moment" and generally unconcerned about racial, ethnic, and cultural differences.


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