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Classroom on Oak Street
August 9, 2007
Original The Trumpet article→
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The environment that cradles Abeona is uniquely New Orleans, with the river’s levee on one side, with a soon-to-run streetcar line on the other, and a host of local shops in between bursting with creativity and quirkiness. Add to that environment the sense of wonder and curiosity that Abeona House’s toddlers and pre-kindergarteners bring to the street’s goings-on, and throw in the fact that their dynamic caregivers are inspired by the children and the neighborhood, and you have unstoppable creative combustion.
The Trumpet
Classroom on Oak Street
By Denice Warren Ross, Dana Eness, and Holly Scheib
[Excerpted from an article originally published in the August 2007 edition of The Trumpet.]
New Orleans’ tradition of compact, walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods coupled with the strong entrepreneurial impulse of its citizens is part and parcel of its rich cultural and artistic heritage. In that respect, Oak Street is a microcosm of the city that surrounds it.
Along with its live music venues and art galleries where one expects to find it, Oak Street provides access to culture in less orthodox settings as well. The Oak Street Cafe’s walls are an art gallery; Driscoll Antiques hosts book signings; the Maple Leaf Bar holds poetry readings on Sunday afternoons. And Queen of the Ball, the tiny, glittering, jewel of a snoball parlor, exudes artistic expression from its bold pink-and-black decor to its tantalizing selection of “fruit-stuffed snoballs” (its specialty).
Nestled at the far end of Oak, just a few blocks from the river, you’ll find Abeona House Child Discovery Center - the first new childcare center to open in New Orleans post-Katrina. The approach to learning at Abeona is inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, in which the environment itself is the “third teacher” (next to staff and the children themselves). Part of this approach to learning is long-term projects that have a context in the children’s lives and play.
Oak Street as Classroom
The environment that cradles Abeona is uniquely New Orleans, with the river’s levee on one side, with a soon-to-run streetcar line on the other, and a host of local shops in between bursting with creativity and quirkiness. Add to that environment the sense of wonder and curiosity that Abeona House’s toddlers and pre-kindergarteners bring to the street’s goings-on, and throw in the fact that their dynamic caregivers are inspired by the children and the neighborhood, and you have unstoppable creative combustion.
That combustion is tempered by a thick purple rope, tied with a loop for each child’s hand to safely hold on to. The rope takes constant roll call, and keeps the children to their mission as they walk by the wonders of Oak Street. As they pass White Pillars Emporium, they crane their necks upward at the enormous ceramic giraffes, and at every intersection, they look down, searching for letters belonging to their names in the old New Orleans tiles. In the window of More Fun Comics, they always stop to admire the heroic Spiderman poster. And the kids could study the swamp scene and mounted plastic lizards on Jacques-Imo’s painted truck for hours. Even next-door neighbor Amman & Associates (which donates their landscaping services to the school) provides regular excitement with “bobcats” loading trees and palettes of grass.
When Abeona House was awarded a grant for a new sign, director Emmy O’Dwyer naturally commissioned her neighbor, Graffiti Graphics, to do the job. “Having Emmy and the kids come by to see their new ‘Abeona House’ sign in progress was a joy. They all got to feel the wood and see how their sign looked in the early stages,” says Graffiti Graphics owner Cecilia Holzenthal. Parent Denice Ross was surprised a week later when her three-year-old Jamie turned his parents’ bedroom into a “print shop.”
A Second Neighborhood for Families
In modern-day America, you’re lucky if you feel a strong connection to your neighborhood. Abeona families and teachers are blessed to be connected to two - the one they live in and Abeona’s.
As is often the case in New Orleans, some of the best neighborhood interactions center around food. Miss Norma of Queen of the Ball has a knack for remembering her customers’ favorite flavors. (The ‘Spiderman,’ with its red and dark blue stripe and little candied masked hero, is a current favorite among Abeona’s crowd.)
Mornings at Rue de la Course and Zotz see Abeona mothers telecommuting in order to be a short walk away to nurse their babies at lunchtime. Other parents sneak a quiet breakfast together at Oak Street Café, sometimes returning to the school with bags of donuts to surprise the staff. The backroom at Gelato Pazzo serves as the meeting space for the school’s Board of Directors.
During lunchtime at school, you can hear “Mmm…what’d you get?” as the teachers peer into each others to-go boxes from area restaurants such as the Asian Cajun Bistro, Station 8801 Bar & Grill, Oak Street Café and Lebanon’s. For Teacher Appreciation Week, parents treated them to lunch at Mat and Naddie’s nearby on Leonidas.
Members of the Abeona family have been active contributors in Oak Street events. As a result of donations raised by the Abeona community, Board President Paul Wisneskey shaved his head for the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in an event hosted at One-to-One Salon. For him, it was worth the drastic change in appearance because “it drew attention to Oak Street and to children’s causes, and was another way to model for our children the importance - and fun - of being involved in community activities.”
Never being a group to miss a festival, Abeona families were out in force at the June Oak Street Bar-B-Q. At the barbecue, Sadie Wiese, 10-year-old sister of Abeona House preschooler Aidan, designed and sold magnets featuring the logos of popular Oak Street shops. She donated a portion of her profits to Abeona House and asked that the kids be allowed to decide how to spend it. Let three-year- olds vote and they’ll vote for gelato, so down the street they traipsed.
Vince Pigna, owner of Gelato Pazzo, says, “It is refreshing to see the pure excitement and joy of the children when they first come in, all of them holding the rope chain with the teachers in tow. It is always a welcome sight.”
Merchants on many occasions have commented on what a difference having Abeona House on the street has made to the feel of the neighborhood. They were thrilled with the “Krewe of Abeona” parade in February. Led by Paulin Brothers, one of New Orleans’ brass bands whose presence was arranged by musician/teacher Kaya Martinez, parents, teachers, and friends rolled with brightly decorated wagons and strollers while the children dispersed their assorted throws to onlookers. Abeona’s signature throw, “the Golden Nunu,” (pacifiers painted gold and suspended on beads) were hand made by staff and given out to Oak Street business owners.
Ralph Driscoll, who with wife Audrey owns Driscoll Antiques, says, “Just the fact that you now see mothers pushing baby strollers up and down the whole length of Oak Street completely changes the feel of the street and sends the message that this is a safe street, a good place for children and families.”
Good for families it is. Parents have discovered the kid’s menu at Ninja (with food irresistibly partitioned in the bento box so it’s “not touching” - a selling point for picky youngsters). It’s fair to say that Haase’s Shoe Store is the main supplier of the school’s unofficial summer uniform of Croc sandals. And one set of siblings has the Maple Leaf bar to thank for their very existence (it’s where their parents met in 2001).
So what do the children learn along the street of their school? That question is probably best answered by Abeona House director, Emmy O’Dwyer, a lifelong resident of New Orleans who is also mom to two of the school’s children. She explains that Abeona’s children are learning “what it means to be a New Orleanian - where you know all your neighbors and engaging in simple commerce is a social event. These young people will keep our traditions alive. They’re learning how to commit to a flavor of snoball, how to enjoy the pleasure of relationships with each other, and how to celebrate every day.” Perhaps most importantly, the children of Abeona are learning how much we all need each other.
Abeona House serves children ages 6 weeks to 5 years. To learn more about Abeona House and its approach to early childhood education, visit the web site at www.abeonahouse.org.
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